I read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell over the weekend. It was a little bit Bastard out of Carolina meets The Fault in our Stars, in that there was an element of white trash broken families + the naive, innocent ardor of first love + the inevitable not-happy ending.
After finishing the book around midnight, I couldn't get the main characters out of my head. Also, couldn't help wondering what the three words on the postcard were? I love you? I miss you? I'm Hans Solo? Nothing ever ends? What would one-year wiser Eleanor write on the first correspondence she sends to him in a year? I wanted to know, and yet - I kind of loved the ending to the book. I kind of loved that the book ends open-ended. I loved how pure and ardent their teenage first love was, but I loved that the author, and Eleanor, recognized that it's unlikely that high school first love lasts forever. Because I don't think that makes the love any less real or valid. It just is what it is - it's so real and true and innocent...and yet, it takes place in the vacuum of high school, which although is Eleanor and Park's only reality at the time, as we adults know, it is not the ultimate reality of life. Life moves on, and high school, which seemed like the universe while you were going through it, becomes a distant memory, and then a shell of a distant memory, while you move on to college and onwards. Well, I guess unless you end up never leaving your high school hometown, in which case I guess your life just continues in that small-town vacuum.
I loved how real Rowell's description of high school was. It really and truly reminded me of going to middle school in Northern Virginia in the early 90's, taking the bus to school (although their high school years take place in the late 80's, but close enough), where I was one of a tiny handful of Koreans in a very white school. Rowell's descriptions were excellent at capturing the social pressures of high school - and she did it in such a raw, real way that you truly feel it all over again. Instead of in the adult's bird's eye view where it seems so long ago and stupid, it feels absolutely real - especially the bus scenes. I totally remember the first day on the school bus at a new school, not knowing where to sit. I remember the kids who sat in the back of the bus, who, just like Rowell's backseat characters, were the mean, "popular", feared kids. So many parts of Rowell's book were true to life, especially for those of us who went to public school in America in the '80's/90's.
I had mixed feelings about some parts of the book - for example, the flat, two-dimensionalness of Park's Korean mom and the fact that even though she's Korean of my own parent's generation, there doesn't seem to be a single mention of them eating kimchi or anything remotely Korean in their house. I know it's a minor, insignificant detail, but it made his mom so unbelievable to me as a character - what Korean first-generation immigrant ajumma do you know who cooks only sloppy joes and tater tot casseroles, and nothing that sounds remotely Korean? Also, his mom was just too nice and Americanized. I don't really know any Korean ajummas like her.
Also, Park himself. I loved that a protagonist in a YA romance is a half-Korean boy. But there were some parts of the book that seemed to give in to stereotypes - his height, his perception that his dad perceives him as feminine, his tae kwon do skills. And then there was a part of me that felt: an Asian male protagonist, awesome. But...why does the female protagonist have to be a fat, unpopular, weird kid? I mean, on the one hand that's what makes their story so engrossing and raw and beautiful. On the other hand, there was a part of me that wished Eleanor was prettier and less weird. I know, this sounds shallow and stupid. It's not that I didn't like Eleanor, because I really did - she was so real to me. It's just that you never get to see an Asian male protagonist get the pretty girl. It's as if all the beautiful white girl heroines in any book or movie deserve a tall, beautiful white boy hero. So while I loved Eleanor & Park, there was definitely a part of me that had mixed feelings about the portrayal of Asians. It's a small part of me though, because for the most part I just kind of fell in love with the story.
After finishing the book around midnight, I couldn't get the main characters out of my head. Also, couldn't help wondering what the three words on the postcard were? I love you? I miss you? I'm Hans Solo? Nothing ever ends? What would one-year wiser Eleanor write on the first correspondence she sends to him in a year? I wanted to know, and yet - I kind of loved the ending to the book. I kind of loved that the book ends open-ended. I loved how pure and ardent their teenage first love was, but I loved that the author, and Eleanor, recognized that it's unlikely that high school first love lasts forever. Because I don't think that makes the love any less real or valid. It just is what it is - it's so real and true and innocent...and yet, it takes place in the vacuum of high school, which although is Eleanor and Park's only reality at the time, as we adults know, it is not the ultimate reality of life. Life moves on, and high school, which seemed like the universe while you were going through it, becomes a distant memory, and then a shell of a distant memory, while you move on to college and onwards. Well, I guess unless you end up never leaving your high school hometown, in which case I guess your life just continues in that small-town vacuum.
