Eleanor & Park: A NovelAudio CD

Every now and then a young adult book comes along that instantly transports us back to our own adolescence, for better or worse. It can be a painful or a beautiful journey (more often than not, a little of both), but it takes a talented author to do so effortlessly. In Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell tells you a story of two misfits that will leave you forever changed.

Since her mother brought Eleanor back to the house, she, and everyone else, has had to walk on eggshells. Their stepfather is not a nice man, and in particular, he hates Eleanor. In a house as tiny as theirs, it is all but impossible for her to escape him. Sharing a bedroom with her four siblings, worrying about whether or not they will have food each night, and listening to Richie beat her mother are just some of the reasons Eleanor has no interest in seeking friends in her new school. Never mind the fact that she dresses weird (in whatever her mother gets her from Goodwill), she isn't the skinniest girl, and her flaming red hair has a mind of its own. When she steps foot on the bus that first day, no one will let her sit down... until Park lets her sit with him.

Park isn't a complete outcast, but he isn't popular by any means either. He tries very hard to keep his head down and blend into the background. When he sees Eleanor, he feels bad, but girls like her are who keep the vicious attention of his peers off his own faults. Taking more after his Korean mother, he has always been too gentle, too feminine, and not manly enough for his former soldier father. He doesn't intend to be anyone's hero, but he can't let Eleanor stand in the aisle of the bus and cry the way those beasts want her to. So he tells her to sit. And that changes everything.

Eleanor and Park don't talk. He reads his comic books and she carefully tries to read them without letting him know she is peaking over his arm to see. He notices her reading the comics and starts turning the pages slower. Then he starts bringing her comics to borrow. All of this happens without a word shared between the two, but slowly, glacially, Park avoids Eleanor less and less. A few careful questions here, a kind gesture there, and the two find the human interaction they miss the most at the end of each day are the interactions they have together on those bus rides. But Eleanor has a lot to hide and is the target of many a malicious teen. And Park is very conscious of how her proximity affects his ability to camouflage himself from the other kids. Their backgrounds, self-consciousness, and situations should have prevented them from ever getting to know one another, but sometimes life's circumstances can't stop love from blossoming, no matter how hard it tries.

There is something you should know before you read this book. It has been raved about by bloggers, reviewers, booksellers, and readers everywhere. They are right. John Green gave this clip for the New York Times Book Review: “Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.” He was right. Yalsa, Printz, and every other professional in the field loved this book. They were all right. If you are anything like me, you develop an immediate bias against a book when it receives instant and passionate acclaim. Why? I don't know. I guess the little rebel in us doesn't want to love what everyone loves. But that stupid generalization keeps us from books like Harry Potter, The Fault in Our Stars, and Eleanor & Park, so let's just stop this nonsense already, ok?! Because if we miss out on amazing books like this one, we are just silly little rebels who have lost out on a chance to read some seriously amazing books.

Eleanor & Park was the saddest and most achingly romantic story I have read since The Fault in Our Stars. Eleanor is a girl who just needs life to cut her a break, but no one stands up for her. Until Park. And he doesn't do it willingly at first, but when he does, you know it goes against every ounce of self-preservation inside him. And it is that simple act of sticking his neck out for this girl that will make you love him unconditionally. Park isn't perfect. Even Eleanor knows she embarrasses him, but he wants to be a better person, and more importantly, he can't imagine life without Eleanor. I loved this boy. I really did. My heart broke for Eleanor, but I loved Park. And his life wasn't tulips and daisies either, but it couldn't compare to the war zone she lived in.

I imagine some critics of this novel might find fault in the love between Eleanor and Park, but you have to think of the lack of love they have both lived with. Park can never be enough to satisfy his father. Eleanor's own mother left her with a neighbor for a year because Richie didn't want her in his house. For two damaged kids, finding that love was transformational, both for them and for you, as the reader. Rowell has the ability to make you love the main characters with a fierce protectiveness that will surprise you, and the ability to make you hate those who hurt them with a ferocity that makes you want to inflict bodily harm upon those fictional characters like Richie and the girls who bully Eleanor in school.

