Eleanor & Park Review

In so many reviews this story gets compared to Romeo and Juliet, and while in simple terms it can be seen as a similar story, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is much more. Set in a small town in the mid 1980s, Eleanor and Park meet when they are fifteen on the way to school. Park is forced by circumstance to share his bus seat with the oddly dressed new girl. Though the course of their bus rides together they slowly develop a friendship and eventually a relationship. The two have very different home lives, Park with the Norman Rockwell family, and Eleanor with her divorced parents and six people living in a two bedroom home. Between school bullies, personal insecurities, and home lives they try to keep from each other; their relationship suffers many ups and down over the school year. A contemporary young adult novel that pulls the reader, and by the conclusion of the novel leaves its reader an emotional wreck.

I liked this book, probably would rate it 4.5 stars. I felt like it started a little slow, took almost fifty pages for me to actually start caring about the characters, but after that I was so invented I finished the book in one sitting (it was a long sitting, but still). I felt like the author pushed a little to hard with the Romeo and Juliet references, as well as the references to hell. I understand that many people feel that high school is hell, and Romeo and Juliet is a story that most people know, but I just felt annoyed.

The narration also took a bit of getting used to. It constantly changes between Eleanor and Park, but not just at the start of a chapter, but constantly throughout the book. Every section is labeled with the character, but I found it frustrating that the POV was constantly shifting.

The development of not just the relationship, but the characters in general was what kept me reading, and I am glad I did. With so many reviews comparing this book to R&J I was concerned that I wouldn’t like the story, but honestly I found very few similarities. I loved the way plots worked their way to the surface of the story, giving little hints and guidance along the way. It was the kind of plot where I could reasonably make assumptions about what I thought was going to happen, and do it with relative accuracy, but wasn’t written in a way that “well duh” ever entered into my head.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction or young adult novels.

The Fault in Our Stars Review

The Fault In Our Stars, written by John Green of the vlogbrothers, is one of the most enthralling and realistic works of fiction I have read in a very long time. The story is captivating, page turning without being overly dramatic. Often times I have found that in an attempt to captivate readers, authors leave outrageous cliffhangers at the end of chapters. Green needs no such ploy. Green is able to describe the characters in a way that makes you feel like youʼre watching a movie. Clear images are aroused in the readers mind without lengthy and boring descriptions. Rather than bore the reader, Green allowed the actions and tone of the characters to illuminate who they are. The actions are so real, it is easy to image having these conversations over a glass of wine after a dinner party with friends.
This was a book that I went from sobbing out loud, to laughing within two paragraphs, and it felt natural. Hazel and Augustusʼs struggles were real, as a reader I felt like I was going through their turmoil with them. Even through their hardships, they tried to find humor and happiness where they could. Despite this, they still would retreat to solitude and anger, normal reactions that again made them seem so real it is hard to remember they are simply characters in a story.
Following the story of sixteen year-old Hazel on her ending battle with cancer, Hazel has all but given up on associating with the world. Preferring the company of reality TV marathons and rereading a book by her favorite author, Hazel has decided that she wishes to spend whatever time she has left in solitude. After being forced by her mother to attend weekly support groups for teenagers with cancer, Hazel meets Augustus. Clearly smitten with her, Augustus begins an attempt to court her. Hazel accepts his friendship, but tries to ignore her reciprocating feeling, knowing she will eventually leave the cancer-remittent Augustus. Succumbing to her feeling, the two delve into an intense and loving relationship. Shortly after their first sexual experience together Augustus reveals that his cancer is back, and has spread throughout his body, leaving him little time and no treatment options. The final weeks are a strain of Hazel, watching Augustus whither into a pitiable boy, and shows true emotion when she is frustrated or sickened by what she sees. He reactions are not a sugar coated version of how you are suppose to act, but rather what feels of reality, and true thoughts when watching someone piss themselves and not have the strength to stop from vomiting on oneself. The book ends shortly after the death of Augustus, and before Hazelʼs. An ending that has to be one of the most powerful and beautifully honest pieces of writing I have ever had the pleasure to read. While much of the bookʼs main outline is here, the very ending I will not spoil for you, but rather encourage you to read. 

Carrie by Stephen King: a review

Carrie is one of the most infamous horror stories ever written by Stephen King. Its story arc is used over and over again in soap operas, primetime TV, and movies (similar to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol). Carrie is a nobody in High School, in fact she’s worse than a nobody, she’s weird and comes from a weird family. Carrie’s mother is a crazed religious zealot who believes that her own daughter was a curse from God because she engaged in marital sex, who won’t let her daughter make friends, and doesn’t even explain breasts and menstruation to her daughter. This last issue is where the story starts to take place, sixteen-year-old Carrie, being teased in the gym shower as she starts her first period. Strange things begin happening around Carrie whenever she is frustrated, belittled or teased until the climax near the end of the book.

I honestly never felt the need to read this book. I hadn’t even seen the movie, but it is a plot used so often in TV Halloween specials and Soap Opera prom stories (I still remember NBC’s Passions and how amazing it was) so I never cared to read the story until my book club decided to read it. I am so glad I did, I loved the fanatical character of the mom, and how throughout the mainly linear plotline of Carrie’s Prom sections of newspapers and books from after the event are inserted into the storyline. Even though I knew how it was going to end, I really wanted Carrie to turn her life around. I didn’t want the sappy ending where she’s just accepted and gets a boyfriend, the cookie-cutter ending. What I wanted was for Carrie to say “eff you” to the kids at school, smack her crazy mother in the face (with a hammer), and just go start her own life in the woods or something. Alas, that obviously couldn’t happen, but even knowing how it was going to end, I still really enjoyed the book.