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Eleanor & Park

Rainbow Rowell

Start date: July 1, 2014

Finish date: July 31, 2014

Discussion: Stand Alones

Why we're reading this: Won the July Standalone BOTM
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What Members Thought

Feb 05, 2015 Angela Blount rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 Stars

Considering my own personal Midwestern experience with riding on a bus full of belligerent kids from the undesirable part of town (which actually took place in the late 80's-mid-90's) I started out with a solid connection to the more cringe-worthy elements of this story. Heck, I was having flashbacks! (That may have skewed some of my objectivity in the onset, so I just wanted to be upfront about it.)

The book starts out with 16-year-old Eleanor tentatively moving back in with her weak-w ...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Shawna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

I have seen so many positive reviews on this book, but I wasn't sure if the story would interest me enough. I found a signed copy with the fan art at the bookstore and I had to have it! The art is amazing! The book is a feel good kind of book. I love the references to the 80s since I went to junior high and high school in those years. ...more

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Jul 25, 2014 Amber rated it liked it

Eleanor and Park was surprisingly amazing, but I'm very split on that opinion. I didn't like Eleanor very much, and even if it makes me sound like a bad person, I'm not really into reading about the heavy, emotional stuff, but the whole book felt like a slow build, a simmering heat from a steady flame. There were so many aspects of it that I hated and then there were others just overshadowed many of my negative feelings.

Eleanor sucked. She didn't suck because she was fat or weird or anything. S Eleanor and Park was surprisingly amazing, but I'm very split on that opinion. I didn't like Eleanor very much, and even if it makes me sound like a bad person, I'm not really into reading about the heavy, emotional stuff, but the whole book felt like a slow build, a simmering heat from a steady flame. There were so many aspects of it that I hated and then there were others just overshadowed many of my negative feelings.

Eleanor sucked. She didn't suck because she was fat or weird or anything. She sucked because she didn't love herself and she shied away from every opportunity to. I feel like everyone around her was just enabling her to keep making herself her own biggest bully by not encouraging her to get help or just talk to someone. Even Park said once that the best way to make her happy was to change the subject. Being self-conscious is a real issue and I understand that a lot of people just can't deal with the pressure of other people's harsh judgements, but sometimes, just saying, "I am beautiful," is a little helpful. Eleanor never once realized that, even until the end (which, by the way, sucked ass). Park, on the other hand, was overall a very likable character. He loved Eleanor and even if he didn't tell her enough that he thought she was smokin' hot, he tried to show her as best as he could. In the beginning, I wasn't really sure because he seemed really hung up on everyone else's opinion, but I think he grew as an individual and was able to move past that (even if the growth wasn't very big).

That being said, their relationship was so utterly real that it left me speechless. It was awkward and uncertain and nerve-racking and took about ten years for either of them to do anything about their feelings, but the build up was worth it. I rarely see it in YA anymore and it was like a breath of fresh air. It made me look past my dislike for Eleanor and made me realize that I like her best when she's with Park. She really was at her best with him, more confident, funnier, and Park would kiss her boots if she asked him to, so sometimes it actually seemed like she felt good about herself.

Another thing that I really liked about Eleanor and Park was the diversity. To be fair, there wasn't very much, but given the time period and the geographic location, I think I can let it slide. Park was half-Asian, Eleanor's best friends were black, and Park's dad fell deeply in love with a Korean woman (Park's mom, if you weren't sure). It was just nice seeing some diversity in YA. Sometimes I think authors forget that there are many races present in the world.

I suppose the ending was supposed to be poetic or something. I think Rainbow Rowell was trying to make it true to Eleanor's character, but the fact that Eleanor just didn't experience enough growth as a character, if any, made it nothing less than frustrating. Basically, my biggest complaint for this whole book is that, although the characters are so well built that I feel as though I could blink and the pages would turn into people before my eyes, there was not even close to enough character growth by the end for anybody. They don't have to be braver or stronger or happier. They just have to have an open mind. That's all it takes. ...more

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