Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park, written by the popular Rainbow Rowell, is another solid young adult novel to add to your collection (home or library). It is beautifully written, swapping between the perspectives of two teen misfits that lend their name to the title.

Park wants to go by unnoticed, preferring to just do his own thing and move on. He is clever, a dedicated martial artist, and music-lover. From the moment his headphones go on for the bus ride home, he enters his own world and wants to be left alone there.

Eleanor is the new kid at school, with a troublesome home life. Strange, and perhaps eccentric in terms of her style, she is good-hearted, but not quite “nice”. She sits next to Park on the bus just because it is the only seat remaining, but, like him, at least she just wants to be left alone. Or maybe things aren’t that simple after all?

The story is predictable in terms of its beginning love arc, but that doesn’t make it any less good. Even knowing what was going to happen, I was still eager to turn each page, happy to be getting to know our two protagonists a little bit better. The character progression is believable, as is each situation that arises because of their choices.

While teen love is a huge theme in the book (parodied within the book by references to Romeo and Juliet about what love actually is, and whether teens understand the concept of and feel true love), it is not quite as light hearted as it first appears. It deals with family, domestic violence, and abuse, all in a serious and honest tone that is not thrown in merely for the sake of drama.

I read an obvious last sentence but still turned over, ever hopeful there was one more page only to be let down. Though it is well-written, fans of the characters will be left wanting more; to know specific details after the story ends. More often than not, these things are best less ambiguous, so over-all, the ending is really a satisfying one.

‘Eleanor & Park’ is definitely a page-turner, so clear out two to three hours in your schedule to start and polish it off in one sitting. After finishing it, check out Rainbow Rowell’s works. While I can’t personally recommend them, having yet to read them myself, the Internet has decided that while this book is a good one, it is not her best. That is an exciting prospect!