This is a book that will steal the heart of any reader. Filled with fabulous 80's music references, comic book references, totally called-for foul language, and adolescence in all its ugly glory, it will change ever reader who turns that first page and can't put it down. There are some dark and dirty parts of this story that are hard to read, but they are just as important as the beautiful, innocent, guarded love that blossoms between Eleanor and park. This book is everything people say it is, and I know it will stand the test of time among readers.

So last year I lost my crap over Fangirl. It was not my first Rainbow Rowell book, but it was the first time I fell good and hard. After uneven results with Attachments, I just sort of avoided Eleanor & Park when it came out, despite its ridiculously charming cover. Then Fangirl came along with it equally adorable cover and I gave Rowell a second chance. It went so unbelievably, fantabulously well that I purchased a copy of Eleanor & Park before I even finished Fangirl, just knowing that skipping it had been a huge mistake. Possibly a fatal one. But it has taken me this long to get around to it, so afraid was I that it wouldn't live up to Fangirl. This book is an entirely different beast, to be sure. But I read it through from cover to cover the other night completely unable to stop. It was one of those rare and beautiful situations in which the level of my feelings for a book is so high that I feel an obligation to see it through in one sitting. Like I owe the book that much. I will follow a book that good through the deep, dark hours of the night, wherever it leads. I regret nothing. I am bleary-eyed, but unregretfully so.

I'm going to just go ahead and break with tradition here, because the thing is I don't even want to summarize this book. I don't want to take anything away from the experience for you. And going through all the ins and outs of the story of Eleanor and Park, even the highlights, feels like cheating each individual reader out of discovering it for themselves. So I'm going to leave it at a few teasers, if you will, the facts that fell out of my mouth the morning after as I incoherently tried to tell my co-workers why they had to pick it up right now. So here they are. All the facts you need to know:

• It's set in 1986. In Omaha.
• It opens when Eleanor boards a school bus and no one will let her sit.
• Until Park lets her sit next to him.
• And they don't talk.
• At all.
• Until he realizes one day that she's reading his comic book over his shoulder.
• And he stops reading it during the day so that when they get back on the bus to go home, they're still in the same spot and Eleanor hasn't missed a thing.

I'm pretty sure that's all you need to know.

As far as what my experience reading the book was like? Quite simply, I laugh-cried my way through every page of Eleanor & Park. When I wasn't laughing or tearing up, I was quietly fixated, the air leaving my body in a whoosh multiple times as this depiction of first love (of so many firsts) had its way with me. It's been awhile since I spent the entirety of a book in such a heightened state. And I don't say that lightly. Rowell's words were always the right ones, and they so carefully sketched out and filled in her two leads that I was truly at their mercy. I worried going in that I wouldn't connect with one of them as well as the other. In a story told from alternate points of view, that can sometimes be a problem. I worried that Eleanor would be too . . . something, that Park wouldn't be . . . enough. I have silly worries sometimes, guys. But I admit I was utterly unprepared for how much I would love them both. I would read a book about just one of them, no questions asked. Just Eleanor stoically stumping her way through each day, snarking in English class, and taking terrifyingly quick baths. Just Park quietly passing at school, excelling at tae kwan do, and pretending his relationship with his dad isn't slowly killing him. I would read those books. But together? Put those stories together and I struggled to remember (or care) where I was. I was with them. Nothing else mattered. He wanted to ask her not to be mad right now. Like, anytime but now. She could be mad at him for no reason all day tomorrow, if she wanted to.

"I meant that you don't look any different than you usually look," he said softly, just in case his mom was standing on the other side of the door. "And you always look nice."

"I never look nice," she said. Like he was an idiot.

"I like the way you look," he said. It came out more like an argument than a compliment.

"That doesn't mean it's nice." She was whispering, too.

"Fine, then, you look like a hobo."

"A hobo?" Her eyes lit.

"Yeah, a gypsy hobo," he said. "You look like you just joined the cast of Godspell."

"I don't even know what that is."

"It's terrible."

She stepped closer to him. "I look like a hobo?"

"Worse," he said. "Like a sad hobo clown."

"And you like it?"

"I love it."

As soon as he said it, she broke into a smile. And when Eleanor smiled, something broke inside him.

Something always did.

