Eleanor & Park

                      
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell is a contemporary set in 1986 about two misfits who fall in love. Eleanor comes from a relatively poor family, and does not get along with her stepfather. She wears all the wrong clothes, never wears makeup, and her hair is crazy. Park is probably the only Asian kid at their school. He's 5'4" and in love with music and comic books. The story follows the two of them as they grow closer and closer while trying to find who they really are. Beautiful, beautiful book. 
                                                 *****SPOILERS*****
  This book was amazing. I absolutely loved it. The setting was an interesting aspect to the plot to me, having not grown up in that generation. This, I feel, would make the book appealing to those not of the YA range. This book was short (one of my complaints) so this review won't be terribly long. 
  Eleanor. Perfectly imperfect Eleanor. She was so funny and profound. I really liked her narration because I enjoyed the way she sees the world, but  I feel as if I sort of misaimagined her. When they described her as the "fat girl" I just couldn't see it. Maybe because what we think of as "fat" nowadays is different from then because of our increasing obesity rates? I don't know, she just didn't seem that big. Park's dad even said it! "With a name like big red, you'd think she'd be bigger.". I also thought the way she dressed didn't seem that bad. I sort of imagined, with the whole scarves on the wrists thing, it as a sort of gypsy-artist look. And with her red hair she reminded me so much of Rachel Elizabeth Dare from Percy Jackson. 
  Eleanor's family life was extremely disturbed. At first, I pitied her mom. She needed money (since Eleanor's dad didn't pay child care), and I figured that was mostly the reason why she married Richie. Then the whole story of Eleanor being kicked out unfolded. Her mom just let that happen. Even if she thought it was for a few days, maybe a week, no mother would have stood for that. Eleanor stayed with those people for a year, and her mom even stopped calling her after a while. That's horrible. I can't believe her dad just faded into the background with his new wife, nice cars, and wealth. YOUR KIDS DONT HAVE TOOTHBRUSHES AND THEY SNEAK FOOD OUT OF YOUR HOUSE BECAUSE THEY DONT HAVE ANY. YOU MIGHT WANT PAY SOME CHILD CARE. Oh god. The book never really touched on how ignorant their dad was.  Her siblings were probably the least awful thing about her situation. None of them seemed particularly bratty or annoying or abusive. Her stepdad on the other hand....HOLY F*CK. THAT CREEP. THOSE THINGS HE WROTE IN HER BOOK. OH MY GOD. WHAT SORT OF PEDOPHILE WAS HE? I completely agree with Eleanor's decision to go up north to her uncle's house. They seriously need to call social services for the safety of the rest of those kids. Like, poor Maisie. What's going to happen when she grows up? And Ben, still sleeping in the basement. Eleanor was lucky she could go to Park's house every day. 
  I was seriously attracted to Park.  He sounded like a 1980's Simon Lewis (my favorite character from TMI). I really related to him with his passion for music and comic books. Park's story was not as convoluted as Eleanor's, but it was sad all the same. He's never had a strong bond with his brother, Josh, and we see the rocky path he has with his parents throughout the book. At first, his mom doesn't accept Eleanor, but she later embraces her but doesn't understand her. Park's dad doesn't understand or accept Park. When Park started wearing makeup, while I was all "You go Park! Be yourself!", Park's dad thought he wanted to be a girl. Things like this are much more common now, which makes me appreciate the slightly more accepting society we have today. Notice I said slightly.
  Park had many insecurities. One of them being the fact that he was Asian. When he was talking about how no one finds Asian guys hot, and how there were so few of them in their town, I realized how little racial diversity there must have been at this time. Eleanor even said that she'd only known one other Asian guy before Park. Park also isn't the typical guy. He's not athletic, he's sort of goth, and he spends most of his time with headphones. And the makeup just set him out even further. But park wasn't afraid. He wore the eyeliner, worked at the goth music store, and embraced it. Even after Eleanor left. It made think that he might be okay.  
  I love the way their relationship progressed. They steadily went from reading comic books over each other's shoulders and holding hands on the bus to going over to Park's house every day and making out in the back of the Impala. When I skimmed the book earlier to get ready for this review, I noticed Eleanor thinking about how "the weird Asian kid" might be one of the bus demons. My immediate thought was "Shut up Eleanor, in a hundred pages or so, you'll be having sex with him in the back of a car." It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that their whole relationship happened in about 8 months. I almost wish it had taken them longer so we could have an extra 100 pages. 
  Probably my only complaint was, like most contemporaries, I could have used a few more chapters. I have a few unanswered questions. What happened after Eleanor sent park the post card? Did Park visit her over the summer? What happened to Eleanor's family? Especially Maisie. I would really like a sequel, Rainbow!
                                                  *****SPOILERS*****
  This book was absolutely amazing. The perfect cutesy love story while still being profound. I would definitely recommend it for those times when you're mourning the end of action series. Or for an escape from all the YA dystopias. 8/10. Definitely 13+ for language, tough topics, and nudity. Wow. I could totally write those warnings at the beginning of movies. RATED PG-13 FOR SWEARING AND MENTIONING SEX. Yeah, I'd be good at that. This is Libby Lancaster signing off, GOODBYE!!! 

P.S. Here's some SPOILER FULL pieces of my favorite Eleanor & Park fan art. 
 
       

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