I loved how real Rowell's description of high school was. It really and truly reminded me of going to middle school in Northern Virginia in the early 90's, taking the bus to school (although their high school years take place in the late 80's, but close enough), where I was one of a tiny handful of Koreans in a very white school. Rowell's descriptions were excellent at capturing the social pressures of high school - and she did it in such a raw, real way that you truly feel it all over again. Instead of in the adult's bird's eye view where it seems so long ago and stupid, it feels absolutely real - especially the bus scenes. I totally remember the first day on the school bus at a new school, not knowing where to sit. I remember the kids who sat in the back of the bus, who, just like Rowell's backseat characters, were the mean, "popular", feared kids. So many parts of Rowell's book were true to life, especially for those of us who went to public school in America in the '80's/90's.
I had mixed feelings about some parts of the book - for example, the flat, two-dimensionalness of Park's Korean mom and the fact that even though she's Korean of my own parent's generation, there doesn't seem to be a single mention of them eating kimchi or anything remotely Korean in their house. I know it's a minor, insignificant detail, but it made his mom so unbelievable to me as a character - what Korean first-generation immigrant ajumma do you know who cooks only sloppy joes and tater tot casseroles, and nothing that sounds remotely Korean? Also, his mom was just too nice and Americanized. I don't really know any Korean ajummas like her.
Also, Park himself. I loved that a protagonist in a YA romance is a half-Korean boy. But there were some parts of the book that seemed to give in to stereotypes - his height, his perception that his dad perceives him as feminine, his tae kwon do skills. And then there was a part of me that felt: an Asian male protagonist, awesome. But...why does the female protagonist have to be a fat, unpopular, weird kid? I mean, on the one hand that's what makes their story so engrossing and raw and beautiful. On the other hand, there was a part of me that wished Eleanor was prettier and less weird. I know, this sounds shallow and stupid. It's not that I didn't like Eleanor, because I really did - she was so real to me. It's just that you never get to see an Asian male protagonist get the pretty girl. It's as if all the beautiful white girl heroines in any book or movie deserve a tall, beautiful white boy hero. So while I loved Eleanor & Park, there was definitely a part of me that had mixed feelings about the portrayal of Asians. It's a small part of me though, because for the most part I just kind of fell in love with the story.
7 comments:
ooh so interesting! i loved park though i felt it was too obviously written by a woman; his thought life didn't sound like a teenager boy's. the popular pretty white girl (tina) does like him, but what makes him great is he goes for eleanor. gah i woke up thinking about these guys too and agree the ending was lovely. i wish there would be college or twentysomething sequel! -mj
Also I thought Park's parents were really great! His dad's character development was sweet. He's the one who tells Park about the postcard at the end, "even gently." And he helps Park with the getaway, albeit with the chauvinistic condition. The mom has a 180 when she sees E's family at the store and realizes there are too many mouths to feed like her own poor upbringing. C'mon they were two of the best and deepest parents in a YA novel! Hahha ok I need to stop thinking about them.
I downloaded Looking For Alaksa, one of John Green's other novels, and want to read Code Name Verity. I'll let you know how they are!
-MJ
MJ, totally agree that Park's parents were the awesomest parents ever - I wished they were real, and I wished they were my parents (or that I could be parents like them)! My only issue was that they seemed so great that they didn't seem real enough to me! - D
the one hiccup in the book to me was the eyeliner foray. i was confused about that, but probably b/c i'm not cool enough. also, i kept thinking today about your kimchi comment and realized it's true, every ajumah has kimchi, but maybe mindy couldn't access the ingredients in nebraska or maybe the desire to conform was stronger in middle america. i realized all the koreans i know are from the coasts, and those in the midwest aside from chicago probably had a vastly different experience as immigrants in the 80s.
i started 'looking for alaska' last night. it's interesting and okay so far, but it's no Fault.
Any other good YA recs? My faves so far are The Fault in Our Stars, Flat-out Love and E&P, but always looking for more! I thought about downloading more books by John Green or Rainbow Rowell but I didn't because I fear I will be disappointed bc the first books I read by them were so good (can't imagine their other books will be able to live up). -D
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