Eleanor & Park in Shut Up & Read

May 24, 2013 Renuka rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, young-adult, romance, realistic, contemporary, diff-pov, reviewed, my-fictional-boyfriends, fav-couples, mind-blown

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Contemporary, romance
Recommend To; fans of Pushing the Limits, the Fault in Our Stars (they cause similar amounts of trauma)

What did I ever do to you books? Why do I deserve this absolute heart-wrenching, completely terrifying experience? I never caused you pain, but you nearly killed me. I never made you cry, but you made me drown in tears. Why would you do such a thing? I felt compelled to write this review at 1 in the morning. Because I just finished and the tear tracks are Rating: 5/5
Genre: Contemporary, romance
Recommend To; fans of Pushing the Limits, the Fault in Our Stars (they cause similar amounts of trauma)

What did I ever do to you books? Why do I deserve this absolute heart-wrenching, completely terrifying experience? I never caused you pain, but you nearly killed me. I never made you cry, but you made me drown in tears. Why would you do such a thing? I felt compelled to write this review at 1 in the morning. Because I just finished and the tear tracks are still fresh. This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

The characters, still so fresh in my mind just evoke such emotions. Eleanor, love and independence. Park, bravery and loyalty. Richie, complete and utter hatred. Even the secondary characters invoke crazy things, Tina, Steve, DeNice, Beebi, Ben, Maisie, Park's parents, Eleanor's mom and actual dad. The feelings were just flowing freely and were completely out of control. My family probably though I was a psychopath or something.

The writing itself, it just....I'm going to be honest here, it terrified me. I was going out of my mind. Because as the story progresses, it hastens and develops a sense of urgency. I was feeling utter dread as it continued. The beginning was almost slow, Park and Eleanor meeting, falling in love. But then it starts to go. And it makes your heart crawl up into your throat. Because you know, you KNOW, something is going to happen and you KNOW it's going to do something to do this fragile/indestructible love of Eleanor & Park and all you can do is sit tight and pray that they both don't end up like Romeo and Juliet. It's completely crazy. And it's one of my favorite books of the year.

Eleanor. She made me want to cry. And then get a grip on myself and hug every single member of my family. Her story...just the incredible amount of things she is forced to go through. The fear of not having enough food, not having clothes, not having a bathroom door, not having batteries. A useless mother, a drug addict father (actual father). Siblings who honestly terrified me. The amount of things against her were astounding. I wanted to pack my entire room up and hand it to her with a bow. Like here...an actual toothbrush and clothes. And yet through it all, she still remained Eleanor.

Park. He was freaking Asian Prince Charming. Can I say I completely fell in love with him? The comic books, and the music, and making Eleanor tapes. He was the opposite of Eleanor in every way. HIs family too, gods they were adorable. I loved how they eventually welcomed Eleanor into their family, especially his mom (I loved her).

Here comes the actual ranting. Richie you sick, SICK, TWISTED ~~man~~ monster. I hope you rot in hell. Because even if you are fictional, you embody perverts, rapists, sexual predators, domestic abusers, sex ring runners and every humanly horrible thing on this earth and I want you all to die slowly. Because you are freaking disgusting.

Sigh, overall, this book is simply amazing. But it completely drains you. And uses every ounce of your being. Then it rolls over you with a train a couple times for good measure. Just a note of caution.

...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Laura rated it it was amazing

I listened to the audio book version of Eleanor and Park. The reason is that it was all the library had. But it was a lucky thing for me. The narrators took a wonderful story and made it an experience I won't soon forget. ...more

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Jun 23, 2014 Marla rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: asian, couldnt-put-down, romance, made-me-cry, made-me-laugh, award-winner, challenged, young-adult, zz-2016, recommend-frankie

An excellent story about an awkward, weird girl who falls in love with a nerdy, Asian guy. I love that Park is good at Tae Kwon Do. This book made me so angry that I wanted to shake those bullies, so uncomfortable that I squirmed, and so sad that my heart ached.

(I read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli right after this and it made for a great contrasting story.)

Likes:
* Asian-white couple & 2 sons
(view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 23, 2013 Carrie rated it really liked it

Shelves: realistic-fiction, library, young-adult, abuse, ya, teen, scrabble, bullying

So...hmm...okay....

This book, this book. When I first opened the pages I got so extremely excited for it. And I knew right away I was going to very enjoy it.

As we continued on I had to pause at many many different moments, pausing to reflect on the words I just read, pausing to soak it all in, pausing to smile.

But then something happened, something wasn't the same. My feelings of "oh I so need to pick up my own copy" (as this is a library book) started to subside. Don't get me wrong I still to ...more

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Sep 23, 2018 Jenn rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2018, shelf-slam-2017, hallway-shelf-2018

I love Rainbow Rowell’s books. She’s one of my favorite authors. This was such a disappointment. Not because it was badly written or the characters weren’t interesting. All that was handled with Rainbow Rowell’s usual deft touch. But nowhere in any synopsis does it tell you that you’re getting into a story about domestic abuse and child neglect.
If I’d known that I would have been prepared. I could have made the decision did I want to read that. But it’s presented as a YA love story. I could bare ...more

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Mar 22, 2013 J.J. DiBenedetto rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I just read Rainbow Rowell's second novel, Eleanor and Park. I loved her first novel, Attachments, and I read through this new book very quickly. It's set in high school, in 1986, and it's the story of an unlikely romance between a geeky half-Korean boy and a poor, offbeat girl from a disastrous home.

It's incredibly well-written and very powerful. It transported me straight back to high school. And that's the problem, for me, with this book. I HATED high school. If I was offered $10 million to g ...more

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May 17, 2015 Angie Taylor rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I'm so bummed. I've heard such great things about this story and how sweet and awesome it is. But really? How many "F" bombs were dropped in the first couple of pages? No thank you. If there's good things to come they were totally ruined by the first chapter. ...more

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Dec 03, 2013 Jordan rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2013, libr-526-ya-lit

Wow. I blew through the first 3/4 of this book, and absolutely loved it. Until the ending. It was seriously the worst. I can't understand the reasoning behind Eleanor's actions - it didn't feel in character at all. Ugh. I want to love this book, but it is so completely ruined by the ending. ...more

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May 02, 2013 Jessica B rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, young-adult, re-reads, contemp-romance, released-in-2013, ebook, 2014, jessica-s-2014-challenge, 2020

i LOVED this book~

Eleanor and Park was a high school romance I will never forget!

I felt everything right along with the characters and the author did an amazing job of capturing how desperate the situation really was without revealing too much too quickly.

I am glad I finally decided to read this one and I will be checking out other work from this author in the very near future!

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Feb 06, 2014 Erica rated it it was amazing

It's insane how much I related to Eleanor, I never have related towards a character as much I related to her. This was my second Rainbow Rowell book and I'm learning she can do no wrong. Highly recommend! ...more

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