Book Review: Eleanor&Park, by Rainbow Rowell.

I am one of those people who will go through stages of reading constantly and then go through stages of not reading at all. And the past couple have months have been like that but the book that got me back into reading was Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. (What an awesome name!)

I will start off with saying that this a love story and honestly this is not normally my first choice of genre because they can often be way too soppy for me. BUT (this is a big but) I really did love this book for so many reasons.

I'll be honest and say that when I started reading this book I found it a bit odd because I'd never read a book that's written from two characters perspectives but also in the third person. It is not something that I was used to but the more I read the more used to it I got. I thought that Rowell was really clever with the way she wrote it as nothing was actually repeated. She just managed to tell the story from two completely different angles which allowed the reader to connect to both of the characters equally.

The book is about the new girl at school, Eleanor, who comes from a broken home and struggles to fit in wherever she goes. And Park, he has been at the school for years but likes to blend into the background and stay unnoticed. When the characters first meet they don't really have much tolerance for each other. They sit together on the bus but they don't talk and they tend to just ignore each other. The beginning of their relationship is very blunt and uninteresting but somehow and some when they become very close. And I love the reason why they become close... Music and comic books. Things like music and comic books can play such a huge part in all teenagers lives and I think that's why this story is so easy to relate to. 

Eleanor and Park inevitably fall in love and they become each other's world. I know this sounds like any other teen romance but it is different. They both, particularly Eleanor, have so many problems they have to deal with. She has to deal with a horrible step-father who hates her and beats her mother. Despite all of this they both start to believe that they will be together forever and that they will have a happy ending. But of course they don't. I won't ruin the ending but the story is left on an almost annoying cliff hanger which keeps you wondering what actually happened to the both of them after the book finishes.

I loved all of the twists in this book, both of the characters, the style of writing, and even though the ending annoyed me a little, it was probably the best ending possible. This book is definitely worth the read if you ever get the chance :) (One review on the inside of the book cover that I would totally agree with was written by @annasingsong (I don't know who this is :/) this book is "Complete and utter perfection")