Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell)
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is the coming-of-age story exploring a first love between two high school misfits named Eleanor and Park, as the title suggests. One morning, Park takes reluctant pity on the new girl, an overweight, oddly-dressed redhead. He lets her take the empty spot on the bus seat next to him when she has nowhere to sit.
At first, there is an uncomfortably gaping six-inch gap between the two on the bus, but slowly, as the two begin to share comics and music, and their accidental friendship develops into a furious, passionate relationship.
Rainbow Rowell skillfully explores the forceful nature of young, inexperienced love. The relationship Eleanor and Park share is not soft or gentle. It is an intense, overwhelming wave of emotions. Their bond brings them together and heals the sore, secret scars both have long harbored -- pains that refused to be alleviated, until now. Both know that what they have will not last forever, but the heartwarming part is that they stubbornly still try. Rowell perfectly captures the tidal and ever-changing way teenagers fall in love, how one day you might dream of marrying someone, and the next day you want to never see them again. The book does not have a perfect, happy ending and it’s one of the reasons I liked it (no spoilers).
I really enjoyed reading this book and I think it’s definitely worth a try, if you like John Green or other typical YA fiction. However, I do think that one problem Eleanor and Park had is how dangerously close it came to playing out common Asian-American stereotypes with the male lead, Park.
Picture this: A quiet, intelligent, sometimes moody boy named Park. He feels inferior in almost every way to the white kids at school. He isn’t tall, broad and strong like his brother or his father, and will probably “forever remain 5’4.” Of course, his mother is the perfect, petite little Asian woman, the “Dainty China person,” that the white father carried from Korea in his pocket.
Furthermore, there’s a stranger, almost clumsy dynamic to his relationship with his girlfriend -- she dwarfs him in size, and almost constantly uses food metaphors to describe her attraction. “I want to eat you up… [like] a walrus who’s tasted human blood.” Plus, constant comments from Eleanor calling him that “stupid Asian kid,” never letting the reader forget how Asian Park really is. Eventually, as Eleanor led him to bolder decisions, he starts wearing eyeliner to school like some K-pop star. He even drop-kicks a jock twice his size with taekwondo.
I think that while none of this is really offensive, it does play into the typical Asian male portrayed in Western media: good at math, short, girly, and some martial arts master. At times, Eleanor’s description of Park was awkward, almost uncomfortable. However, all in all, Eleanor and Park was well-written and poignant coming-of-age romance with intense emotion and sad but fresh note of reality.
- Tracy Li
At first, there is an uncomfortably gaping six-inch gap between the two on the bus, but slowly, as the two begin to share comics and music, and their accidental friendship develops into a furious, passionate relationship.
Rainbow Rowell skillfully explores the forceful nature of young, inexperienced love. The relationship Eleanor and Park share is not soft or gentle. It is an intense, overwhelming wave of emotions. Their bond brings them together and heals the sore, secret scars both have long harbored -- pains that refused to be alleviated, until now. Both know that what they have will not last forever, but the heartwarming part is that they stubbornly still try. Rowell perfectly captures the tidal and ever-changing way teenagers fall in love, how one day you might dream of marrying someone, and the next day you want to never see them again. The book does not have a perfect, happy ending and it’s one of the reasons I liked it (no spoilers).
I really enjoyed reading this book and I think it’s definitely worth a try, if you like John Green or other typical YA fiction. However, I do think that one problem Eleanor and Park had is how dangerously close it came to playing out common Asian-American stereotypes with the male lead, Park.
Picture this: A quiet, intelligent, sometimes moody boy named Park. He feels inferior in almost every way to the white kids at school. He isn’t tall, broad and strong like his brother or his father, and will probably “forever remain 5’4.” Of course, his mother is the perfect, petite little Asian woman, the “Dainty China person,” that the white father carried from Korea in his pocket.
Furthermore, there’s a stranger, almost clumsy dynamic to his relationship with his girlfriend -- she dwarfs him in size, and almost constantly uses food metaphors to describe her attraction. “I want to eat you up… [like] a walrus who’s tasted human blood.” Plus, constant comments from Eleanor calling him that “stupid Asian kid,” never letting the reader forget how Asian Park really is. Eventually, as Eleanor led him to bolder decisions, he starts wearing eyeliner to school like some K-pop star. He even drop-kicks a jock twice his size with taekwondo.
I think that while none of this is really offensive, it does play into the typical Asian male portrayed in Western media: good at math, short, girly, and some martial arts master. At times, Eleanor’s description of Park was awkward, almost uncomfortable. However, all in all, Eleanor and Park was well-written and poignant coming-of-age romance with intense emotion and sad but fresh note of reality.
- Tracy Li
Awesome review. Eleanor and Park looks like an interesting read that I definitely want to check out. Your review does a nice job detailing the positive and negative aspects of the book, and I love how your summary captivates the reader while still avoiding spoilers. I also liked how you provided in-depth description of the stereotypes present in the book, as well as Eleanor and Park's awkward but realistic relationship dynamic. I look forward to reading this one!
ReplyDeleteNice review. I agree that the portrayal of Park wasn't the best but every time I was uncomfortable with it, I reminded myself that Eleanor is not the perfect omniscient character we see in some other YA books. She has grown in places that are predominantly white, in a not so great household, and hasn't even been living with her family. It would make sense she has preconceived notions about Asian people, and she often offers stereotypes of white people in her school throughout the book. I really liked reading this book also and I agree with your take of the fresh note of reality. This book tugged at my heartstrings despite my dislike of cheesy romance novels.
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