Bibliophiles Review: Eleanor & Park
This time we’re talking loooove stories on Bibliophiles Review, and that love is between the titular characters of Rainbow Rowell’s hit YA novel Eleanor & Park. Eleanor is the new girl and misfit at her high school in a rural area near Omaha, Nebraska. Her voluminous, curly red hair, full figure, and thrift store clothes make her an easy target for the nasty popular kids that come pre-packaged with every high school experience. Luckily, she lands a seat on the school bus next to Park Sheridan, a sensitive and polite boy who loves loud music and comic books. Park quickly warms to the weird new girl with big hair and offers her his Walkman (the story takes place in the mid-1980s). The two fall hard for each other despite being faced with the difficulties related to Eleanor’s tattered home life. Rowell’s novel is told from the perspective of Park and Eleanor alternately.
Trilby: Eleanor & Park took a while to get going, but there’s no shortage of conflict in this book! From the beginning, I responded to the character of Park. He is such a curious, sweet boy. I found his slow burning romance with Eleanor, who is rough around the edges, to be very endearing.
Charlotte: In my day I read a lot of YA novels that were mainly love stories, however I can’t recall any that incorporated the male love interest’s perspective. It was a cute aspect of Rowell’s storytelling but it also proved to be effective in telling a love story. I was crushing on Park from the first few pages. 😉
Trilby:Me too! I liked that with both Park and Eleanor, their characters never seemed over the top. That can often be a problem in YA books: characters seem either too adult or too young for their age. The way the story is told in two perspectives was very effective, and made everything easy to follow.
Charlotte: Park proved to be a more typical YA character than Eleanor. Certain aspects of Eleanor’s personality made total sense — she is defensive and extremely sensitive, a contrast of outspokenness and timidity. We know she’s from a broken home and carrying a lot of pain. At first, her character is presented as loving reading, yet she acts glib and disinterested in English class. Park was more predictable. The only surprising thing about Park was how quickly he went from fearing Eleanor to total infatuation with her.
Trilby: Park is that friend we all wanted to have in high school. I could never understand why he was friends with Steve, who seemed unbearable!
Charlotte: Park lacks people in his life who really want to get to know him. Late into the novel, he opens up to Eleanor about this. Park has a Korean mother and a white father and is the only kid who identifies as Asian American in his school. He feels a distance between him and his white male friends. He can’t stand most of them and seems to similarly resent his macho, ex-military father. With Eleanor he can be himself.
Trilby: Eleanor and Park’s living situations differ greatly, but they’re ultimately both looking for acceptance. Eleanor comes from a tough family situation. Her stepfather Richie menaces her and physically abuses her mother. That part of the novel is devastating.
Charlotte: The novel is marked by Eleanor’s desperation to escape her family situation, which she conceals from those around her. Eleanor’s counselor seems to have suspicions about the quality of her home life, but does not intervene. Almost all of her teachers seem unsympathetic to her in general and do little to prevent her from being bullied by other students. I wondered how much of this was an intention on Rowell’s part to illustrate the hardships in communities surrounding Omaha (where Rowell is from) and how it’s often treated as a normal part of life.
Trilby: Eleanor really looked to Park to fill the void in her life, both physically and emotionally. All this being said though, there is a lot of fun to be had in the book. Anyone who’s ever fallen in love to mix tapes can relate. Now we share thumb drives; much less romantic!
I think the most interesting park of the book is when Park’s mother realizes that Eleanor comes from a poor family and gives her a makeover. This is a big blanket statement from her, and something that Eleanor will remember. It felt like the movie moment in the book.
Charlotte: Things do get rocky for the couple, and a lot of the problems have root in Eleanor’s heavy emotional baggage. I liked that Rowell didn’t keep things sunny between them once they were together. So many teen romances are all about the chase. This actually showed the difficulties of keeping a relationship alive when you’re very young and inexperienced. AND when one person is shouldering a lot of personal pain.
Trilby: They’re forced to confront difficult truths early on, which speeds up their growth into adulthood.
Charlotte: Trilby, without giving away too much of the ending, are Eleanor and Park destined to be together?! The ending is somewhat ambiguous so I thought we could share some speculations.
Trilby: I saw Eleanor and Park’s relationship as an important one that wasn’t destined for longevity. They were both there for each other in hard times, but there’s no telling if that would sustain an adult relationship. The beauty of their romance was that it felt fleeting, to me.
Charlotte: I agree. I think they are both capable of going far in life, I want to see them both get out of Nebraska and do fantastic things with their lives. In particular I see Eleanor going far and making an entirely new life for herself, one she deserves. I think they will always have affection for each other, what they had will always be special.
TRILBY:💡💡💡
CHARLOTTE:💡💡💡💡
Image credit: Macmillian (US)
Trilby grew up in Australia, soaking up every Tim Winton novel like a sponge. If she had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Lockie Leonard. She also devoured all of Enid Blyton’s books, such as The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snicket) were other favorites. In her adult life she is a loyal Harry Potter fan, and continues to seek out YA fiction that is emotionally resonant, with a healthy injection of humor, of course. Find her on Twitter, and don’t hesitate to reach out and say, ‘hey!’
Charlotte’s favorite YA novel on earth is Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty. She is also passionate about Judy Blume, Sharon Creech, and other female authors who dedicate themselves to creating rich YA literature. Though realistic fiction will always be her favorite, she won’t shy away from historical fiction, dystopian fiction or fantasy if the story is magnetic enough. You can follow Charlotte on Twitter, too.
