Review by Sana Ashraf
I believe that a book that doesn’t leave one thinking about it afterwards is not worth recommending. Eleanor and Park isn’t one of those books. It left me dumbfounded, confused, and aching for more to read. It was one of the most honest books I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
Set in America during the late 1980’s, Eleanor and Park bonded over comic books and good music, much as couples would bond over TV shows nowadays. (Sherlock or Game of Thrones anyone?)
Eleanor, the new student, sat alongside Park. He was different from her. He slept on a waterbed, in the luxury of his own space, whilst she and her five siblings crammed in one bedroom. He was half-Korean. Her red hair ‘glowed at night’. Perhaps it is true when they say that opposites attract, but these two were not exactly yin and yang.
Added to the heart-wrenching obstacles and their contrasting lives, everything about them was simply awkward. The conversations between the characters were so eloquently put together that it felt as though it were all recorded in real-time.
Rowell’s portrayal of the protagonists’ views on each other is illustrated beautifully. I felt as though I were reading the novel in the first-person, despite it being written in third-person because of the author’s style switching between Eleanor and Park every other page. The switching between the two distinguishes this novel from its fellow Young Adult novels.
Reading it was like watching someone talk about their own experience… as their eyes would sparkle at the telling of the story; as though by the act of retelling the story they were reliving it again – for instance… “Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.” How can one not fall in love with words like that?
Eleanor’s flawed personality echoed throughout the novel in her constant self-doubt, but Park loved it all. He adored everything about her, and craved constantly for more of her. Their love is addictive, but every beginning has an ending, and that perhaps is what left me wishing Rowell had picked up a pen and written a sequel.
Overall, anything I say cannot do this book justice. I recommend this to everyone in search of a good story, but be warned it will leave you with unsettled thoughts and emotions.
ANOTHER BOOK RECOMMENDATION
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
An international bestseller, Mornings in Jenin tells the story of a Palestinian family forcibly exiled from their home through the eyes of four generations of a single family. It is a journey of love, courage, identity and friendship, all resulting from the Palestinian ‘nakba’ of 1948.
