This review can also be found on my blog, thisisjustabookblog.tumblr.com 
 Though this cover is quite nice, I have to say that I think the US edition of Eleanor & Park is really, really beautiful, and I wish that I had been able to read that one. Not that is makes any difference to the actual reading experience; Eleanor & Park is a great read, and book that I definitely recommend to any lovers or YA Lit or Romance books. 
 The highlight of the novel is definitely the relationship between the two eponymous characters. The way Rowell depicts their relationship seemed very realistic and charming to me. The characters are sometimes awkward, they make mistakes and they say the wrong things. But, against the odds, they get to know each other and fall in love. Their conversations where sweet and cute and I loved reading about their relationship. 
 There's more to the book than the romance, though. Eleanor comes from a horrible home. Her mother has remarried someone who is both emotionally and physically abusive. I wish this had been talked about more; I felt that though it was mentioned, and there was definitely a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere when she was in her house, but I just didn't think there was enough depth to it. 
 However, I thought sometimes the third person narration led to a disconnect between the characters and myself. I didn't always completely understand what they were feeling sometimes too; the description of it was sometimes vague, and this coupled with the distant narration led to a sort of detachment. I was also troubled by the discussion of race in the book; though I wouldn't call it racist, I would say that perhaps it wasn't always dealt with in the best way. Any attempts the author made to highlight racism seemed to backfire to me, such as her discussion about her honour classes. It just was quite uncomfortable to read. 
 I have to admit that I guessed who was writing those notes to her before it was revealed, but the plot line was interesting. There was this horrible sense of foreboding in the run-up to the ending, especially because of the prologue, which makes you expect heartbreak right from the very beginning. The events at the end of the novel were sad, but there was hope at the very end too. And I'm going to hold on to that. 
 As I've said, this novel did have some drawbacks, but overall, I did enjoy it.