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Eleanor & Park Book Review...Kinda
By Kate Maxcy March 29, 2014
So at the beginning of this semester, during the (dreaded) much anticipated first week of classes, I had nothing in particular to do.
One of my friends loaned me the book Eleanor & Park by the female version of literary genius John Green: Rainbow Rowell. So, as I sat in my room with no homework to do and no desire to start anything new on Netflix, I thought: “hey, why don’t I start this?”
What I’m about to confess is shameful: I started the novel on a Wednesday afternoon and finished it that night… (breaks were taken for eating, using the bathroom, doing random things around the house, etc.) I’d never done that before! I literally just kept turning the pages until it was no mo.
Now, let’s start at the cover: I’d first seen this book on Urban Outfitters’ website and couldn’t help but check it out because of the intriguing graphic of headphones being shared by the covers’ characters.
To answer your budding questions, yes, this is a young adult fiction book. Yes, the two main characters are sixteen year olds. But hey, we were all sixteen year olds not too long ago. And the author, who published the book in February of last year, was much older than sixteen when she wrote it!
Anywho, on to the review: Eleanor & Park is a tale of two tormented youths who are just trying to get by, and end up crossing paths by fate of a bus stop and headphones.
Park is a popular, cute Korean kid with good taste in music. Eleanor, in addition to not being able to change the fact that she only has raggedy, mismatched clothes and red hair, she is also the new kid.
Their adolescent hesitation is evident in the plethora of ellipses...but we slowly but surely bounce from Eleanor to Park’s chapters and then (watch) read them converge into a single story.
Set in 1986, mixed cassette tapes were a thing (I can only imagine *swoon*) and when Park gives Eleanor one, their friendship blossoms. They become more than friends, but I’ll stop there.
Instead, I’ll leave you with a few quotes that struck a chord with me and reminded me of some of the good ole adolescent days, and they probably will for you too. But if these quotes don’t hook you, then I don’t know what will...
“I want everyone to meet you. You're my favorite person of all time.” --Park to Eleanor
“I just want to break that song into pieces and love them all to death.” --Eleanor to Park
“I'm sorry about yesterday," she said. He hung on to his straps and shrugged. "Yesterday happens.” --Eleanor to Park
“You look like a protagonist.” --Eleanor to Park
Readers who enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp, or Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell will also enjoy this novel.
Happy reading,
