In this day and age, almost every young adult novel that involves a romance will focus on the pretty girl who thinks she’s average-looking and the hot guy that seems to be immediately drawn to her by some unknown force. It’s safe to say that romances just don’t go down that way in the real world of a teenager.
Rainbow Rowell’s award-winning, chart-topping Y/A novel, Eleanor & Park, most definitely does not conform to that overused, predictable plotline.
The story follows a couple of misfits living in Omaha, Nebraska during 1986. Park Sheridan is a well-off, half Korean, half white boy that just tries to stay out of everyone’s way and fly under the radar. Eleanor Douglas is seemingly his polar opposite. She’s a bigger girl with bright red, messily curly hair, a strange fashion sense, and more than her fair share of life struggles.
On her first day of school, Eleanor has trouble finding a seat on the school bus. Even though it’s only after a while of watching her struggle, Park grudgingly scoots toward the window to allow the weird new girl to sit beside him. For weeks, they barely even look at one another, but eventually, Park notices that Eleanor is reading his comic books over his shoulder.
So, he lends them to her. Then, he finally opens his mouth to ask her if she likes The Smiths. When she says that she’s never heard their music but would love to, he makes her a mix tape with all of his favorite Smiths songs. That’s when their relationship begins to blossom.
The book – which is Rowell’s first young adult novel – deals with heavy topics such as domestic abuse, poverty, emotional instability, gender roles, and body image. This is greatly juxtaposed by the tender, light, and often comedic relationship between Eleanor and Park. It may not seem like that pairing could work out because everyone knows oil and water simply don’t mix, but Rowell finds a unique balance that simultaneously breaks and mends the reader’s heart in the span of one page.
The right reader will surely fall in love with Eleanor & Park, not only because of the witty dialogue and refreshing plot, but because of the insight it gives about first loves and last goodbyes.
