Eleanor & Park

#1 New York Times Best Seller!

"Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."-John Green, The New York Times Book Review

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 16.
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, this 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.

A New York Times Best Seller!
A 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
Eleanor & Park is the winner of the 2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Best Fiction Book.
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013
A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013
An NPR Best Book of 2013

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Published Feb 26, 2013

335 pages

Average rating: 7.83

344 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Khris Sellin
Jul 05, 2024
8/10 stars
Cute, sweet, heartbreaking story. It has its flaws, but I zoomed through it like I haven't with any book in a very long time.
raeallic
Oct 09, 2025
10/10 stars
This book needs a trigger warning... Oof. Not only did it hold my heart in its hands, it systematically made me laugh then cry. By the end I was so besotted and broken by these two the ending though hopeful crushed me. This was my first read by Ms Rowell but I assure you it won't be my last!
abookwanderer
Oct 09, 2025
10/10 stars
Rainbow Rowell creates characters with a story to tell, and then she tells it with perfection.
Aluzrod
Jun 07, 2025
9/10 stars
I wish for a love like this built on simple intimacy. Park was such a gentleman and so patient. Eleanor, as beautiful as she was, didn’t even believe it herself. Highly recommend.
tayloractuallyreads
May 02, 2025
6/10 stars
I liked this book, but also I didn’t. Honestly, I just really didn’t understand their love for each other and maybe if I did I would have liked this book more.

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