Review: Eleanor and Park By: Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I so wanted to give this 4 or even 5 stars and that could have been if not for the rush of an ending that seemed to go against the build up of the book.
Eleanor is the new girl, the misfit, the one who doesn't fit in - yet by chance sitting by Park on the bus a slow relationship grows. It begins very slowly without talking, without speech, with only an understanding, and the author goes back and forth within each character into the development of what is happening in their head and personal lives to make such three dimensional beings. The relationship goes from speaking to something more and although Eleanor is ridiculed at school, Park is on the other spectrum; Park comes from a loving family, Eleanor huddles in a corner and debates crawling out to neighbors to call the police. There is a underlying situation and although I knew immediately who was responsible for the notes, maybe other readers won't be, but this is something I was also surprised was rushed in the ending. The teenage angst and emotions are high, the "drama" that only remind one of first love and that is why this is very good, but oh, how I needed more pages in the end.

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