-Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor and Park
Originally, when I started this book, I thought it would just be a fun little distraction while I took a break from Stephen King's epic "The Stand". I thought it would just be a fun, short, somewhat campy young adult romance novel, nothing terrible, but nothing that would blow me away, or be that much better than the young adult romance novels I had encountered prior to reading this. Well, I am happy to report that I was wrong, this book became so much more than just a distraction, it became a priority. I was addicted to this thing, and upon completion it wounded up being one of my favourite young adult romance novels I have read, if not my actual favourite, and certainly one of the best books I have read in the past year or so. In fact the more I think about this book, the more it climbs up the ladder to becoming one of my actual favourite books, ever.
Okay, so lets get all the problems I have with this book out of the way first. I don't really quite understand why the book was told in third person instead of first, Rainbow (awesome name by the way) doesn't really do anything that third person that she couldn't do with first person, and most of the narrative is so firmly placed into the character's heads that it might as well have been in first person. It's a minor complaint, and it doesn't really detract from the book but I just don't get why Rainbow felt the need to go with third instead of first, I'm probably the only one who was bothered by this but yeah,I just find that strange.
Secondly, I found that the parts that were focused around Eleanor's family in the first two thirds of the book felt a little bit tedious, and whenever they came up I just wanted the focus to go back to the actual romance between Park and Eleanor. I understand that they are necessary to expanding on Elaenor's character and for setting up the ending but I just didn't find these sections of the book all that entertaining. Also I don't really enjoy spending time with Eleanor's family either, I mean I get that her parents aren't meant to be all that likable, but I don't really find her siblings all that interesting either. I don't think any of them, apart from Maisie, were giving good enough characterisation for me to actually care about, well, any of them. However not too much time was spent during these scenes, so it isn't thaat big of a deal.
Also the constant popular culture references at the beginning of the book felt like Rainbow was constantly bashing me over the head with the fact that this book is set in the 80s, but they become more and more sparse throughout the duration of the book, so again, not a big deal.
Despite my nit-picking of the usage of third person and my frustration with the detours taken from the main focus of the book, I found the rest of the novel to be a fluid, seamless read, which was entertaining throughout, and never truly faltered. I loved how the main two characters were portrayed, they were given some depth and actually felt like real people. My problem with a few John Green books is that his characters just feel too perfect, they're too witty and too intelligent, to the point where they just aren't even relatable characters for me, whereas in "Eleanor and Park" all the characters feel grounded in realism, and all of them have flaws. None of the characters felt purely bad or purely good, apart from arguably Richie, but as bad as he is we still see glimpses of him not being completely heartless. All the characters had layers, when Park's parents felt like they were being unreasonable, it doesn't come off like that, it comes off as them just wanting the best for their son, whether it aligned with what Park wanted or not. When Richie was being an all around horrible human being, while what he was doing was very, very wrong, in certain scenes it actually comes off as him just wanting to have a family, but going around it very bitterly and aggressively. And while I didn't find Eleanor's mum to be the most likable of characters, I could tell she really did want the best for her family, she was just so mentally defeated by Richie that she felt there was nothing she could do. Still though, I can't quite work out whether or not she actually loves, or even likes, Richie,or if she just defends him because she's afraid of what might become of her if he ever caught word of her speaking ill of him. And Tina, while she also is nowhere near to being a good person, came off as genuinely caring about Park, and maybe she her cruelness to Eleanor was fueled by her jealousy, however I do wish Rainbow went into more detail on Tina and why she's so mean spirited, that would've been.
And last but not least our two main characters, Eleanor and Park. I found them both to be really compelling characters who I just, loved spending time with, and I loved watching them spend time with each other and watching their relationship grow throughout the book. The romantic scenes with these two never felt corny or cheesy, and when they did come off as cheesy, the book actually acknowledges this instead of just passing it off as realistic dialogue. Everything they said to each other, and the way they treated each other and reacted around each other felt believable, natural, it never felt forced or contrived. Watching them be together throughout the book, and all the hardships and difficulties they experience as a couple, and them trying to tell each other how they feel throughout the book really came off as endearing, and you can't help but to just, fall in love with the two of them. I love how insecure the both of them are as well, as much as they try to hide it from each other. I especially enjoyed seeing moments in the book where both of them act selfishly, or at least are just thinking about themselves, neither of them were ever unlikable, it was just nice to see that they were both human. The chemistry between the two was wonderful and just, perfectly adorable, and it was a joy to simply read about them doing the mundane of things.
The ending was also pretty great as well. It actually gets pretty dark but still stayed grounded, so while I did feel like stakes were raised, it still felt intact with the rest of the story. I also liked how the ending was left ambiguous and not every question raised throughout the book was answered. It was a nice way of showing that you can't just tie life up in a neat bow at the age of 17, and instead of ending, it just continues, beyond the pages.
All in all, I adored this book, and I am happily surprised at how much I enjoyed the experience of reading the whole thing, and I definitely feel inclined to read some of Rainbow Rowell's other works, if the opportunity were to present itself. I would recommend this book to anyone really, especially if you're into romantic young adult fiction books, in my opinion, this is undoubtedly a must read if that's your thing.
