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A review by obsidian_blue
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
5.0
I thought this novel was phenomenal.
This novel is told in alternating chapters by Eleanor and Park. Both of these characters are two 16 year old teenagers living in Omaha in the 1980s.
Park has an American father and Korean mother and except for those things comes from a home that could rival the Cleaver family at times. Park does his best to stay out of firing range from the cool kids on his bus. Feeling like a disappointment to his father and not very interested in girls he just likes to listen to music and read his comic books.
Eleanor comes from a broken home and is finally after a year long absence allowed to return home to live with her mother, little brothers and sister. Due to her stepfather's constant rage Eleanor tries her best to hide while at home and feels as if school is just something to get through. She sits down besides Park one day on the school bus and starts a reluctant arrangement of sitting with him everyday.
Park finds himself drawn to Eleanor and slowly they start to turn from a awkward friendship into something more.
I really don't know what else to say about this novel besides it was phenomenal. Ms. Rowell is able to write Eleanor and Park so well that they felt like living and breathing people to me. I found myself at times wincing at things that Eleanor said to Park. Or feeling Park's pangs when he finds himself doing his best to fit in and feeling shallow when he is ashamed of Eleanor. She writes them like teenagers and I know it seems silly to say but a lot of authors have a hard time writing as teenagers. Either the characters feel way too grown to me by using language that I doubt they would use or the situations would feel so fake. The story of Eleanor and Park seems timeless to me even though the plot takes place in the 1980s.
This novel brought back good memories of the first boy I ever loved. I remember the first time I held hands and was kissed by a boy (his name was Noah). It is something that stays with you. Your heart beats faster, your pulse is jumping in your throat, you feel like you are going to puke. And then it's like being warmed from the sun inside and out the first time you hold hands and kiss. Sigh. This novel brought back all of those memories for me. I even made myself slow down and just absorb the novel slowly. I didn't want it to end.
I would love to read a sequel starring these two characters since I now want to know how the story ends. Or maybe I will just imagine a happy ending for them.
I definitely recommend!
This novel is told in alternating chapters by Eleanor and Park. Both of these characters are two 16 year old teenagers living in Omaha in the 1980s.
Park has an American father and Korean mother and except for those things comes from a home that could rival the Cleaver family at times. Park does his best to stay out of firing range from the cool kids on his bus. Feeling like a disappointment to his father and not very interested in girls he just likes to listen to music and read his comic books.
Eleanor comes from a broken home and is finally after a year long absence allowed to return home to live with her mother, little brothers and sister. Due to her stepfather's constant rage Eleanor tries her best to hide while at home and feels as if school is just something to get through. She sits down besides Park one day on the school bus and starts a reluctant arrangement of sitting with him everyday.
Park finds himself drawn to Eleanor and slowly they start to turn from a awkward friendship into something more.
I really don't know what else to say about this novel besides it was phenomenal. Ms. Rowell is able to write Eleanor and Park so well that they felt like living and breathing people to me. I found myself at times wincing at things that Eleanor said to Park. Or feeling Park's pangs when he finds himself doing his best to fit in and feeling shallow when he is ashamed of Eleanor. She writes them like teenagers and I know it seems silly to say but a lot of authors have a hard time writing as teenagers. Either the characters feel way too grown to me by using language that I doubt they would use or the situations would feel so fake. The story of Eleanor and Park seems timeless to me even though the plot takes place in the 1980s.
This novel brought back good memories of the first boy I ever loved. I remember the first time I held hands and was kissed by a boy (his name was Noah). It is something that stays with you. Your heart beats faster, your pulse is jumping in your throat, you feel like you are going to puke. And then it's like being warmed from the sun inside and out the first time you hold hands and kiss. Sigh. This novel brought back all of those memories for me. I even made myself slow down and just absorb the novel slowly. I didn't want it to end.
I would love to read a sequel starring these two characters since I now want to know how the story ends. Or maybe I will just imagine a happy ending for them.
I definitely recommend!