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Title: Eleanor & Park
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin/Macmillian
Genre: Young Adult- Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Source: public library
Synopsis via Goodreads:
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.
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| source Yahoo.com |
This pretty much sums up how I felt reading the last two lines of this book. If you want to visualize a clear cut path for your hero and heroine in the end, sorry! Rowell just keeps it real with us in true 80's style with a Choose Your Own Adventure style ending. A certain cliffhanger, unanswered questions and hope all bundled up into one made for this heart-aching EPIC read.
Okay... so let me start with the beginning. I've read Fangirl, Rowell's other YA hit novel, and had heard ALL the hype about Eleanor & Park so I got on the wait list at the library and had to wait FOREVERS! I sat down yesterday morning and plowed through this stopping for a bowl of cereal and to locate my sticky notes.
"The me that's me right now is yours. Always."
I love Eleanor and it's probably because I see so much of myself and others in her. From her physical make up to her clothing and social awkward facial expressions I felt it ALL. Suffering bullying at school and at home, Eleanor spends most of her days avoiding attention, which leads her to build a quiet relationship with Park surround by mental and physical walls. Eleanor's overall strength and resilience as she lives a double life of bliss with Park and literal hell everywhere else is unspeakable.
Park comes from a stable home environment even if he's still trying to find his place in the world. While struggling with his identifier, being half-Korean, and the pressures of masculinity from his Veteran dad Park finds his voice to mature past the superhero qualities he reads about to support the growth of his own integrity and bravery needed to truly love Eleanor and himself. Bonus points for having an ethnically diverse cast even if it wasn't completely flushed out.
"The first time he'd held her hand, it felt so good
that it crowded out all the bad things.
It felt better than anything had ever hurt."
that it crowded out all the bad things.
It felt better than anything had ever hurt."
The awkward relationship is pieced together with the support of comic books and music of all genres from The Smiths to Elvis Costello to The Beatles. It's subtle and endearing reminding you of the pre-cell phone days where you waited around for a phone call and talked until you fell asleep. Mutual stories of teenage angst and misunderstanding are present, even if on different degrees, we all know there's no Cleaver's out there. We're reminded that love is hard. It's hard to love your family, a boy/girl and most of all yourself. As frustrated as I was with the ending, it was a sign of hope and I appreciated that since real life hardly has fairy tale endings.
The story is written in third person, but split into dual narratives between Eleanor and Park. I really enjoyed the choppiness as it illustrated the tempo of the storyline and I felt like I was in their heads, experiencing everything day-by-day. If you are not a fan of dual narratives, and several in a single chapter, then I would suggest getting the audiobook. Confusion is no reason to miss this great story!
Eleanor & Park is how Romeo and Juliet should have been written.
Check out Rowell's playlists for the book here. There's soooo much good music here that it's not to be missed.
P.S. - Only Rainbow Rowell can ever make me want to visit Nebraska... well, her and the College World Series.
5 Stars- I laughed. I cried. I may have thrown a thing or two.
I'm buying the book and you should too. (If you haven't already.)
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