Eleanor & Park

The Optimist doesn't do reviews - only recommendations. You won't find anything on this blog that hasn't been pre-loved by me, so here's my first 'must-read': Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.


I'd like to begin with a piece of advice. Once you've got yourself a copy and before you read it, scribble a little 'property of ...' notice inside the front cover (unless it's a library copy - in which case, don't. That would be naughty) I tell you to do this because I can guarantee that as soon as you've finished reading, you'll lend your copy to a friend so she can read it. Then she'll lend it to her friend and before you know it, your copy will end up on a distant bookshelf - and out of your reach. I'd lent it out twice within a week of its arrival, and while it's great to share a book with friends, trust me, you'll want to make sure this one's back on your bookshelf before too long, because this is the kind of book you'll be picking up and fall into no matter what mood you're in, over and over again. A perennial favourite.

Eleanor is the new meat on the school bus; Park's the punky kid just trying to survive in a class full of hip hop fans. It's not love at first sight, but over time they merge together, bonding over good music and their mutual taste in comic books. There's no hiding the fact that this is a high school romance novel, but it's more real and more subtle than any other I've read. It's full of the kind of moreish descriptions you'd want to frame and hang on a wall; Park's reaction to holding Eleanor's hand for the first time illicited an audible swoon from me.

I'll admit that there are moments when it borders on gooey and though this might be a turn off for the "emotionally English" like me, you can't go more than a few pages without being painfully reminded of a darker undercurrent running through the story that saves it from ever becoming too saccharine.

It's the endearing characters, the familiarity of the emotions and the recognition from the start that young love rarely endures that makes this book so effortlessly readable.

And although you'll be desperate to lend out your copy - even if it's just so you'll have someone to fawn over Park's mum with - make sure you get it back before too long.