My thoughts after reading Eleanor & Park By Rainbow Rowell

Confession, I have just finished reading Eleanor & Park. My husband bought me Rainbow Rowell’s books after I kept talking about Attachments. I had not read Eleanor & Park right away because I had a couple of books that I just checked out from the library and there was a book I was reading for work. I felt so bad for those library books, every time I would pick one up I kept eyeballing at Eleanor & Park.
 

I felt just like I did when I was reading Attachments, I could not stop thinking about the story and the characters. Eleanor & Park has made me realize I am in love with Rowell’s writing. Eleanor & Park was one of the best books I have read this year, along with Attachments.

After reading it I can see why so many people love this book. The characters, Eleanor & Park, are real. Real being that their lives are complicated and makes you realize sometimes when we fall in love its messy, but if we truly love the other person its worth fighting for.

I enjoyed the fact that it was not another girl meets boy, and boom they’re in love. Eleanor & Park’s love grow out of their friendship. They learn to mutually respect one another and their lives separate and together.

While Eleanor’s home life is not the best, it explains a lot of her reactions and fears she has towards becoming Park’s girlfriend. When Eleanor & Park first fall in love, I kept thinking of the Dr. Seuss quote, “We are all a little weird and, life’s a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with then and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

While some people may say the characters are way too young to feel this way. Their love was not done in a Romeo and Juliet way either where, everything is so melodramatic. I think that Eleanor & Park reminds us that true love is and can be real at any age. I cried when Park kept waiting for Eleanor to write or call. I kept saying, why won’t she write to him, why doesn’t just she just call him. He is waiting for her, he always has. When he finally got the post card, it felt like they never really ended. It also made me happy cry for Park when she sent him that post card.

Sorry about that, but I think I made my point with that little rant, on how this book emotionally touches the readers heart. Books are wonderful journeys, but when we find the stories and characters that we emotionally connect to we should share those.