She starts off with no one and everyone bullies her at school. So begins the romance of Eleanor and Park.Įleanor feels very alone in her house and I felt so bad for her throughout the entire novel. Park quickly falls for Eleanor and she for him. Then one day they decide to talk to each other, which leads to laughing and bonding and hand holding. It’s very professional, hardly any speaking at all.

They have a relationship built on trade at first, he gives her comic books to take home and she brings them back the next day so he’ll give her more. She then starts reading the graphic novels he brings to occupy himself over Park’s shoulder and soon he allows her to take some home with her. She begins her relationship with Park by being forced to choose the seat next to him on the bus on her first day. She is bullied relentlessly in gym class by the school’s resident mean girl, Tina, and tries to hide all the crap that’s happening in her life under a strong exterior. She dresses strangely (because what she wears is all she has) and she’s got bright red hair and is a little on the chubby side. When Eleanor starts at her new school, she is immediately labelled as the weird girl. If Eleanor tried to help and called the police, she faced the wrath of Richie. she was so set on just keeping things the way they were even though she was being beaten by Richie over ridiculous things several times a week. I wanted to smack Eleanor’s mother upside the head several times during this novel because she was not seeing that there were people and ways to save her family from this stupid butt head named Richie. While Eleanor missed home, it’s not a place she really wants to be: sharing a room with all of her siblings in a tiny house with a footless bathroom and an abusive stepfather. I think Rainbow Rowell has a wonderful style and she makes a single 300-page novel so captivating!Įleanor has been living away from home for a year because her stepdad kicked her out when her mother comes to get her at long last and tells Eleanor it’s time to come home. These books are perfect and the endings are perfect the way they are which makes me hope that she never decides to write sequels to them.

Fangirl left me wanting more to the story, and of course, Eleanor & Park left me the same way but I feel differently about them when I really think about it.

The story was sweet and relatable and dealt with real life issues that were in no way over dramatised or heightened. My first Rainbow book was Fangirl, an adorable teen contemporary about twins who go to college together and begin to drift apart. I absolutely love Rainbow’s writing style and I knew this from the first time I read one of her books.

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