I missed the "star-crossed" part when requesting this at the library, so the forward made my stomach drop a little. I was not in the mood for a sad ending, but I'd waiting too long on the hold list to return it without reading it. I read it. 
 I wish I hadn't read the forward, because the sense of impending doom colored my whole experience. Eleanor and Park were cute! Likeable! A little too true-to-life teenagery, but that comes with the YA fiction territory. 
 I didn't get the ending. I mean, I wasn't expecting them to get married, but it really ruined Eleanor for me. I cried and I was frustrated and I immediately started re-reading a Julie Klassen novel because she doesn't fuck around with her heroines and her love stories.