Golden, right? The way they have a care for each other, while still striking out when striking out is called for, and without lessening any of the very real troubles they deal with on a daily basis. The way they're so far apart and so believably afraid of the ramifications of their relationship. The way his thumb brushes her palm. The way she is strong and solitary and memorizes his face. The whole thing was an irresistibly struck note for me, ringing and throbbing and beautiful.

"The first time he'd held her hand, it felt so good that it crowded out all the bad things. It felt better than anything had ever hurt."

And I'm just going to leave it at that quote. Because this book? This book feels better than anything ever hurt.

A silver pansy for remembrance . . .

Sometimes words fail me. They feel inadequate to describe a hauntingly beautiful painting or how a passage of poetry moved me to tears or the way a piece of music captures a feeling of love or loss. Trying to describe how wonderful Eleanor & Park makes me feel that same impotence, searching and struggling for the right words. In a word, Eleanor & Park is unforgettable.

Though it is a story of first love with all the insecurities, the hope, the fluttery feelings in the stomach, the pain, E&P goes much deeper than that. It is also a terrific book for young adults to read about fitting in and finding a way to cope with feelings of isolation. It is romantic, it is funny, and it is heartbreaking. It is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read.

I loved the step back in time - big hair, overalls, punk rock - and Eleanor's description of the polyester gym suit onesies brought a flashback to my own green horror story. The only kids those gym suits looked good on were the cheerleaders. This book captures all of those uncomfortable, terrible, wonderful feelings of being 16, not fitting in, falling in love. All of the fierce, intense emotions that you've never felt before are relived as Park and Eleanor fall in love. Reading Eleanor & Park was like running across an old faded photograph of my first love, forgotten and hidden away in a drawer, pulling it out, and remembering, reliving the nervous excitement, the exhilaration, the sadness, the pain I thought would never end, and the passion of that first time my heart felt like it beat because of another person. This book affected me so deeply. By the time I finished Eleanor & Park, I was sobbing, crying big ole honking, nasty, noisy tears.

Eleanor and Park's story spans across the course of one school year beginning in August 1986. Their first meeting is about as unromantic as it can get not only because it's on a school bus but also because it borders on antagonistic. Eleanor is the new girl riding the bus to school and no one wants her to sit beside them. She could never blend in or appear invisible which is what Park is trying to do. He knows the bus demons very well and his strategy of flying low below the radar is a sound one. So how can he do that if this "big awkward" girl with wild red hair plunks down next to him? Reluctantly he lets her sit by him and promptly ignores her all while trying to figure out how to switch seats with someone else. Eleanor is no fool. She is very much aware Park allows her to sit there on sufferance. For days they do not talk or look at each other. There is a full six inches of space between them at all times.

So how do these two build a bridge to span that great chasm of six inches.? At first it's Park's comic books. Eleanor begins to surreptitiously read over Park's shoulder. Eventually Park realizes what is happening and he paces himself turning pages to accommodate her. Park becomes fascinated and intrigued by Eleanor and vice versa. Over time they do begin to talk about music, comic books, and swap jokes. I loved this part of the book, that slow and gradually deepening relationship. The first time they touch was sensual and yet so innocent:

"He didn't look up. He wound the scarf around his fingers until her hand was hanging in the space between them. Then he slid the silk and his fingers into her open palm".

Eleanor is at various times described as a "scarecrow", as resembling a "trouble doll", a "gypsy hobo", and a "sad hobo clown". She declares herself "fat" (although I wonder if perhaps this is an exaggeration due to poor self esteem), she has lots of freckles, and she wears old, secondhand mismatched clothes with odd bits of fabric and ribbon to cover up holes and tears. She pins her bra together. Various nicknames are bestowed on her but the one that sticks is "Big Red". In addition to her odd physical appearance, she is awkward in crowds and around strangers. Winning friends is not her strong suit.

Beneath the surface, however, Eleanor is smart, sharp, brave, funny, a bit sarcastic, and even, surprisingly, a bit hopeful. That comes out as she constantly strives to make the best out of bad situations. Despite her truly nightmarish home life, her cruel depraved stepfather, a biological father that cares more for himself than his children, and a beaten down mother, Eleanor still has hope. She can't afford batteries for her Walkman or shampoo or even a toothbrush, but she writes bands, songs, and other "interesting stuff" on her books because she'd like to hear them someday. This is her wish list.

