Eleanor & Park

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Kids Reference 0-week checkout	R Printz Honor 2014	0-week checkout	Library Use Only
Downtown Teen, 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Teen Fiction / Rowell, Rainbow	4-week checkout	In transit
Downtown Teen, 1st Floor 4-week checkout	Teen Fiction / Rowell, Rainbow	4-week checkout	Due 05-13-2024
Pittsfield Teen Books 4-week checkout	Teen Book / Fiction / General / Rowell, Rainbow	4-week checkout	Due 05-03-2024
Westgate Teen Books 4-week checkout	Teen Book / Fiction / General / Rowell, Rainbow	4-week checkout	Due 04-20-2024

"Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

School Library Journal Review
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Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Great! submitted by bluepapaya on June 21, 2013, 9:39am This book is a great read. The plot is very interesting. People who are a fan of John Green's books will like this book.

First love in the 80s submitted by wampishing on June 24, 2013, 1:30pm A bus seat puts misfits Eleanor and Park in the same orbit, but a comic book brings them together. Neither half-korean, insular Park nor big, ostentatious-by-necessity Eleanor thinks much of their seat-partner - he thinks she looks like something that wouldn't survive in the wild, and she's far too distracted by her disastrous home life to give him any real attention at all, even IF the only thing he's ever said to her involved angry swearing. But when Park realizes she's surreptitiously reading the comics plopped open in his lap, he starts giving her stacks of them to smuggle home under the eye of her drunken, abusive step-father. A friendship born of X-men, The Smiths, and batteries slowly becomes a romance so deeply real that their lives can't help but change. An expertly crafted romance set in 1986, Rainbow Rowell's sophomore novel depicts the desperation of first love, the pain of being trapped in one's own life, and familial tension without becoming melodramatic or self-pitying. While Park's race and Eleanor's size both receive focus, neither is treated in such a way that the characters are reduced to that one characteristic. Nor do the characters come across as too saintly - each character has faults that make them more, not less, relatable. Rowell also takes full advantage of her not-too-distant-past setting to interweave several pop culture references into the narrative naturally, secure in the knowledge that some 26 years later, those particular references still remain relevant. An emotional tale that ultimately leaves it to the reader to decide whether young love will thrive or die, "Eleanor & Park" might not empower its protagonists to change the world they live in, but every page feels undeniably real.

Believable and Sweet submitted by vicki browne on February 14, 2014, 7:59am First love. Inching towards a sound, meaningful relationship. Believable and sweet, with memories of your own first love bubbling up from the beyond. Issues of a bad, sinister step-parent, identity, and bullying all wound up in the story too. Eleanor & Park figure it out--together. Says Park of Eleanor, "Holding Eleanor's hand was like holding a buttefly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive." Won a Printz honor award too for 2013.

So Good submitted by Beth Manuel on June 18, 2014, 12:49pm This was such a great read, not that parts aren't disturbing. I can only hope that things went well in the end for these two, but the author leaves it up to the reader to decide. Still, the way the relationship of Eleanor and Park developed did seem realistic, as did the dialogue.

Great read! submitted by manz on June 19, 2014, 12:28pm This is such a great read! I just loved it. Eleanor, Park, the music, the story. Parts are sad. But overall it's a lovely story.
Great for John Green fans of great modern realistic fiction.

Interesting. submitted by popsiclefroyo1 on June 20, 2014, 7:29pm The surprise at the end was the best part.

Perfect Teenage Love Story submitted by Lucy S on June 25, 2014, 5:10am Filled with all the angst and excitement of a great, realistic love story. Enduring, true to life characters.

fun submitted by aparna70 on June 26, 2014, 5:23pm Fun to read.

Teenage Love submitted by monkk on June 30, 2014, 9:18pm Very well written teenage love story, some awkward moments I didn't particularly enjoy just because they felt uncomfortable (too close to home?). I am looking forward to her next book.

