Story in Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Oh, this book.

Reading it is like being 15 all over again. Rowell tells a simple, lovely story of falling in love but makes it so, so much bigger than a high school romance. This was our book club pick for September, and I was so happy to have an excuse to read it again. It was one of those books that I initially checked out from the library to see what all the hype was about and then instantly bought a hardcover copy of my own.

Eleanor is poor. She’s also chubby, wears all the wrong clothes, and has no way to listen to The Smiths.

Park is Korean-American. His family is firmly middle-class, he does taekwondo, and he has all the comics, batteries, and blank cassette tapes his heart desires.

And Eleanor can’t figure out why on earth Park cares about her.

And Park has no idea what Eleanor sees in him.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell is their story. From the first time Park slides his hand into hers (“Holding Eleanor’s hand felt like holding a butterfly.”) to their first and only date (“It was just that kind of night. Every time she looked at him, he was looking back at her.”), it’s a story that sticks in your head and your heart and makes you relive those full-color moments that only exist when falling in love for the first time.

Favorite Quotes:

“That’s a voice that arrives on a chariot drawn by dragons.” – p. 15

“Eleanor let her head fall over the box. It smelled like Chanel No. 5 and pencil shavings. She sighed.” – p. 20

“There was no room in that house to be a teenager.” – p. 35

“And when she handed it back to him the next morning, she always acted as if she were handling something fragile. Something precious.” – p. 42

“‘I just want to break that song into pieces,’ she said, ‘and love them all to death.'” – p. 59

“(All he really wanted to do was sit and talk to Eleanor.)” – p. 67

“Because if she was going to cry about something, it was going to be because her life was complete shit – not because some cool, cute guy didn’t like her like that.” – p. 70

“And Eleanor disintegrated.” – p. 71

“When he touched Eleanor’s hand, he recognized her. He knew.” – p. 72

“It was like he dumped all this treasure on her every morning without even thinking about it, without any sense of what it was worth.” – p. 99

“Because every second feels so important.” – p. 111

“It smelled like Irish Spring and a little bit like potpourri and like something she couldn’t describe any other way than boy.” – p. 132

“And when Eleanor smiled, something broke inside him.” – p. 163

“He couldn’t buy Eleanor a pen. Or a bookmark. He didn’t have bookmarklike feelings for her.” – p. 202

“Everything anybody ever said in this house was desperate.” – p. 227

“I’ve never really missed anybody but you.” – p. 232

“Eleanor tried one last time to be embarrassed.” – p. 248

“The world rebuilt itself into a better place around him.” – p. 269

“Everything true was too hard to write – he was too much to lose.” – p. 319

What made this a good story? 

Rowell writes top-notch YA Lit. She knows teenagers. And she’s not afraid to give them big feelings in her novels, feelings that are over-the-top and so, so teenager.  At the same time, she delivers characters that are smart, that you fall in love with: you can’t dismiss them as silly teenagers for all their emotional turmoil. She writes real people that you can see becoming real adults. Her characters lead big lives.

It is so hard not to read this all in one sitting. I did the first time, and it was equally hard to put it down the second time – the true tell of a book well-written.

What could have made it a better story?

I WANT AN ENDING.

Sequel, please, Ms. Rowell.

Have you read Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell? What did you think? Were you as thoroughly devastated as I?

We’re talking, Fault in Our Stars-level devastated.