Read, Run, Ramble

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Publication Date: February 26, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Ebook

Synopsis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My review (as published at Read, Run, Ramble):

Oh, Rainbow Rowel! How I do love you. I love your stories. I love your writing. I love…LOVE…your characters.

I ached for Eleanor the second I met her, and yet, I also applauded her. Strong yet vulnerable. Independent, yet scared. Awkward, yet put together.

High school years are brutal, we all know that, but they are so much more brutal for the kids fighting invisible fights. Eleanor is one of them. No one knows what she’s truly going through – no one. Not even Park knows, but he feels the undercurrent; he knows there is so much she’s not saying. And Park himself has struggles. Together they seem to gain strength against their struggles – against the world.

Rowell brings first true love into vivid light. Reminding us the thrills and fears that we felt. Reminding us that it is so easy, yet so hard all at the same time. Reminding us of the chances we’ll take just to be there. And also the courage it can give us. That courage takes both Eleanor and Park to places they didn’t see themselves going – shows them who they really are, both with and without each other.

This story made me laugh and it made me cry (tears streaming down my cheeks on more than one occasion). Rowell picks you up in the first sentence, and she sets you down in the book’s world where you’ll stay until the end. Then you’re abruptly shoved back into reality and oh how difficult that transition is!