I started Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell quite a few months ago, but couldn't quite get into it. After seeing that Rainbow Rowell books were on sale at Amazon last week I was inspired to finish the book and stayed up way too late Friday night binge reading. While I thought the book started slow, it really picked up about a third of the way through and I found myself completely unable to set this one down.
Synopsis: Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this 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.
Eleanor & Park is a young adult novel, though I'm guessing that almost anyone can relate to this sometimes sweet " and oftentimes heart-wrenching " tale of first love. The story is told both by Eleanor and Park, so you get to know each character equally, although in a way you really only get to know how they feel about one another (and about popular culture). You also learn about their home lives. Park is half-Korean but lives in a loving middle-class family. Eleanor has just returned to live with her mom and abusive step-dad, after she was kicked out of their house and forced to live with family friends for a year. There's barely enough money in Eleanor's family to feed the family, and Eleanor's mom has to find extra money to buy things like clothing for the kids. While this book takes place in Omaha, these characters would have been right at home in the low-to-middle-class and mixed-race neighborhood that I grew up in, so I felt like either of these characters could have been my friends.
I wouldn't say this book changed my life, but the synopsis was correct in that it did make me recall my own first love. The sweetness. The innocence. The complexity. Being overwhelmed. Rainbow Rowell does a tremendous job writing about the complexity of first love!
The ending of this book was gripping, to say the least, though I found myself left with two questions (possible minor spoiler alerts): 1. What about the rest of Eleanor's family? 2. Who put Eleanor's clothes in the toilet? It doesn't seem possible that it's the same person who was drawing on her notebooks.
Eleanor & Park was ultimately a quick read and I recommend it if you want to go back in time a bit and remember what it was like to be a teenager all over again.
By the way, I was surprised to see that Eleanor & Park was censored in one town in Minnesota. I've read quite a few young adult novels this past year, and though the main characters deal with some tough issues, this is one of the tamest YA novels I've come across. It's probably best for older kids (and adults!), but I didn't think there was anything censor-worthy here. (Not that I ever do.)
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell | Kindle ($4.99); Nook ($4.99); Hardcover ($11.20)
Check out my Summer 2014 Reading List for other books I'll be reading (and reviewing) this summer!
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