Rating: 
I will star by being completely honest by admitting that I had this book sitting on my desk for a few months and I don’t know why exactly, mostly because I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy it. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s such a wonderful book.
If I could use one word to describe this story, it would be “adorable”. Eleanor and Park fell in love on the bus listening to ’80’s music and reading comic books. Can it get any cuter than that? I submit that it cannot! Told in alternating points-of-view, this story will grab onto you and not let you go until the ending.
This book gave me that melty, clenchy feeling in my chest, the warm fuzzies in my stomach. I was basically a mess throughout the entire thing. These two characters had my emotions going up and down like someone was beating on them with one of those sledgehammers at a carnival, trying to get them to climb to the top of that lit up pole again and again. And every time I thought they couldn’t go any higher, Park would do or say something else that sent me flying up, up, up…
Eleanor is the new girl in school. She describes herself as chubby and plain. After her mother’s abusive husband kicked Eleanor, she moved in with some family friends. Now, a year later, she’s back living with her mother, step-father, and siblings in a new town and a rather cramped house. The first day of school she gets on the bus and every kid pulls a “you-can’t-sit-here” (think Forrest Gump). The only seat available is the one next Park, and he is less than welcoming.
Eleanor refers to Park as “the stupid Asian kid,” which totally made me giggle. Unlike Eleanor, Park has a relatively normal family. The son of a Vietnam war veteran and Korean native, Park is a music junkie and a boss in taekwondo. Most of the time, he keeps to himself. He doesn’t want to like Eleanor, but it doesn’t take him long to realize that fighting his feelings is a losing battle.
Their love story was slow-building, which is probably my favorite kind of love story (Just like The Fault in Our Stars and Anna and the French Kiss). Park lends Eleanor his headphones and Sony Walkman, and she is immediately drowning in the emotions the music evokes. The adorableness continues when he makes her mix tapes and brings comic books especially for her. It doesn’t take long for their seat buddy status to change from acquaintances to friends to something more. Leading up to the “shouting-from-the-rooftops I love you” moment, Eleanor and Park share secret looks and stolen glances.
Let me tell you, Eleanor & Park contains the hottest hand-holding scene of ALL TIME, hands down (pun intended).
Park always tugged on Eleanor’s scarf or nudged her with his shoulder, but he never actually touched her skin. The build-up to this was almost unbearable.
“As soon as he touched her, he wondered how he’d gone so long without doing it. He rubbed his thumb through her palm and up her fingers, and was aware of her every breath.”
“When he touched, Eleanor’s hand, he recognized her. He knew.”
GAH. I cannot with him. Can. Not. He’s definitely top-five-book-boy material. I don’t think I’ve ever flailed so hard over a simple hand holding scene.
Eleanor tries hard to hide her family life from Park, but he eventually finds out the horrible truth and is willing to do anything to help her get out. His protectiveness and caring nature is what I love most about him. He no longer cared what anyone at school said about her or what his family thought of her. He only wanted her. Just her. No matter what.
Sadly, as Park and Eleanor learn the hard way, sometimes not all first loves are meant to be forever…or are they?
The end of this book left me in tears. Like, legit streaming down my face, stuttering, had to get up and leave the room so that my cat wouldn’t think I was crazy. Any book that as that effect on me usually goes straight to my favorites pile, but I’ll admit, I knocked this one down a star because this ending – though it made sense -was…kind of unfulfilling. I wanted more! I wanted her to CALL HIM. I wanted her to write him back! I just wanted more. Just a teensy, tiny, little bit.
Open ended endings aren’t my favorite, and though what I’m left with tells me I can picture a happy ending for these two young lovers…I still question whether or not it actually happened if the author doesn’t tell me herself. I admit that it keeps me awake at night, not knowing. Basically, it was a bit of a disappointment after all my happy-swoony-puddly feelings from the beginning.
But don’t worry you may not even cry, most people that I know that read the book didn’t cry. You may, however, be sighing throughout the whole freaking book.
Ana
Books, I Love you. 