Park is also a misfit. He is half Korean and resembles his mother in coloring except for his green eyes. He not only has to deal with a bit of stereotypical prejudices because of his Asian heritage at school, but his relationship with his father is strained due to Park's disinterest in hunting, football, and driving a stick shift. Park is into alternative music like XTC, the Smiths, Skinny Puppy, and the Misfits. He loves/obsesses over comics like the Watchmen and X Men. Eleanor likens his home and family to the Cleavers and the Waltons, and in comparison to hers she isn't far off the mark. On the surface it appears Park has a perfect family and though it is very clear Park's dad loves him, it is also equally clear his father doesn't understand his oldest son who "cried when he took him pheasant hunting", or why it is nearly impossible to teach Park to drive a stick when he taught his youngest son, Josh, to drive in two weeks. Mr. Sheridan is a good father, however, who clearly loves his family. Park's home is not a battlefield like Eleanor's.

Park and Eleanor's story is richer for being told in in alternating POVs. Being able to witness Park's shy advances and Eleanor's tentative responses just made me love these two more. I cheered them, I cried when they argued, and I laughed at their jokes both public and private. I loved how the things that made Park and Eleanor different, misfits, were also the things that looked completely wonderful through each other's eyes. To Eleanor, Park has "magic eyes", And to Park, Eleanor's freckled body becomes "candy sprinkled."

Throughout Eleanor &Park there is an almost perfect balance of lightness and darkness, brightness and shadow, clarity and cloudiness, a chiaroscuro effect that painted a vivid, vibrant story of Eleanor and Park's reality. Ms. Rowell crafted an intensely realistic picture of first love between Eleanor and Park, how they complement each other, what brings them together, the obstacles they have to overcome. There is the darkness of of Eleanor's home (dark, small, dingy), and there is Park's home, (bright, normal, secure). His home is a temporary sanctuary for Eleanor from the gloomy, cramped, prison of Richie's house. Park's father becomes a positive model as a father for Eleanor. She experiences the freedom of sharing opinions, jokes, and music with Park on the bus, but at Richie's house, she is restricted, confined, forced to be as invisible as possible. She admits that she "practiced being in a room without leaving any clues that she's been there." The joy Eleanor experiences at the mementos in her keepsake box are juxtaposed with the destruction of that box and everything in it. At school, Eleanor's English teacher respects and even seeks out her opinions but then there's the dirty, ugly things written on her school books.

Even the ending is a blend of despair and heartbreak but also with a touch of hope. Eleanor & Park is not light and fluffy. You won't see any cute, blonde cheerleaders paired up with football heroes or tattooed bad boys in this book. What you will get is a book filled to the brim with a rich storytelling about wonderfully complex characters who meet, fall in love, and try to hold on to those feelings despite huge obstacles. Parts of Eleanor, and, yes, Park also, resonate deeply within me, and this is a book that has stayed with me long after I finished reading the last page. Read it if you are/were a misfit or different or march to a different drummer. Read it if you are experiencing love for the first time. Read Eleanor & Park to remember your first love.

Rainbow Rowell's "Eleanor & Park" is a poignant tale that resonates deeply with readers of all ages. Set against the backdrop of 1980s Omaha, Nebraska, this novel beautifully captures the complexities of adolescence, first love, and the challenges of navigating life's uncertainties.

From the moment I opened the book, I was drawn into the world of Eleanor and Park - two misfit teenagers whose unlikely bond transcends social boundaries and societal expectations. Rowell's writing is both raw and tender, immersing the reader in the characters' innermost thoughts and emotions as they grapple with family issues, peer pressure, and the exhilarating highs and devastating lows of young love.

What sets "Eleanor & Park" apart is its authenticity. Rowell doesn't shy away from addressing difficult topics such as bullying, domestic violence, and body image issues, yet she infuses the narrative with moments of humor, hope, and genuine human connection. The characters feel incredibly real, flawed yet undeniably relatable, and their journey is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching in equal measure.

As someone who grew up during the same time period depicted in the novel, I found myself nodding along to the references to mixtapes, comic books, and cassette players, which added an extra layer of nostalgia and familiarity to the story. However, "Eleanor & Park" is far more than just a nostalgic trip down memory lane - it's a timeless coming-of-age tale that transcends generational boundaries and speaks to the universal experiences of love, loss, and self-discovery.

