Nazbaz answers “Yes!! We all want to know what the words...”

Morgan E asked this question about Eleanor & Park:

Yes!! We all want to know what the words are!!

Nazbaz This is from rainbowrowell.com Q&A:

Okay, look. I haven't even told my mom the three words. But let's talk about this for a few minutes . . .

I always k…moreThis is from rainbowrowell.com Q&A:

Okay, look. I haven't even told my mom the three words. But let's talk about this for a few minutes . . .

I always knew, when I started Eleanor & Park, what the last line would be. I knew Eleanor was going to send Park a postcard, and that it would be “just three words long.”

And I knew that readers would assume those three words were “I love you.” I want readers to assume that. It’s the obvious answer – and it’s a happy answer. Wouldn’t it be lovely if Eleanor finally said, “I love you”?

But I can’t bring myself to confirm that interpretation. Or to say anything conclusive about the postcard – beyond that I think Eleanor wrote something hopeful. Park responds hopefully. He sits up, he smiles, he feels like something with wings take off from his chest. That sounds like hope to me.

It drives people crazy when I talk like this: as if the characters have minds of their own, and I’m just interpreting their actions based on what I’ve read. I created Eleanor and Park! I should be able to tell you, concretely, what it is says on the postcard.

But there’s something about that moment between them . . .

It’s the end of the book, and we’re getting ready to leave the characters. Their story is about to become their own again. (If you imagine that characters keep on living after you close a book; I do.) So we’re backing away from them, and they’re having an intimate moment. And it just feels wrong to read their mail.

I know! It’s crazy for me to say that! We’ve been in their heads for 300 pages, and it’s a postcard – everyone at the post office probably read it. But in that moment, as the author, it didn’t feel right to read it, or to share it.

The important thing to know about that postcard is that Eleanor sent it. She worked through all her fear and anxiety and insecurity, and she reached out to Park. She sent him something that made him smile and feel wings fluttering in his chest.

Readers often ask me – after they’ve asked about the three words – why I decided to end the book this way. Why couldn’t I give Park and Eleanor a happy ending?

I think I did give them a happy ending.

I mean, I know it’s not really an ending; there aren’t wedding bells and sunsets. This isn’t the end for these two people. It’s just where we leave them.

But they’re 17 years old.

And I don’t believe that 17-year-olds get happy endings. They get beginnings.
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Tim Regan @Nazbaz, thank you for copying that out, it is really lovely
Sep 30, 2020 07:56AM · flag

Holly I'm glad Rowell said it's not an ending, it's a beginning. These characters are so young, and they don't really know each other at all. It's way too s ...more
Jun 24, 2021 09:23PM · flag

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