Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

This book is one that I had heard so many good things about and had been all over BookTube. Initually, when I had heard the premise I wasn't too impressed because it sound like another teen romance, albeit a really good one. When I saw it on a Kobo newsletter for just £1.49 I couldn't resist and just had to know what all the buzz was about.

Eleanor and Park is the story of first love. It follows the two main characters Eleanor who is a 16 year old woman from an abusive, deprived household who as a result suffers from low self-esteem and is ridiculed by the people at her school and more importantly the people on her school bus. Park is a half-Caucasian, half-Korean boy who suffers with identity issues and also happens to be next to the only spare seat on the school bus. During their travels too and from school Eleanor and Park develop a friendship that quickly blossoms into love. Whilst Eleanor is falling in love the situation at home also escalates and it is this that she is forced to battle with all time learning about who she is. 

The first thing that I thought about this book is that it was American. For some reason the cover art had given me the impression that this was a British romance. I was quite refreshed to find that Eleanor wasn't the normal 'ugly-pretty' girl that is often portrayed in these novels and in fact seems quite normal. Her body shape is described in a way that I can relate to. Her outlandish outfits which are unbeknownst to her classmates necessitated by the the family's lack of money and not a fashion statement, make her all the more loveable as the juxtaposition of her outward appearance to what's going on inside of her helps to emphasis that Eleanor is still struggling to understand who she is. 

Park was also refreshing as he wasn't the stereotypical love interest. His half-Asian ethnicity helps to steer him away from the all-American prototype as does the fact that he is a nice boy. Park is neither a rockstar nor a 'player' but just a normal teenage boy with hangups of his own. I also really admired his choice to wear eye-liner just because he wanted to. These two are a real gender-bending pair and I loved it. 

The treatment of domestic violence in this novel was surprisingly well dealt with. It was believable and seemed genuine to the plot and not just a device to make Eleanor vulnerable. Eleanor's step-dad Richie was deplorable as of course he is supposed to be, but was used sparingly the results being that when we did see him in the novel he was all the more frightening. 

Overall the book was very very good and is the perfect tale of what it is like to fall in love for the first time. My only issue with the book is that the ending is very unsatisfactory. It can be argued that that leaves room for us to imagine what might have happened and I like thinking about some scenarios, but all in all I feel as though there are too many unanswered questions. I suppose this is exactly the desired effect as I felt quite strongly that the end of the book was not in fact the end of Eleanor and Park. 

Rating: ★★★★