Friday, August 2, 2013

Review: Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park
By Rainbow Rowell
St. Martin's Press February 2013
325 pages
From the library

Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park is one of the most popular novels of the year. Park is a high school kid just trying to make it through each day. He is used to keeping his head down and staying invisible, but he can't help himself when a new girl climbs onto the bus one morning. Eleanor sticks out like a sore thumb with her bizarre clothing choices and flaming red hair. Park begrudgingly offers her the seat next to him and a tentative friendship is struck over music and comic books. As their relationship shifts from friendship to love, can their bond survive the cruelty of high school and the pain of Eleanor's broken home?

Since I may actually be the last person on the planet (at least among the book bloggers) to read this book, I am only going to write about the book itself for a bit. I liked this book a lot. Rowell effortlessly captures life in the 1980s and life as a teenager. I appreciated that she gave us a multitude of characters - the popular kids, the outcast, and a character in the middle. Too many authors don't create any characters in between the two extremes. Eleanor is mercilessly picked on. Park has a few close friends but isn't one of the popular kids. Rowell succeeds in making even her tormentors surprising and developed characters. I loved that she showed the nuances of every type of high school kid.

I also loved the relationships between Park and his parents. It's so refreshing to see teens having a good relationship with their parents that doesn't preclude disagreements or discipline. This book strikes the perfect balance of a fluffy teen read and a dark look into young love that faces challenges at every turn. Eleanor and Park is charming and heartfelt and I completely understand how so many readers and bloggers have been won over by it.

That being said, I think I fell prey to the "problem of the popular book." When you hear about a book over and over again, you get very high expectations. Everyone seemed to adore this book and I was prepared to join the exclaiming masses. I did really like this book, but I think the best way to read Eleanor and Park is without preconceived nations. This is the perfect story to discover unexpectedly as surprising gift from a talented writer. If you haven't read this book yet, plan to pick it up. The best way to read it will be in a few months when all of the buzz has died down.  

12 comments:

  1. I agree, it's good to see a positive parental relationship in a teen book, so many of them are negative. I loved this book, so I'm glad you liked it as well :)

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    1. I feel like the bad parent-teen relationship is so overdone in YA literature. Some kids have bad relationships, but not all of them!

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  2. Since I am still in the queue for this book (I'm hold No. 8 now!) it is highly likely that it will be a while before I can get my hands on this book. So, nope, you are not the last book blogger to read it! :P

    The only preconceived notion I have about this book is all the goodness I felt from reading Rowell's Attachments. So based on that, I am looking forward to reading everything else from Rowell!

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    1. I am excited to read Attachments. It will be interesting to see the difference in a book written about adults and one about teens.

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  3. I loved this book to bits :) I really can't wait to read her other stuff...if I ever get to it!

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    1. It's one of those books that just makes you feel optimistic about people and about writing. I think you and I can both make it through her books - we only have two to go! :)

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  4. You aren't the last person to get to this book. In fact I've only recently heard of it haha. You gave it a good review, so on my wishlist it goes!

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    1. It's good to know. I felt like I spent a few weeks reading blog posts just about this book. I hope you enjoy it!

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  5. Nice review, Lindsey. I read this book sometime back and liked it very much. (My review is here, in case you are interested.) I liked what you said about how the relationship between Park and his parents was depicted. I also liked very much what you said about the problem of the popular book. I sometimes avoid popular books because of that. But this year has been good for me on that respect - I read this book and John Green's 'The Fault in Our Stars' and liked both of them. Thanks for this wonderful review.

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    1. Thanks so much, Vishy.
      I go back and forth about popular books. I am usually glad that I read them, but I think there is something magical about the unexpected book. There is almost a sense of letdown when a book is as good as everyone says that they are, because you expected it to be that way.

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    2. I liked what you said about there being a sense of letdown because a book is as good as everyone says :) Paradoxical and true.

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    3. It's so strange, isn't it??

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