Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book): Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.
Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.
Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.
Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
MY OPINION: ****
So hey there. I finished reading this book. Again.
I just reread my old review and cringed. Okay, the review that was posted here was not my real review, which can be found on iRead (Link below). But both reviews were kind of horrible.
When I first read this book, I remember feeling so CONFUSED. Like, I had no idea what happened so I just focused on what I did understand and left it at that. Now, a couple years later, I finally understand what went on and how it ended and everything that left me so befuddled before.
I reread this book for book club at school for social issues. I mean, the social issue in this book was mainly... what? Was it the fact that Eleanor is stranger than the other girls, to say the least, but still manages to have a wonderfully beautiful relationship with this guy, Park, who is more focused on music and other things than girls? Or is it the fact that this is set in the 80s and is so different from other books because it focuses on problems that were around back then but have only gotten worse nowadays?
I have to say, I forgot about the time period and I thought that this book was set in the now, as I like to call it, and just thought that Park and Eleanor like to listen to old music for some strange reason. But then I read the beginning part while I was looking for a passage to put into the essay I have to write on this book and saw the year.
Reading this for the second time was definitely enlightening for me. It wasn't that it was a lot better than the first time but things were so much clearer. I think this honestly just shows how much I've grown as a reader. Before, I didn't really get a lot of things that went on in both this book and others and now, it's become the norm for me, if that makes any sense.
I look back on my old reviews and mentally slap myself. What was mentally wrong with me? I said that I didn't like the book because there was too much profanity.
Um, there really wasn't. *Mentally curses 12-year-old me* I thought that everything was so wrong in this book but... I've read so much worse.
I also was confused about Park and his confused self. Yes, I still am a little on the unknown side. Huh? What happened? I know Park liked makeup and he even thought of himself as gay before he met her but I didn't really understand that whole part. Was it just saying that he should just be himself or what? That just because he may "act like a girl" like he says or wears eyeliner to school that he's not masculine?
I loved the diversity in this book. Generally, I feel like it's always two characters of the same race that fall in love with each other but in this book, Park is half-Korean, which I appreciated since there are so few diverse characters, though the world is shaping up now. Also, can we think about the lack of Asian characters?
I love how unique this book was, especially when you think about the relationship. Park and Eleanor take things slow, they love each other just for who they are, they build their love on their similar interests, not because of what they do in private in bedrooms.
I just want to talk about Eleanor for a couple of paragraphs now. I didn't like her at all. I thought that yes, she has a hard life, but other than that, she was kind of rude and horrible. She didn't really even seem like she loved Park all that much. She questions his love for her all of the time and she doesn't even want to give them some closure. She doesn't write to him or call him or even talk to him as much as he does to her. Park is so romantic and sweet and in my opinion, Eleanor was the exact opposite. Like, what was wrong with her?
Eleanor and her clothes and her hair. I felt like she was so self-conscious about herself that it made her shallow. She also blamed everything on Tina, the girl who wasn't really nice to her from the start, when Park so adamantly says that Tina would never be that mean.
Richie was the worst character I've ever read about. I never hated a guy that much. He was so MEAN and he was SICK. He made everyone around him sick except for the mom, who I also hated. Like, she is so weak and why did she not divorce this guy? WHY DID SHE MARRY HIM IN THE FIRST PLACE? IS SHE REALLY THAT BLIND.
The other kids in this book seriously annoyed me. Like, what do they see in this guy? And why do they have to always be there? Ben was also confusing to me. I thought he was older but then here he is, afraid to go in the basement and playing with toy cars? I was confuzzled, as my friend would say.
I would recommend this book to YA readers. Now, excuse me as I go finish my essay.
Main Character: Park, Eleanor
Sidekick(s): Park's parents, Steve, etc
Villain(s): Richie
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
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