Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Goodreads


"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
''I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.




This was me throughout the book:

You guys.

I love this book.  HARD.

There aren't many books that I will borrow from the library, then go out and purchase in multiple forms.  This book is right up there with The Fault in Our Stars, Sea of Tranquility, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: it will have a spot in my permanent collection.

 Spoilers after the jump.


I didn't love the ending at first, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.  If Eleanor and Park had stayed together, she would have relied on him to get her through all of the crap.  Just like her mother had relied on men since the age of 13.  She had to know that she could make it on her own.

I hate the idea that the two of them may not get back together, so in my mind, they do.  Psst...Rainbow Rowell, please write an epilogue that ensures them an HEA.  kthxbai.