"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
''I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be."Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under. (From Goodreads)
Eleanor and Park are so stinkin' adorable, they just make me want to snuggle. Or at least put on the music that reminds me of being in high school and start reading comic books. All the elements of this work just pull together to highlight a beautiful love story that reads like remembering something that happened to you.
Park and Eleanor are genius characters, because they are unique and quirky, but at the same time they could be a reflection of yourself. Eleanor boils down to a girl who's uncomfortable in her own skin and doesn't feel like she has a safe place in the world. Park is a boy who is struggling against expectations and trying to pinpoint his identity. The most beautiful part of this story is how they enhance each other. They don't fix each other, they don't change for each other, but they just grow.
I think my favorite part, and what drew me to the book in the first place, is the fact that it takes place in 1986. First, how random is that? Second, I love the 80's. I'm loving that books are popping up that take place in the not-so-distant past. It's cool to read something kind of historical, but something still within your lifetime (ok '86 is a little out of my lifetime, but still in my generation). So it's fun to read about the styles and the music. Park's dad is a Korean veteran who married a Korean woman and brought her back to the States. Within this timeframe, that was an interesting dimension to the story. Park's mom may have been my favorite, because she was a Korean mother who Rainbow managed to write without being stereotypical.
Eleanor and Park's families provided the largest obstacles and plot progressions for this story. Eleanor's mother is weak and her stepdad is controlling and abusive. There isn't a lot of money and there are a handful of kids living in one room. Eleanor has to hid her relationship from them. Park's mom doesn't like Eleanor at first, but eventually his house becomes a haven for her and his mom warms up to her. I think there are a lot of different ways these families can be interpreted within the context of this story, but I think they serve to highlight the fact that you can make your own family and find home in unexpected places.
There are also some interesting things being done with gender roles here. Eleanor dresses like a boy and Park is constantly called "pretty" and "beautiful." Apparently, he has very feminine features. I'd have to mull over the meaning of this more, but I just wanted to point out that this is a cool thing going on here. For me, it's not about how you look to the world. The labels don't matter. It's all about how the other person sees you - because I think the when you see yourself through someone else's eyes, and you love that person, you start to see yourself that way as well. And if that person you love thinks your beautiful, then you begin to see yourself as beautiful.
I love this gorgeous story, which feels so simple and so huge at the same time. The writing is wonderful and there are great layers that make you feel you are reading your own memories.
