Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

“XTC was no good for drowning out the morons at the back of the bus.
Park pressed his headphones into his ears.
Tomorrow he was going to bring Skinny Puppy or the Misfits. Or maybe he’d make a special bus tape with as much screaming and wailing on it as possible.”

~ p. 1 

“Eleanor looked like her mother through a fish tank. Rounder and softer. Slurred. Where her mother was statuesque, Eleanor was heavy. Where her mother was finely drawn, Eleanor was smudged.
After five kids, her mother had breasts and hips like a woman in a cigarette ad. At sixteen, Eleanor was already built like she ran a medieval pub.” 

~ p. 56 

My Thoughts:
I knew pretty much immediately that I was going to like this book. I really like Rowell's writing style. She's got great comedic timing and has easily related the essence of these two interesting characters. I'm intrigued.

These characters felt like me in high school -- two teens who desperately wanted to fade into the background but got noticed for all the wrong, and more often than not, embarrassing reasons. I don't have to relate to characters, but sometimes it helps.

Also, it's about two music lovers from the 80s; one of the best decades of music. I love all the songs they love.

Book Synopsis: 

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Format: ebook

Genres: YA, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

Release Date: February 26, 2013

 

Two misfits. One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.