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A review by thebooksandpages
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
5.0
Disclaimer: I am aware that this book is problematic, but please respect my opinion as you are also entitled to your own. Again these are just my opinions, please refrain from saying hate comments below.
“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
- Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park
Review:
Eleanor & Park is narrated in a third person view, that is being told by Park. The first thing that I read as soon as I opened this book is how Park lost Eleanor. For me this was a good strategy to get the attention of the reader. It made me curious on what happened to him and Eleanor. It was August 1986 when Park met Eleanor. He met Eleanor on the bus when she went up and looked where she could sit. Eleanor was a new student in their school since she just moved in into Omaha. Eleanor got every one's attention because of the way she looked, all eyes were on her as she walked down the aisle to find a seat, eventually Park yelled at her to just sit down already, and she sat down beside Park. This moment for me was the most interesting part to read since I witnessed how they both got to know each other. How their relationship started. I love how Park noticed that Eleanor was reading the comics that he was reading and instead of saying something to her, he just let her read them with him and left her some comic books to read on her seat. Through this we get to know how their friendship started. I honestly, think that their relationship was too quick to happen, nonetheless I still liked it since I find it cute how they wanted to keep their relationship a secret despite it being obvious. We could also see how Park is in love with Eleanor, I find it cute that he always gives Eleanor some comics to read and music to listen to, and he understands the situation that Eleanor was in.
I felt connected with Park’s character the most, especially his personality, attitude, and behavior. What I do not like about him is that sometimes he just wants to play safe with Steve’s crew. Despite them always picking up on Eleanor, he always tells her to just ignore it, for the sake of him not being bullied as well. Though I am happy how that changed throughout the book, how he managed to defend Eleanor from Steve. I also love how Eleanor is trying to be strong and happy despite her current situation at home with Richie and the constant bullying around her. I saw how the bullying affects our characters, making them scared to reach out and ask for help. We could also see how Eleanor’s family are trying to live their lives as normal as possible despite being abused by Richie. We could also see how poverty affects their family.
This booked tackled a lot of issues— bullying, body shaming, domestic violence, racism, toxic masculinity, and homophobia. Despite having these sensitive topics to talk about for me they were not represented or portrayed properly, especially with Park’s character.
I honestly loved the book if we ignore the fact that it is problematic. I love the flow of the story and its pace. Another thing that I love is how we could see Park’s dad being supportive of him with Eleanor’s relationship, from the beginning I thought he would be against it and tell Park that he should have not picked Eleanor as his girlfriend, but I’m glad he supported his son’s relationship despite him being mad/disappointed with him with other things.
For me, this book was such an easy read and it was difficult for me to put it down since I was really hooked with the story; when I was done reading with the book I have realized how Eleanor did not give Park any assurance that she loves him. Yes, we could see in Eleanor’s perspective how she feels towards Park, but we never see her say “I love you” to Park. I think there is a part of her that is holding herself back to commit into their relationships since she knows that their relationship will come to an end soon. She was at least expecting that their relationship will get ruined because there is no assurance that she could stay in Richie’s house too long. On the topic of Richie, I was shocked to know that Richie was the one who kept writing mean things to Eleanor, I did not expect that since Rainbow Rowell was building up Tina to be the bad guy during Gym class. I also did not expect that Steve and Tina were willing to help Eleanor and Park hide from Richie. The scene from which Eleanor and Park hid into Steve’s Garage, we were able to see a glimpse of Steve, Tina and the other neighborhood kids’ life.
I do agree that this book is problematic but if I were going to rate it based on the plot and the writing style, I would give it 5 stars, since I really love the plot of the story and I felt connected with the characters. It was also very difficult for me to put it down.
“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
- Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor & Park
Review:
Eleanor & Park is narrated in a third person view, that is being told by Park. The first thing that I read as soon as I opened this book is how Park lost Eleanor. For me this was a good strategy to get the attention of the reader. It made me curious on what happened to him and Eleanor. It was August 1986 when Park met Eleanor. He met Eleanor on the bus when she went up and looked where she could sit. Eleanor was a new student in their school since she just moved in into Omaha. Eleanor got every one's attention because of the way she looked, all eyes were on her as she walked down the aisle to find a seat, eventually Park yelled at her to just sit down already, and she sat down beside Park. This moment for me was the most interesting part to read since I witnessed how they both got to know each other. How their relationship started. I love how Park noticed that Eleanor was reading the comics that he was reading and instead of saying something to her, he just let her read them with him and left her some comic books to read on her seat. Through this we get to know how their friendship started. I honestly, think that their relationship was too quick to happen, nonetheless I still liked it since I find it cute how they wanted to keep their relationship a secret despite it being obvious. We could also see how Park is in love with Eleanor, I find it cute that he always gives Eleanor some comics to read and music to listen to, and he understands the situation that Eleanor was in.
I felt connected with Park’s character the most, especially his personality, attitude, and behavior. What I do not like about him is that sometimes he just wants to play safe with Steve’s crew. Despite them always picking up on Eleanor, he always tells her to just ignore it, for the sake of him not being bullied as well. Though I am happy how that changed throughout the book, how he managed to defend Eleanor from Steve. I also love how Eleanor is trying to be strong and happy despite her current situation at home with Richie and the constant bullying around her. I saw how the bullying affects our characters, making them scared to reach out and ask for help. We could also see how Eleanor’s family are trying to live their lives as normal as possible despite being abused by Richie. We could also see how poverty affects their family.
This booked tackled a lot of issues— bullying, body shaming, domestic violence, racism, toxic masculinity, and homophobia. Despite having these sensitive topics to talk about for me they were not represented or portrayed properly, especially with Park’s character.
I honestly loved the book if we ignore the fact that it is problematic. I love the flow of the story and its pace. Another thing that I love is how we could see Park’s dad being supportive of him with Eleanor’s relationship, from the beginning I thought he would be against it and tell Park that he should have not picked Eleanor as his girlfriend, but I’m glad he supported his son’s relationship despite him being mad/disappointed with him with other things.
For me, this book was such an easy read and it was difficult for me to put it down since I was really hooked with the story; when I was done reading with the book I have realized how Eleanor did not give Park any assurance that she loves him. Yes, we could see in Eleanor’s perspective how she feels towards Park, but we never see her say “I love you” to Park. I think there is a part of her that is holding herself back to commit into their relationships since she knows that their relationship will come to an end soon. She was at least expecting that their relationship will get ruined because there is no assurance that she could stay in Richie’s house too long. On the topic of Richie, I was shocked to know that Richie was the one who kept writing mean things to Eleanor, I did not expect that since Rainbow Rowell was building up Tina to be the bad guy during Gym class. I also did not expect that Steve and Tina were willing to help Eleanor and Park hide from Richie. The scene from which Eleanor and Park hid into Steve’s Garage, we were able to see a glimpse of Steve, Tina and the other neighborhood kids’ life.
I do agree that this book is problematic but if I were going to rate it based on the plot and the writing style, I would give it 5 stars, since I really love the plot of the story and I felt connected with the characters. It was also very difficult for me to put it down.