Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

I so appreciate an author who gets, really gets, adolescence. In ‘Eleanor and Park’, Rainbow Rowell has created two characters that I really truly care about; I want them to be real so Eleanor and Park can end up having a beautiful life together. I was rooting for them all the way to the end as they struggled with all the junk that often comes with growing up: bullies, rotten home life, poor self-esteem, peer pressure, self-doubt, and first love. Eleanor lives with her mother, four siblings and creepy stepfather. She and her siblings share a single room where Eleanor retreats as soon as her step-father comes home. Baths have to be carefully orchestrated because the bathroom has only a sheet tacked over the doorway rather than a locking door. Park, the son of parents who are still madly (and embarrassingly) in love with one another, has a ‘picture perfect’ home life (from Eleanor’s perspective.) His mother, Mindy, is Korean and owns an in-home beauty shop. His father, an army veteran who met Mindy while stationed in Korea, makes few demands on Park: take taekwondo lessons and learn to drive a stick. Eleanor is new at school and ‘meets’ Park when he reluctantly offers her a seat on the bus her first day. With unruly red hair and dressed like a character from ‘Godspell’, Eleanor is an immediate target for the kids at the back of the bus. Park, who is slight in build, has coal black hair and dark eyes that ‘disappear when he smiles’, wonders why everything about him is Asian while his younger brother is tall and brown haired and fair like his father. Each chapter is told in either Eleanor or Park’s perspective and bit by bit, word by word, discovery by discovery, a relationship is built that is based on acceptance, respect, and admiration – something many adults have difficulty accomplishing.  Eleanor and Park have a lot that they can teach anyone of any age. I love them and I love this book. A quick and very satisfying read.