In conclusion, "Eleanor & Park" is a beautifully written and emotionally resonant novel that will stay with me long after I've turned the final page. Whether you're a teenager navigating the tumultuous waters of adolescence or an adult reflecting on the innocence and intensity of first love, this book is sure to capture your heart and leave a lasting impression. Highly recommended for anyone in search of a captivating and unforgettable read.

I have an eight month old baby who still gets up every three hours to nurse. Because I also suffered insomnia during my pregnancy, I have not had a full night of uninterrupted sleep since before last Christmas. Needless to say, in my life, sleep is precious. This book is so freaking good, I traded a whole night's sleep to savor it.

I read the first few chapters about a week ago, and then life got away from me. Last night when I got up to feed my son the first of his many nocturnal snacks (the feeding I call "elevensies"), I picked up where I'd left off... and then I couldn't stop. The baby went back to sleep. I did not. I finished reading a little after 3:00 AM. Two hours after that, when O got up for his third and final feeding of the night, I was still awake, processing this beautiful book, still blown away by what I'd read.

Eleanor & Park is the story of two sixteen-year-olds who fall in love while riding the school bus. It's set in Omaha, Nebraska in 1986. Eleanor is a chubby redhead who dresses like a freak, not so much because of her own quirky fashion sense, but because her family doesn't have any money. She has a terrible home life: she the oldest of five children sharing a single bedroom in a tiny house, where there's never anything to eat but beans, no privacy, and all the kids and their mom walk on egg shells, trying not to set off their violent, abusive, alcoholic stepfather. As if life at home were not bad enough, she's also subject to relentless bullying at school. Park is good looking, popular, and from a much more stable home, but as the only Asian kid at school, he feels like an outsider, too. They fall in love over comic books and mix tapes.

There were so many things I loved about this book. Much as I hate to say it, often in books where the hero is portrayed as gorgeous and the heroine is, well, not, it can be hard to see what he sees in her. Most books employing this trope solve that problem by either giving the heroine a makeover or by portraying her as having a warped self-image, so that the reader understands she's a lot more attractive than she thinks she is. On the one hand, the heroine is unattractive but she's fixable, or on the other, she's not unattractive, but she's too dumb or damaged to realize it. Both options have always struck me as annoying and antifeminist. Eleanor & Park doesn't take either path. Eleanor doesn't conform to traditional standards of beauty, and she dresses "like a sad hobo clown." Park's mom gives her a makeover, but neither she nor Park thinks it makes her look any better than she does in her own, unpainted skin.

Park loves her anyway, and Rainbow Rowell tells the story well enough that it isn't at all a mystery why. Park says she reads poetry "like it was a living thing. Like something she was letting out. You couldn't look away from her as long as she was talking." (p. 38) He thinks holding her hand is "like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive." (p. 71) He notes: "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." (p. 164) Quite simply, Eleanor gives Park All The Feels.

I love the intensity of their relationship. I read another review that compared it to Insta-love, but I disagree. First, they don't fall in love instantly. For the first several months of their acquaintance, they don't even talk to each other. Park worries about what associating with the weird New Girl will do to his popularity. Eleanor thinks of him as "that stupid Asian kid." But when they do fall in love, they fall hard. I remember back twenty years to my own high school romance, and I fell just as hard, just as fast, without nearly as much need to be rescued from my loneliness as either Eleanor or Park have. Such is the nature of teenage love, I suspect.

My biggest complaint about the book is that their relationship is a bit one-sided. -Not in level of attraction or depth of feeling or reliance on the other -- in all of these things, they are well matched -- but Eleanor doesn't seem to give quite as much to the relationship. She doesn't have nearly as much faith in Park and in their future as Park has, and while I totally understand why--(her own mother gave her away for a year for arguing with her stepfather, so of course she might have trust issues)--it made me sad. Park rescues Eleanor in an obvious, literal sense, and she is grateful, but I don't think Eleanor realized that she rescued Park just as much, or that he might need her just as much, for less obvious reasons. Consequently, the ending really disappointed me, even though it felt organic to the story and believable and true, and maybe even necessary.