Eleanor & Park

I’m a sucker for a great YA novel, so it’s no surprise that I fell in love with Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park (St. Martins Griffin, 2013). The novel, set in 80’s Nebraska, focuses on the love story between Eleanor, a new kid at school, and Park, the punk-rock, comic-book-loving geek she shares a bus seat with. They come from different backgrounds—she’s come from a poor, large, broken family while Park’s family, while not affluent, is much more stable.

While the novel focuses on Eleanor and Park’s growing relationship, I found myself most identifying with the couple’s respective home lives, specifically Park’s. The offspring of an American (Irish) father and Korean mother, Park struggles to reconcile his view of race, often questioning why someone like Eleanor would be interested in someone like him. In addition, Park also struggles to forge his own identity separate from his family. His father doesn’t understand Park’s fascination with 80’s culture, and his mother, at first, wants nothing do to with Eleanor. But even as they struggle, Park’s family is there when he needs them. Though flawed, they are still parents that want the best for their children…and their children’s girlfriends.