Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 4/5 cats
years after everyone else, i have finally read this book. and now i’m all caught up on the zeitgeist! phew. and damn, now i understand why rainbow rowell is so beloved. i mean, i read Fangirl and thought it was excellent, but this one, while it is not as good as Fangirl, does a couple of things so freaking well that it gave me all the swoons and the swirls.
rainbow rowell has this ability to tap into the teenage experience that is a little spooky. and while john green gets all the credit for being the author that writes the contemporary YA novels sophisticated enough to convert stubborn adult readers into YA fans, i think this book is more faithful to the realities of teenlife than his. green’s characters are winning and funny and smart and articulate, and they have appeal coming out their ears, but they’re a little idealized – too knowing, too confident, too much like miniaturized adults. rowell remembers the rough edges, the uncertainty, and her characters are a puddle of messy contradictions and still-developing personalities. and this, to me, makes them even more appealing because they channel all sorts of messy nostalgia for my dumb teen self.
the best thing about this book is not even the love story because love-schmove. but goddamn, the way she writes about falling in love with music is astonishing. all the making of heartfelt mix tapes for other people, the way certain lyrics can stop your heart, the doodling of band names and songs – not the ones you love, but the ones you want to love – that drive to investigate the bands you encounter through chance and want to remember to check out as part of some teenage rite of passage – that was a perfect scene.
this book did for me what The Perks of Being a Wallflower apparently does for other people. it slices off a moment in time and pop culture that is so essential and precious and you can just feel the pulse of musical revelation. and i don’t want to be one of these old fogies that says to the kids, “your music is overproduced and soulless. in MY day…” but it’s true. there is no joy purer than a teenager discovering the smiths.
the other amazing, perfect thing, and it’s such a small moment, but when – View Spoiler »
i mean, it’s not a perfect novel. there’s a lot crammed into here, and it can get to feeling a little claustrophobic with all the competing “problem” narratives and underdeveloped secondary characters. there are a lot of unexplored storylines and opportunities to develop situations that weren’t and a narrower focus might have made this more powerful overall. but even though it can feel a little overstuffed, it doesn’t detract from the novel. the most complimentary thing i can say about a book is that it is honest. not necessarily realistic or authentic, but honest.
and i guess we gotta talk about the romance parts. since that’s kind of the whole point of the book, as little interest as i usually have in YA romance novels. for all my eye-rolling over teen romance, this book captures all the feels and the consuming nature of young love and its hollow devouring obsession. and it’s handled in a smart way. after eleanor pooh-poohs romeo and juliet as …two rich kids who’ve always gotten every little thing they want and dismisses the play as shakespeare “making fun of love,” the less-cynical park hesitantly pinpoints the appeal of romeo and juliet:
“…because people want to remember what it’s like to be young? And in love?”
and that’s probably why this book, and other YA romances, are popular with older readers. because while no one (hopefully) ever claims that romeo and juliet’s (spoiler alert) five-day infatuation/suicide pact brings back memories of their own teenage love lives, this book sorta does.
perfect example: eleanor and park’s “first contact” moment when he realizes that any sort of romantic dalliance before this was unsatisfying and meaningless playacting and that the missing element of excitement in the experimentation wasn’t a lack in himself, but a lack of emotional attraction and now he “gets” it.
Or maybe, he thought now, he just didn’t recognize all those other girls. The way a computer drive will spit out a disk if it doesn’t recognize the formatting.
When he touched Eleanor’s hand, he recognized her. He knew.
i mean, an adorably nerdy way to phrase it, but definitely relatable.
i think the writing of eleanor was much stronger than the writing of park. the whole “outsider” romance thing was a little uneven to me. i understand what sets her apart – she’s “big” and constantly comparing herself to the adult beauty of her mother, she comes from a damaged home, she dresses like a hobo clown, she’s socially awkward, etc, but as for park, he’s what – half asian? and that’s a problem? i mean, it’s mentioned that his dad thinks he’s a pussy and that people don’t think asian guys are hot, but he’s reasonably popular and athletic and girls like him and he seems cool as shit. so his half of the “outsider” dynamic seems forced. but it might just be me not relating to the perceived stigma against asian guys – one of my first crushes was on data from the goonies because – adorable:
and maybe in omaha in the 80’s, people didn’t think asian dudes were hot, but i don’t think park would have much trouble getting a girl on racial grounds today, right?
(i might be the only one with a crush on b.d. wong, but whatever.)
and once you start adding the eyeliner?? yeah, i am all aboard the park train.
and for that matter, i don’t think redheads with big boobs are frowned upon much, either.
it gets better, kids. it really does. but until it does, go listen to the smiths.
