Eleanor & Park

     I know that I've been reviewing books a lot lately, and you're probably tired of hearing about them, but I'm going to talk about another book. It's called "Eleanor & Park" and it's by Rainbow Rowell. Yes, it's a love story. Yes, it's about two teenagers. No, it is not like anything you've ever read. Eleanor and Park are two characters that, in all my years of reading, I've never come across before and never think I will again. 

     At first, I thought that "Eleanor & Park" was going to be one of those horrible books where the misfit girl falls for the popular guy and vice versa, everything's happy ever after, la dee da. I was so wrong. For one, Park is not the typical popular guy. He's not even exactly "popular",  just respected enough that high school isn't quite hell for him. But it is for Eleanor. Her looks are not considered the standard of beauty- she has a wild mane of curly red hair, translucent, freckled skin, and a little bit of extra cushioning for her bones.  She is also dirt poor with a crappy home life and doesn't appreciate conventional fashion. But she's smart and has a passion for music and comic books, and it's those things that form the bind between her and Park.  But Eleanor can't imagine why Park, a well-off, semi-popular Asian dude would like her. And at first he doesn't. At first Park hates Eleanor for sitting next to him on the bus and Eleanor hates him back. And that's how love usually work, right?  Not to mention that it all started for them on the bus, which is a fairly reasonable place for love to start. What I'm getting at is that, more than anything else, "Eleanor & Park" feels real. Eleanor and Park's love is beautiful and it's flawed and it's real. It fights against the conventional- it tears down all of the stereotypes of love.  Their love is an exploration, a vulnerable grappling at something huge and daunting and wonderful.

" Disintegrated. 

     Like something had gone wrong beaming her onto the Starship Enterprise. 

     If you've ever wondered what that feels like, it's a lot like melting- but more violent.

     Even in a million different pieces, Eleanor could still feel Park holding her hand."

- from "Eleanor & Park"

Day Thirty-Six Song Recommendation: "Bad" by U2. This song is featured in "Eleanor & Park" and I also happen to have it, so it seemed like the perfect recommendation, but I decided not to include a music video for it because they were all pretty long and bad quality (U2 was an 80s band, after all).  Instead, I've included a book review of "Eleanor & Park".

-SE Wagner