If You Liked "The Fault In Our Stars"... (Dani)

...then you'll love Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. While all of us Tappy girls freak out over the release of the trailer for the upcoming movie of John Green's young adult favorite (If you missed it, watch it and cry here), let me point you towards another book I have found shockingly similar for the following reasons:

• Both have amazing complex heartbreaking CHARACTERS who while falling in love aren't just falling in love. They are more multifaceted and strong and going through life. Not just a book about love.
• They are just so REAL. Eleanor and Hazel have real insecurities and are so so afraid of love. And the boys have insecurities too. (Cool difference: Eleanor & Park is from both perspectives, so you get to see inside Park's mind too)
• Both make me cry
• I always want to reread both...always.
• Both hilarious. GREAT WRITING.
• Okay? Okay.

Their takes on eyes:

TFIOS: 

And yet—I cut a glance to him, and his eyes were still on me.

It occurred to me why they call it eye contact.  

I walked into the circle and sat down next to Isaac, two seats away from the boy. I glanced again. He was still watching me. 

Look, let me just say it: He was hot. A nonhot boy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a hot boy . . . well.

E&P: 

He closed his eyes and shook his head, like he was embarrassed.  
"I … just really don’t want to say goodbye to you, Eleanor. Ever."
He opened his eyes and looked straight into her. Maybe this was third base. 

The three words:

TFIOS:

I'm in love with you," he said quietly.

"Augustus," I said. 

"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.”

E&P: 

"I’m just saying… I love you. And I can’t imagine stopping…" 

She shook her head. "But you’re twelve." 

"I’m sixteen…" he said. "Bono was fifteen when he met his wife, and Robert Smith was fourteen..." 

"Romeo, sweet Romeo..." 

The parallels are uncanny. 

Quick, let me explain: in the last one, she's making fun of him like she made fun of Romeo and Juliet in school because she thinks they are too young and immature and spoiled to actually feel lifelong love for each other. Throughout the book, she's trying to give all of herself but she has to hold herself back because she can't foresee herself getting to be with him for real because of her stepdad.

So anyway, before you blame me for a very incomplete assessment of the book, here's a little more on what Eleanor & Park is all about. Set in 1986 to the music of The Cure and Joy Division (I absolutely recommend listening to them for what admittedly was my first time while you read not just for the vibe but also since they pretty much founded the alternative genre), the novel depicts two kids who change each other's lives as they try to deal with all the issues of fitting in and standing out and Eleanor's horrible abusive dictatorial drunk of a stepdad. They're pretty cute; they read comic books together on the bus. And you can take a break from crying about The Fault In Our Stars to cry about something else for a change. 

I also recommend Rainbow Rowell's other YA novel, Fangirl, about life and love from the perspective of a girl who is famous for writing online fanfiction and has a twin and is starting college!

Stay fabulous and submit to Tapestry by February 19!
Dani