Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

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Figure 1. Eleanor & Park book cover (2019).

Evaluation of Book

Sometimes reality bites. In the story of Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor’s life is falling apart: her mom married an abusive alcoholic, violent stepdad wants to destroy her, and the younger siblings cannot be trusted. And on top of her crummy home life, she just started a new school. Unfortunately, this means students picking on her and trying to make her life miserable. But if you have one thing that brings joy to your life, the other stuff seems to go away, kind of. And this concept depicts Eleanor’s life after she befriends Park.

The driving force for this book, relationships. Chapter by chapter, Park and Eleanor trade off telling the story of how they met, became friends, and then became even more. It all starts with an act of kindness, Park allows Eleanor to sit down and share his seat on the bus. This moment gives Eleanor hope while helping her survive her first day at a new school. Park then continues to slowly build a friendship with Eleanor by little acts of kindness, like sharing his comic books and mixed tapes of his favorite music. This relationship along with the one she makes with her counselor allows Eleanor to survive all of the other stuff in her world, like the mean girls harassing her during gym and her family life. Next, the book also explores Park and Eleanor’s parental relationships. While Park’s home life seems safe, his father does not know how to accept him fully until the end of the book. On the flip side, Eleanor’s stepfather never acts like a positive father figure. Fear and abuse describe the way he fits into the picture. Even Eleanor’s mother falters when it comes to his abuse towards her and the family as a whole. But Eleanor and Park’s relationship allow them the courage and support needed to survive their parents.

Along with the relationships that play out, understatement keeps the reader wanting more. Rainbow Rowell chose not to tell all about her characters, allowing the reader to fill in the missing pieces with their own personal experiences and inductive reasoning. Such as, the reader finds out that Eleanor’s mom divorces her dad because he is too self-centered, but the details of this along with why she marries an abusive alcoholic never get filled in during the story. Also, Eleanor does not live with her family for a full year. And while Eleanor knows that her typing on a typewriter when stepdad experienced a headache lead to her needing to leave, the reasoning of why the mother went along with it, why the separation lasted for a year, and why she suddenly came back into her family’s home never comes to light. Even the last line of the book keeps you guessing which makes Rowell a master at her craft in my eyes.

But the gut-wrenching part of the book that ties you to it forever comes in the form of unexpected insight. The story behind this moment, Eleanor’s book covers being vandalized. Eleanor and Park notice that sexually explicit words keep showing up on her covers. Neither can figure out who might be doing it. However, when the true culprit gets found out, the horror of it all forces Eleanor and Park to take life-changing actions to ensure her safety.

Response

Reading Eleanor & Park allowed me to flash back to my own life growing up in suburbia, Texas. My life mirrored Park’s. The safe home where my brother and I were pushed to excel, always knowing that my action and reactions were looked at under a microscope. Though my mother, not my father, played judge and jury. And unfortunately, many of my friends and classmates lived in households like Eleanor’s. They frequently visited my home, enjoying a safe evening before returning to their uncertain life at their own home. This book also paralleled reality in how the teachers and counselors worked with Eleanor. When the English teacher and counselor helped Eleanor find inner strength and brought her out of her shell, I agreed with the text and felt hope for our current school system. However, when the gym teacher forced Eleanor to scoop out her clothes from the toilet and then find her own way to the counselor, this completely clashed with my view of the world and how things should happen. No student needs to endure that type of humiliation. But my overall reaction to the text was positive. It took me on an emotional rollercoaster that never stopped. The horrors, hurts, and jubilations were all felt, and it allowed me to walk in someone else’s shoes for a while. While emotionally exhausting, this book pulled me in and kept me thinking about it for days after I finished it.

Conclusion

Because of the curse words plus teens experimenting with alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell came off as a true interpretation of real life for a teenager in high school. And while the story forces the reader to face cruelty inflicted by teens and adults, it also provides hope and a look at what true love should look like. Therefore, I give this book four stars our of four.

Citation

Rowell, R. (2013). Eleanor & Park. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.

Willis, C. (2019). Eleanor & Park book cover (photo). Retrieved March 15, 2019 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MTQXXsDgK6r3_uSenOtGzqWqWMqBtdvZ/view?usp=sharing