Eleanor & Park

by Rainbow Rowell

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩?

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧,

𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠?

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮?“

SYNOPSIS

Eleanor & Park could not be more different. She’s a bigger-than-average girl, nicknamed Big-Red by her schoolmates, with a head of wild curls & an eccentric clothing style. He’s a moody, pale-skinned Asian-American, with a taste for rock music, comic books & black clothing. They somehow end up sitting side-by-side on the school bus on the first day of school. And despite being born on such dissimilar planets with contrasting personalities & backgrounds, they fall in love.

REVIEW

I went into this thinking it’d be a light YA love story—but I was proven wrong.

It was about first love as reviews often indicated, but also about family & friendship, about the awkward & painful process of discovering your identity & struggles of fitting in without losing yourself as a teen. More so, the story also touches upon topics of domestic violence, racism & bullying, as characters undergo certain disturbing incidents throughout the story that may be threateningly overwhelming—*trigger alert*

However, there were certain aspects seemingly lacking. There’s the potential of a deeper dive into the character background of Park as an Asian-American living in a very white neighborhood. As were there a too-sudden appearance of mutual connection between Eleanor & Park that developed into love of which I failed to comprehend. Explanations of Eleanor’s family were also a bit left out. I do appreciate the diversity that the story had to offer, but felt there could’ve been a deeper discussion.

Overall, if you’re looking for a book that touches your heart gently, makes you laugh along with hilarious conversations & lets you shed some tears without feeling too hollowed out, then this is the book for you.