Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Park wanted nothing to do with Eleanor.  She started school a month late and her clothes were strange as her curly red hair.  Unfortunately, there were no other seats on the bus, so Eleanor sat down next to Park. 

Little by little, they both begin opening up to one another.  From a tentative smile or sharing a comic book, the two begin to forge a bond that neither of them ever expected to find.

There are so many books out there where clumsy, shy, or combative teenage girls fall in love with a teenage boy who then becomes the hero that saves her, draws her out or fights back.  Then they fall in love, but Eleanor & Park is such a different tale.

Rowell has created characters who are so guarded that watching their walls slowly come down is like seeing a series of tiny miracles that only Eleanor and Park share.  She captures the wonder of a brush of his hand or touching her hair for the first time, while also conveying fragility of that feeling - how scared a teenager can be that anything could shatter that the budding romance - without the drama that can occur in a typical teen love story. 

It was as beautiful as it was heartbreaking and by the time the book ended, I was not ready to let either of them go. 

This book is highly, highly reccomended for fans of:

• The Wind Blows Backwards by Mary Downing Hahn
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• Sarah Dessen