Book Review: Eleanor & Park

I have not done any book review for years. Can't even remember the last time.

The book that I recently finished reading was 'Eleanor & Park' by Rainbow Rowell. Honestly, this was a random purchase and I even thought, it was a story of lovers in their twenties but to my surprise, they are junior high school students set at a small town in Nebraska in early 90s (the decade was just a guess as there were no hints of smartphones or textspeak). The story began with new girl in town meets cute boy inside the schoolbus.

As common for teens whose level of testosterone and hormones are just starting to get crazy, and having to always sit beside each other twice in a day inside the bus, young love was bound to happen..considering that both are attractive (as the book describes them). 

So they fell in love, had petty fights, hang out and came to know each others background. Eleanor Douglas comes from a poor broken family. She with her mother and three young siblings live with their good-for-nothing stepfather; while Park Sheridan is a product of an interracial marriage, lives in a perfect home with  loving parents and a younger brother. By the way, Park is half-Korean.

The book was written from both main characters' perspective which has become the fad lately. There were no graphic details of sex as expected in young adult novels but there were suggestions of being intimate but written leaving something for imagination. However, being responsible young adults, there were no suggestions of them doing that thing.

The ending was heartbreaking but close to reality so you can really feel the pain of young love. I was really hoping that the last chapter would lead us fast forward to twenty years later, when both are in their mid-thirties meeting unexpectedly at some random city (not at some highschool reunion for I highly doubt both will attend). Yeah, the author gave an ending to allow readers have the freedom of making one.

Though a self-proclaimed non-fan of sappy teen love stories, this by far was the most recent book I've read before bedtime because I normally read my news feed. It's embarrassing to say that I enjoyed reading it.