A review by allingoodtime
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I went into this book just knowing I was going to love it, I’ve been meaning to read it for years. Unfortunately, after it was first published and everyone loved on it I didn’t pay attention to anything else that was said about this book. I didn’t want my expectations to be too high. But if I had looked into current views on this story I probably wouldn’t have read it. It’s so hard to review this book because, on the one hand, I loved the story, on the other hand, it is racist and fatphobic and hard to read in the year 2024 when we know so much more (yes, more than even a mere 12 years ago when it was originally published) about internalized racism, bullying, body image issues, etc.

As I was reading this book I kept thinking, “I cannot be the only one that finds this racist!” After I read the book I looked into it, after all, I am a white woman and maybe I was wrong. Nope. My feelings about it were spot on. Hopefully, I can explain this correctly. I understand there was racism in the mid/late 1980s in a rural area. Park’s family is the only Asian family around. Of course there is racism. I even understand Park having internalized racism when he has a white father who is looked up to in the community and who he looks nothing like. However, the racism and Park’s feelings about himself and his mom are never addressed. Neither is Eleanor’s internalized fatphobia. In fact, Park has some not-so-nice thoughts about Eleanor even after they are a couple.

Here’s the thing. This book could have been amazing, even by 2024 standards, without the racism. The core of the story, the friendship between Eleanor and Park and Eleanor’s struggle to do what is right for herself, is beautiful. There are good lessons in this book, but they are overshadowed by the bad lessons. This is why it’s so important to have a push for Own Voices stories. From what I can tell the author is a white woman and it shows. I’m not going to give this book a star rating because I just cannot figure out how to do so. This book really didn’t age well and makes it nearly impossible. 
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