Cute! submitted by purplelily on July 31, 2014, 10:07pm A cute teenage love story! Talks about family problems, ethnically different marriages, and other things that are all very interesting.
I would recommend it for someone of high school age

Loved it! submitted by bookher on August 9, 2014, 5:56pm I'm not of high school age but I was back in the 80s so I could totally relate to all the 80s culture references. A great book about a teenager's first love while dealing with adult size problems. Though, I kept dreading each chapter just waiting for something really bad and sad to happen but fortunately, the author kept it pretty safe. Very sweet ending!

Captivating submitted by eagles on June 15, 2015, 3:48pm I have to say, this book captivated me from the start, to the end. It is such a beautiful story, and after this book, I frantically searched up all of Rainbow Rowell's books. In the end, I have read all of her books. She is a true artist in words!

Eleanor and Park submitted by lec.dank on June 16, 2015, 8:15am This is cute. The dialogue is witty and the plot is easy to follow, fans of John Green would love this.m

amazing teen book submitted by airgood on July 27, 2015, 3:50pm Rainbow Rowell creates the best characters! This is a great book with two teenagers experiencing first love. The characters and plot are emotionally compelling, and I could not put the book down.

Liked it submitted by smgop on July 28, 2015, 5:22pm well-written, I don't know that I'd necessarily have teens read it but I enjoyed it!

?!?! submitted by kzheng on July 9, 2016, 5:02pm I never would have thought a book set in 1986 could seem so relatable. It was not quite as sad as I thought. Eleanor is a newcomer with strange taste in everything. Park is the kid that isn't popular, but he is just kind of normal. Very realistic and frank.

Nice summer reading submitted by doctorfang on August 2, 2016, 8:21pm This is a teenage love story, mixed with teenage angst and a background of abuse in the family. Lovely read. I became quite fond of Eleanor!

So cute! submitted by chioma on June 29, 2017, 2:39pm This is so obviously a teenage love story, but what I really love about it is (well, one, the format is very very appealing to me) the fact there is an actually story to the actual characters. A struggle that they both have and when this couple, not a usual couple that you would read in a basic teenage love book of watch in a John green movie, are together their problems go away. Rowell writes beautifully and you could feel the emotions of what eleanor and park are going through. It's a great book, but beware to those of you who are too young! There is a lot of swearing

Engaging and Fun submitted by corywill86 on June 20, 2018, 10:40am I chewed through this book in a single evening, sacrificing a good night's sleep. It was worth it! I found the story enjoyable as an adult -- not saccharine or cheesy, but realistic and emotionally engaging.

Good, but I'm not the right audience submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on July 21, 2018, 12:04am I really don't think I'm the intended audience (this is a YA book truly geared for teens, I think), but this book genuinely didn't hit the right buttons for me. Loving this book requires utter belief in Eleanor's and Park's falling for each other, and that simply never quite felt as real to me as it needed to. I did love that Rowell took on broken families, and one part of the story was completely unexpected to me. It doesn't wrap up in a nice, neat bow, which is a lovely thing as well. Definitely a good book, and I'd recommend it to teens (who would probably be over the moon for it), but not my personal cup of tea.

Cute submitted by c_zhang on June 27, 2019, 10:32pm It's a love story, and is what it is. I thought it was cute and a good read.

Cute submitted by eyconrad on June 28, 2019, 7:53pm One of the best books I've ever read

great YA book submitted by kjshaffer on July 13, 2019, 8:31pm This was a wonderful YA romance. I loved that it included a romance between an unlikely couple and that the male protagonist is Asian. Well written and kept my attention throughout.

Good book submitted by jasonc1177 on July 31, 2019, 7:44pm A bit overrated, but still a decent read.

Pretty Regular submitted by chowcy on August 28, 2020, 8:55pm This book was not a particularly outstanding or unique book in the teen romance genre. The protagonist feels out of place, etc. I personally thought this book was overrated. It felt like I had already read books similar enough to this one.

Skip it submitted by bookasaurusray on July 27, 2022, 5:12pm I love (almost) every Rainbow Rowell book, but this one is a definite skip - it's full of racial stereotypes and cliches. Talk about your microagressions.