eleanor & park

                                                          
eleanor & park by rainbow rowell
Published by St. Martin's Griffin
2013
Ages: 14+
Shelf:  Young Adult (YA)

Opening Line:  "He'd stopped trying to bring her back."

Favorite Quotes: 
"Holding Eleanor's hand was like holding a butterfly.  Or a heartbeat.  Like holding something complete, and completely alive."

"He made her feel like more than the sum of her parts."

"It was like their lives were overlapping lines, like they had their own gravity.  Usually, that serendipity thing felt like the nicest thing the universe had ever done for her."

"She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something."

"I might not use capital letters.  But I would definitely use an apostrophe...and probably a period.  I'm a huge fan of punctuation."

"I want everyone to meet you.  You're my favorite person of all time."

"I love your name.  I don't want to cheat myself out of a single syllable."

Blurb:
It is 1986, and two sixteen year old misunderstood, geeky teenagers, Eleanor and Park are about to fall in love - of the extraordinary variety!  Eleanor and Park's story begins on the school bus (yes, extremely romantic), and they embark on the journey of their lives (well, their lives up until this point anyway).  "Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds - smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try."

Within its pages:

This is not your typical teenage romance novel.  It is raw, real, and deep.  The main characters are not glorified.  Eleanor and Park are both outcasts - both subject to bullying and scrutiny. 

Park is half-Korean in a mostly-white part of town, hopeful, and adores alternative music, superhero comics, and Eleanor. 
Eleanor is cynical, funny, awkward, and adores music, superhero comics, and Park.  She's not your classic love story protagonist, unknowingly beautiful or nerdy cute, she's on the heavy side and her clothes stand out for all the wrong reasons. But within the confines of the school bus they discover that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while reading comic books and listening to music, they find a love that binds them.  

Park is intrigued by Eleanor.  She stands out like a sore thumb.  Eleanor remains a mystery for Park to figure out...he is trying to put the pieces together.  Eleanor has much to be mysterious and secretive about.  Her story is a complicated one, and not something to be shared with anyone....at least not yet. 

Shelf It!  

Remember how it felt to be 16 and be desperately in love? This novel will take you back there.  The love between Eleanor and Park is all-consuming and intense.  At times, it appears to be on the verge of obsessive, but then you are reminded that the characters are only 16, after all.  Rowell delivers a timeless teenage love story filled with agony and heartache, but tons of hope and inspiration, and a plethora of 80's nostalgia!