The world is the obstacle, as it always is when you're 16 and truly in love. The world cannot allow Park a girlfriend because he likes wearing eyeliner, and everyone knows that's gay. The world cannot allow Eleanor a boyfriend of any kind, because she's poor and fat and dresses funny. The world cannot stomach a relationship between a good-looking Korean kid and Big Red. the obstacle in Eleanor & Park is simply the world. Eventually, they begin holding hands on the rides to and from school. Over time, she begins reading his comics over his shoulder. On the first day of school, Eleanor sits down next to him on the bus. (Some readers may initially find this unrealistic, but through the novel one comes to have a better understanding of how poverty interacts with abuse to marginalize and oppress.) Park is a half-Korean kid who's passably popular but separated from the larger social order of his school both by his race and by his passion for comic books and good music. She's also poor-she cannot afford a toothbrush or batteries for her Walkman. Eleanor is a 'big girl' with bright red hair. Its observational precision and richness make for very special reading. There's bullying, sibling rivalry, salvation through music and comics, a monstrous stepparent-and I know, we've seen all this stuff. Rainbow Rowell's first novel for young adults is a beautiful, haunting love story. But I have never seen anything quite like Eleanor & Park. I've seen the conventions, and I've seen them interrogated. 'When I began reading contemporary fiction in high school, I remember feeling that each book was an absolute revelation. When Eleanor meets Park, you'll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under. Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this 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. Winner of the Sequoyan Award (Oklahoma Library Association High School Master List)Īmazon's Best Teen and Young Adult Book of the YearĪ YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults NomineeĪ YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers Nomineeīono met his wife in high school, Park says. Winner of the Garden State Teen Book Award Winner of the Louisiana Teen Readers' Choice Award Winner of the Georgia Peach Book Award for Teen Readers Winner of the Rhode Island Teen Book Award Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction Winner of the International Reading Association Award for Young Adult Fiction Winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Media Issues, Communication & Journalism.Computer Science & Information Technology.

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