Eleanor & Park & the 1980s

Not a very creative title, but whatever; it speaks for itself.

A book that I read a few weeks ago that I hadn't been able to post about until now is Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell. I had only heard about it once before (through the blog of an author I like), and decided to put it on my "to read" list. Lucky for me, a few days after I saw that it was on sale at the Kindle store for less than $3! I snapped it up instantly.

Eleanor & Park is, at its heart, a story about first love and all that it entails. A lot of people, when reviewing this book, notes its ordinariness; how it isn't groundbreaking, or different (in terms of the characters, situation, etc.). Some people criticized the 1986 setting; some people claimed that they could relate the Eleanor and Park, and the Midwestern setting. Some say that while it isn't the story that's new and amazing, but the way that it's told. (I don't exactly agree with that idea, but that could be because I haven't really read YA Fiction in a while.)

I thought that it was kind of brilliant. And not like "yeah, I mean, it was almost brilliant." No. "kinda," as in, "well, goddamn. She's got me pegged."

Too often, when I read YA books about romance and love, it becomes more "adult" than I think authors mean to. And that isn't their fault; but I want to say that Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell has come the closest to captioning what I felt when I fell into like, and then into love. And that, for me, makes it groundbreaking.

I read this book on my Kindle (one of my first, might I add!), and as my boyfriend can attest, I brought this book everywhere with me. Hell, I brought it with me while driving to see Jurassic Park: 3D when with our friends, and they probably thought that I was acting like an antisocial nutcase. But that's OK, because for this book I would do it all again! This book filled me with sympathy, sadness, and dread as much as it filled me with excitement and longing.

I felt like I really connected with the characters; like them, I often experience the frustration that comes with practically being an adult, but still living by someone else's own rules, and feeling restricted in expressing myself as a result. But maybe that's just a trademark of the Midwest? (Kidding. I love the Midwest.) I understand what it's like to come into an insulated community as a newcomer, someone who has "I DON'T BELONG" written in red ink on their foreheads. Making the transition, as Eleanor did, from community to community, is hard because all of a sudden your own rules and standards are invalidated by those around you. I'm not from "the Neighborhood" in Omaha, Nebraska, but my mom did live there for a time when she was going through her own family drama, and her experience sounds very similar to Eleanor. I'm from Kansas City, myself, so while I am not intimately familiar with Nebraskan life, I do feel like the area that I moved to in elementary school (and later high school) is very similar to the one in Eleanor & Park. 

While some people really liked the settling, other reviews I've read criticized the use of the '80s in the novel, claiming that it wasn't "utilized" properly. To that, I say "seriously?" Because here's the thing about teenagers living in any time period: we don't care. We don't care that it's the '40s, '80s, '90s, whatever. We don't stop and think, "You know? I think that America is at an interesting cultural point; considering of course the ongoing Iran-Contra scandal (What was it being called then? Same thing?), the fact that Lady Gaga - oh it's ok if you don't know her yet - has just been born, and all of these other things." Did I lose my point? Let me start again.

Teenagers don't often think of the significance of the time period they were in in the same way that adults do. We think about things generally, sure, but we don't analyze. The fact that Eleanor & Park took place in 1986 but didn't mention at every available opportunity that the time period was 1986 is in itself significant. When John Hughes made Pretty In Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, one could argue that the 1980s weren't really exploited in the way that they are now.

the 1980s, as imagined by youths today. Via 

Did Ferris and Andie and Blane and Duckie and Cameron really think about the "big picture" of the period they were living in? No! They were doing what every other 1980s teenager was doing: ditching school to sing on parade floats and New Wave-ing it out. They were just living life; they were just being teenagers.

Living every 1980s teenager's dream. 

Ferris Andie

(I'm assuming my point was made. Hopefully the visuals helped.)

I would definitely recommend Eleanor & Park to anyone that's interested in YA fic. And hell, if I found the right adult, I'd probably recommend it to them, too. I think that this novel has a lot of heart and a lot of truth to it. (Also, a lot of comics. It seriously made my little nerd-heart sing.) I felt like I really connected to the characters, and like I really identified with them and their struggles with their bodies, their families, etc. And not to sound totally cliche, but that doesn't happen very much for me anymore. 

I don't want to say that this book will change your life. It will, however, hopefully reaffirm yours. 

-M

Have something to say about Eleanor & Park? Feel free to leave a note in the comments!