Good day ♡ I think I'm falling in love again with books, they give so much pleasure and ease to my stressed days. Recently, I've been reading a few books books; Eleanor & Park, The Fault In Our Stars (I'll be making a review too if I have some time. Or probably when the movie is out), Velvet, Wicked : Resurrection and etc. I'm actually craving for some horror of thriller stories, but most of the books that I read are of romance. Which is totally fine for me though.

So today, I'm going to make a short review (not really, just express my thoughts on this book) on Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. There's hardly any suitable words to describe how much I love and adore this book, mostly because my grammars and vocabularies are still in a low level /facepalms/

Park Sheridan and Eleanor Douglas are two misfit teenagers living in Omaha, Nebraska in 1986. Park is half-American, half-Korean while Eleanor is Danish and Scottish. Dealing with issues of race and child abuse, the book tells the story of their love after the two bond over comic books and music on the school bus, the obstacles they face being in love, and how they ultimately change because of it.

I'd like to say a lot of thank you's to Raihan, a friend and a classmate of mine, who lent me this book. If not because of her, I'd still have no chance of reading this book, or I'll end up downloading it somehow (which isn't really a good choice because reading on your phone will hurt your eyes at some point). So, thank you Raihan, I owe you much! And thank you Lix too, for uploading about this book on Instagram and making me know about this book. Someone please buy this book for me for my birthday, and I'll love you till the last of my breath! You have until December (σω≘。)


"You're so pretty, and so good. You have magic eyes." 一 Eleanor

Okay, so let me start on Eleanor Douglas first. I really like Eleanor's character, how she speaks for herself. Because to me, she's a really brave person, and she's good in defending herself. And I think she has a great sense of humor, her words, they're just so carefully arranged somehow. It's upsetting that she had a pretty ruined family because of her step-father, and the other kids aren't making things much better, calling her names and all. 

"Holding Eleanor's hand was like holding a butterfly." 一 Park

Then there's Park Sheridan. Since he's half Asian, people don't really go near him, but they didn't pick on him either. (One word rings in my head: racist) I like Park's character too, probably because he's half Korean and I'm picturing a seriously cute guy, mostly because he's the one of the only people that seemed to accept Eleanor. He's the first to open up to Eleanor though, and it was really adorable. Because he seemed to be nervous on everything about Eleanor, and Eleanor about him. 


"Reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book." 一 John Green

In the start, I was expecting a cliched romance teen story, but I was surprised and thrilled that it was nowhere near that. Well, maybe the plot is a bit cliched, but Rainbow Rowell really succeeded in making it seem not so. I like the idea of someone half Asian, falling in love with an American girl, a normal girl, not the kind where everyone's having a crush on. 

"Next time, I'll just say, 'Eleanor, follow me down this dark alley, I want to kiss you.' Next time, I'll just say, 'Eleanor, duck behind these bushes with me, I'm going to lose my mind if I don't kiss you.' I'll just say, 'Eleanor, follow me down this rabbit hole....'" 一 Park

It's cute to see how their relationship evolved. It wasn't like any other puppy love, it seemed real. It feels like their love can seep even into readers' hearts. They went through a lot of things, but they still stayed together. My favourite scenes would be the first time Park confessed to Eleanor about his real feelings on her (well, I have this thing for confession scenes) and also when they had their first kiss.

"I'm telling you, I think your main thing might be that you're cute. You're practically adorable." 一 Eleanor


Usually, I hate the kind of endings where it was kind of hanging, and when you have to make a conclusion. I usually prefer solid endings, where you know what exactly happen to each and everyone of the characters in the book. But in this case, the hanging-and-make-your-own-conclusion-kind-of ending suits Eleanor & Park very well. It allows me to conclude that the ending is good, even from the start I dreaded that something bad might happen in the end. 

"Eleanor was right: She never looked nice. She looked like art and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something." 一 Park


The story ended (sorry, spoiler alert, LEAVE NOW if you haven't still read this book yet!) with Eleanor  running away to live with her uncle because of what her step-father did, with the help of Park. It was really saddening, the parting part. I can't help but sob when Park cried while holding Eleanor in his arms, when Eleanor was sleeping. He obviously couldn't do it, but he did it anyway, he sent her to her uncle's home, towards safety.

He sent her letters everyday, but none of them were ever replied by Eleanor. Only after a year or so, Eleanor sent something to him. And because of that, I'm able to think that it is a good ending; that they'll still contact each other even though they're far from each other; that they will meet each other again someday soon; that they can still love each other.

He sat up. He smiled. Something heavy and winged took off from his chest.
Eleanor hadn't written him a letter, it was a postcard.
Just three words long.


I heard about two different rumours, which both I wish will be real;
  • Rainbow Rowell will be making a sequel for Eleanor & Park, and possibly a trilogy.
  • Eleanor & Park will make it into theaters. Yes, a movie!

So that's it, a few of my thoughts on Eleanor & Park. I'd love to write more, but like I said, everything is really hard to be described into words, so we'll just keep it until right here. So now, go and read this story (you won't regret it!), or share your thoughts on this story with me if you've already read it. Have a nice day, and let's love Eleanor & Park (ノ ゚乛゚)ノ❀ 三


Till next time ♡ Love, Aishah Humaira'