Eleanor & Park is the story of two teenagers. Eleanor is new in school, has big beautiful red hair (although, at that age, you can guess how the kids at school react to it), and has a heart breaking home life. Park has been going to this school and living in the same neighborhood all of his life. His father grew up here and is a big hulking Korean War veteran; his mom is from Korea and is a tiny, beautiful, elegant woman.

Eleanor and Park bond on the school bus over music and comic books. Slowly, each becomes the center of the other's world. You remember that feeling, right? Their minds are always on each other, and neither can really believe that the other really likes them.

If this was what the whole novel was about, it would be too mush-gushy, even for me! But Eleanor's home life is interwoven throughout this story in ways that are powerful and thought provoking. She is living with her mother and her abusive and alcoholic step-father with four siblings. All five of the children are sharing a single room with one bunkbed, which means that some kiddos are sleeping on the floor. They have no money - Eleanor's most prized possessions fit into one wooden grapefruit box, which is where she hides her life with Park.

This looks like a fat book, but you will speed right through it. Rowell is fabulous with dialogue and carries you through sweeping ideas and engages you without looking back. This book is thoroughly 80s and a mix of Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club - with a dash of your own first love.