Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell - Book Review

“I want everyone to meet you. You're my favorite person of all time.”

Set in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1986, Eleanor Douglas is the new girl in town who sticks out like a sore thumb with her chaotic family life and unruly red hair. Enter Park Sheridan, the boy in the back of the bus with headphones, and his head stuck in a book. When the two of them collide and start to fall for each other, it’ll take more than just late-night conversations and mixtapes to keep their relationship going.

Rowell’s writing is infused with all the youth and optimism of a teenager and suffused with plenty of hope, but with a surprising level of maturity given the source material. Her writing is both succinct and easy to read, shying away from a grittier and harsher style.

Although her subject matter isn’t novel, it’s the way she tackles the subject that is, handling the idea of first love, the enormity, and gravity of it, with both sensitivity and a deep sense of understanding, forcing you to root for the leads even when you know otherwise.

It’s hard not to root for Eleanor and Park when they are two outcasts who are destined to be together, even with life pulling them apart, and their characters are fleshed out with such thoughtfulness, and a keen eye for details that it’s easy to forget the perils they face.

Though Eleanor’s clothes are often referred to as mismatched and frumpy, the fact that she chooses men’s clothing because they make her feel comfortable is a look at the ways we identify according to our gender, and the importance of owning one’s individual identity as opposed to that of the one society enforces upon you.

Not a novel that should be dismissed, or one that will easily be forgotten.