So, reliable sources (meaning one of my best friends) assured me that they liked the totally unstructured and chaotic version of this segment more than the nicely sorted and tidy version so here we go again.
I bought Eleanor & Park in a Waterstones in London. I didn't really want to because I had entered that bookshop wanting to get a specific book and when they didn't have it I was annoyed and sort of defiant. But my friend (who was on the London trip with me) wanted to get a book and hers was part of a "buy one, get one half price" deal and she told me to just go and have a look at the shelf.
I immediately liked this book. Not only because there's a quote by John Green (who happens to be my role model in all things but perhaps hairstyle) on the front. Also because the cover art is really cute and quirky and the description sounded pretty neat. Also, an author whose name is Rainbow Rowell can only be great, right?
Eleanor & Park is a terribly sweet story. On her first day of school, Eleanor is faced with a crowd of well-adapted white people from the suburbs. Between them, she stands out like a peacock among, let's say chickens. She sits next to Park on the busride. Park has mastered the art of invisibility, never talks to her and reads comicbooks on the bus.
One day, he notices her reading his comics. Instead of talking to her, he just flips the pages more slowly. When they don't finish a book on the ride home, Eleanor is afraid he'll read it at home and she will never know the end. The next morning, he opens his comic exactly where they left of the afternoon before.
This is the beginning of possibly the nicest love story I ever read. With normal love stories, I think they're cute and romantic. With Eleanor & Park I not only want this to happen to me but I know that something similar is not even that unrealistic. I could totally be that girl reading other peoples' books over their shoulder.
But it's not only a love story. It's also about coming of age, finding out what you want, dealing with all sorts of quite horrible problems. It made me cry. Also I thought I had not understood the ending but my friend confirmed that it was rather open for interpretation.
I love this book because it might be one of the most honest books out there, and also it kind of touched a soft spot in me I didn't know I had before. Everybody (well, almost) in this book is so incredibly human. They're the sort of characters you somehow know when you've read the book, like they've sort of always been there. I honestly don't know how to describe it, but Eleanor & Park is going on the same shelf as John Green, that's for sure. It sort of reminded me of... living, I guess. I remembered why I love life so much. Which is not to say that this novel isn't depressing as hell, because it is.
I can't really say much about style in this case because I kind of rushed through it and didn't really pay attention that much but I know that there were a couple of beautiful phrases in there and it obviously was good enough for me to read it without thinking twice. But I just bloody loved this book.
Which is all I can give you on this, I'm afraid. I loved it. I also hate it but mostly I love it. Probably. So, yeah.
Love,
Jojo
Yes, it's just more fun to read this way. It's kind of like you were actually talking to me :) And I also want to read it. Just sayin'.
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