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A review by renacuajo
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
3.0
Eleanor and Park is a book that practically everyone who reads YA recommends to you. It's supposed to be this super cute love story between two unlikely characters (the chubby new girl with unruly red hair who lives with her numerous family in an abusive household and her Korean-American neighbor) set in the 80s.
Well, it turns out that I didn't find this as cute and adorable and heart-eyes-emoji as everyone says it is. Eleanor's family life is not one we get to see much of in YA fiction, Park is a character that we also don't read a lot about, and not a lot of YA books are set in the 80s—which are all great aspects of the story that certainly make it unique—but their relationship was rather odd to me, to say the least. Eleanor would get mad at him for the dumbest reasons, and would make a scene at the most inopportune moments. Whenever he wanted to help her out, she just flat out pushed him away without very well explaining why she preferred to not have him call out or confront her bullies in school.
Moreover, the ending did not fulfill my expectations AT ALL and after it was all over, there were still many questions left unanswered.
Eleanor's home setting is one that I think the author could've really built upon and used it to her advantage to talk about such a taboo topic. I really felt for Eleanor whenever it was described how she had to behave as if she was invisible in her own home. But I still felt kind of empty in that aspect.
Maybe if I was younger I would've totally swooned over this book, but at this point in my life it was nothing to write home about. I still gave it three stars because it was entertaining and it kept me amused enough to finish it, but it's not probably a book I'd repeat.
Well, it turns out that I didn't find this as cute and adorable and heart-eyes-emoji as everyone says it is. Eleanor's family life is not one we get to see much of in YA fiction, Park is a character that we also don't read a lot about, and not a lot of YA books are set in the 80s—which are all great aspects of the story that certainly make it unique—but their relationship was rather odd to me, to say the least. Eleanor would get mad at him for the dumbest reasons, and would make a scene at the most inopportune moments. Whenever he wanted to help her out, she just flat out pushed him away without very well explaining why she preferred to not have him call out or confront her bullies in school.
Moreover, the ending did not fulfill my expectations AT ALL and after it was all over, there were still many questions left unanswered.
Spoiler
What became of Eleanor's family after she left? Why did Richie go out of his way to make Eleanor's life so miserable? Why did Richie write those horrible messages in her textbooks? Who really dumped Eleanor's clothes in the toilet?Eleanor's home setting is one that I think the author could've really built upon and used it to her advantage to talk about such a taboo topic. I really felt for Eleanor whenever it was described how she had to behave as if she was invisible in her own home. But I still felt kind of empty in that aspect.
Maybe if I was younger I would've totally swooned over this book, but at this point in my life it was nothing to write home about. I still gave it three stars because it was entertaining and it kept me amused enough to finish it, but it's not probably a book I'd repeat.