Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell
Don’t let the authors name put
you off – this is anything but free love view of the world. Eleanor and Park is
an extremely intelligent coming of age tale set in the reality of 1986 USA. Park
keeps his head down, he’s grown up and been to school with the same bunch of
kids his whole life and he knows exactly where he fits in the scheme of things,
until the day Eleanor gets on the bus and he feels obliged to offer her the
seat next to him. Eleanor has just been allowed to move back home after being
kicked out by her low-life stepdad, she’s aware that she looks different –
stands out – and this is the exact opposite of what she wants. Over the next
few months their mutual sufferance of each other becomes a tentative
friendship, which then becomes that most precious of all things – first love.
What makes this so much more than
just another coming of age novel is the intelligence of Rowell’s writing. Her
depth of understanding and the art with which she relays the characters
feelings and experiences is transcendent and places this novel among the best
I’ve read. This novel is so easy to relate to, every new experience is one
we’ve all had, as readers we get to experience every first touch and thought in
such an authentic way that this will be a novel that stays with us all.
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