Click for Source Image By Ellie Bowker
Eleanor & Park is a contemporary young adult novel by Rainbow Rowell that was published in February 2013. The novel has received many honours, has been featured on countless end-of-year best lists, and has been praised by notable authors such as John Green, Stephanie Perkins and Gayle Forman. Written in third person narrative, it follows the two teenagers, Eleanor and Park, from the moment they meet on the dreadful school bus to the tear jerking goodbye.
Eleanor & Park is a contemporary young adult novel by Rainbow Rowell that was published in February 2013. The novel has received many honours, has been featured on countless end-of-year best lists, and has been praised by notable authors such as John Green, Stephanie Perkins and Gayle Forman. Written in third person narrative, it follows the two teenagers, Eleanor and Park, from the moment they meet on the dreadful school bus to the tear jerking goodbye.
Click for Source Image Eleanor is the new girl in town and with her mismatched clothes, chaotic family life and unruly red hair she sticks out like a sore thumb (although she wishes she didn’t). Park, quiet and careful, sits by himself at the back of the bus in his black t-shirts with his headphones on and tries his best to remain invisible. And, of course, this all changes when Eleanor sits next to him on the bus on her first day at school. Thankfully, there are no cliché instant love scenes or love at first sight fantasies being drawled out as the story starts out simply. The relationship between Eleanor and Park develops realistically as you would expect it to between teenagers. The pair starts off not even being able to say “hello” to one another but slowly and steadily, through comic book exchanges and mix tape sharing, they fall for each other. We learn that Eleanor’s home life is not great at all. She has four younger brothers and sisters, a dad who is never around and an abusive monster of a stepfather and they’re surviving on the little money that they can scrape together. Park, on the other hand, lives the average family life.
Eleanor & Park is not your typical high school romance nor is it about how opposites attract. The focus is on the interesting development between two characters that are different but somehow fit well together. They are definitely not perfect characters and are flawed not only individually but also as a couple. At first, it was difficult to connect with these characters; Park was rude and Eleanor was irritating and it took some time to finally warm up to them. As a couple, there were conversations and arguments that they shared that were annoying but, in all honesty, that made them real. There are few sappy or cheesy romantic moments within the book but when there are moments like that, a character will point that out. This is what made Eleanor and Park come to life and it was clear that they weren’t floating around in some make believe world.
It’s Eleanor’s home life that keeps this story grounded and stops it from dragging on or becoming dull. Eleanor’s stepfather abuses her mother and she feels that there is nothing in her power to stop this from happening which is, I imagine, how a lot of victims of domestic violence feel. Not only is domestic violence an issue in the story but there are also issues of bullying, racism (as Park is half Korean), child abuse and body image, all of which are very sensitive issues to tackle, especially in a book primarily written for impressionable teenagers. Issues of bullying, racism and body image were handled realistically; there was no glamorising of these issues, and it was treated like a genuine problem because that’s what it is. The domestic/child abuse issues, I felt, were glossed over. It hangs in the background but it was never tackled head on like it should have been. Whether this was intentional, I don’t know.
It was strange that the book was written in a dual narrative but both in the third person. The dual narrative was good to get the perspective of both characters but as it was written in the third person it left this air of mystery as to what the characters were actually thinking at all moments in the story. The writing style was creative enough to be able to see how differently Eleanor and Park think and feel compared to each other, it was as if you’re a fly on the wall during the development of the relationship.
The ending was satisfying. It would have been so easy to have a simple happily ever after ending but Rowell wouldn't allow that. We see these characters torn apart and even though their bickering was annoying at times, the separation is heart breaking. After Eleanor and Park have separated, we are treated to little parts of their lives without each other and at the very end we’re shown the tiniest ray of hope that maybe our star-crossed lovers could actually make it work out.
After reading Rowell’s novel Fangirl first, I had high expectations for this book as I absolutely fell in love with Fangirl. Unfortunately, I didn’t fall for this book as much as I hoped that I would. Yes, there were parts that were deliciously funny, hopeful and heart-wrenching and it is a brilliant novel but aside from the cute relationship there was a big lack of plot. Although it was a nice read, I felt that most parts were direction less; there was no plot build up and if you were to look at Eleanor & Park on a graph, it would mostly be a flat line with few rises that are still not very steep.
That being said, it is an amazing novel with an addictive and superb writing style that will draw you in and make it so you won’t be able to put this book down. However, do not get your hopes up waiting for a major event to crash through the story because it’s not going to. That is the only downside to this book but it was still a pleasure to read.
Eleanor & Park is not your typical high school romance nor is it about how opposites attract. The focus is on the interesting development between two characters that are different but somehow fit well together. They are definitely not perfect characters and are flawed not only individually but also as a couple. At first, it was difficult to connect with these characters; Park was rude and Eleanor was irritating and it took some time to finally warm up to them. As a couple, there were conversations and arguments that they shared that were annoying but, in all honesty, that made them real. There are few sappy or cheesy romantic moments within the book but when there are moments like that, a character will point that out. This is what made Eleanor and Park come to life and it was clear that they weren’t floating around in some make believe world.
It’s Eleanor’s home life that keeps this story grounded and stops it from dragging on or becoming dull. Eleanor’s stepfather abuses her mother and she feels that there is nothing in her power to stop this from happening which is, I imagine, how a lot of victims of domestic violence feel. Not only is domestic violence an issue in the story but there are also issues of bullying, racism (as Park is half Korean), child abuse and body image, all of which are very sensitive issues to tackle, especially in a book primarily written for impressionable teenagers. Issues of bullying, racism and body image were handled realistically; there was no glamorising of these issues, and it was treated like a genuine problem because that’s what it is. The domestic/child abuse issues, I felt, were glossed over. It hangs in the background but it was never tackled head on like it should have been. Whether this was intentional, I don’t know.
It was strange that the book was written in a dual narrative but both in the third person. The dual narrative was good to get the perspective of both characters but as it was written in the third person it left this air of mystery as to what the characters were actually thinking at all moments in the story. The writing style was creative enough to be able to see how differently Eleanor and Park think and feel compared to each other, it was as if you’re a fly on the wall during the development of the relationship.
The ending was satisfying. It would have been so easy to have a simple happily ever after ending but Rowell wouldn't allow that. We see these characters torn apart and even though their bickering was annoying at times, the separation is heart breaking. After Eleanor and Park have separated, we are treated to little parts of their lives without each other and at the very end we’re shown the tiniest ray of hope that maybe our star-crossed lovers could actually make it work out.
After reading Rowell’s novel Fangirl first, I had high expectations for this book as I absolutely fell in love with Fangirl. Unfortunately, I didn’t fall for this book as much as I hoped that I would. Yes, there were parts that were deliciously funny, hopeful and heart-wrenching and it is a brilliant novel but aside from the cute relationship there was a big lack of plot. Although it was a nice read, I felt that most parts were direction less; there was no plot build up and if you were to look at Eleanor & Park on a graph, it would mostly be a flat line with few rises that are still not very steep.
That being said, it is an amazing novel with an addictive and superb writing style that will draw you in and make it so you won’t be able to put this book down. However, do not get your hopes up waiting for a major event to crash through the story because it’s not going to. That is the only downside to this book but it was still a pleasure to read.
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