Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor And Park

510 Words2 Pages

Introduction
After waiting so long to read this book, I'm glad I wasn't disappointed. Eleanor and Park is a young-adult/romance novel written by Rainbow Rowell, and published in 2013. It is about two high school misfits who first meet each other on the bus to school and eventually fall in love.

Setting
The story takes place in “the Flats”; an all white neighbourhood in Omaha, Nebraska. The year is 1886 and the story involves many references to this era. The whole story takes place over around one school year.

Outline of Plot Details
Eleanor first into moves the neighbourhood and is unwillingly offered a seat on the bus to school by Park. After many days of bus rides in silence, Park finds out that Eleanor reads Park’s comics. He then starts to bring some for her to read at home. After a while, they create mix-tapes for each other and they become much more than friends. Throughout the …show more content…

Eleanor is stated to be a “big girl” with bright red hair, and has come back home after being kicked out for a year. She has a dysfunctional family, and lives a life where most necessities are luxuries. Park is a half Korean kid who is described as popular among the other kids in school, although he is very quiet. His family is much more stable, but he has some issues with meeting his father’s expectations. The antagonist of the story is Eleanor’s abusive and alcoholic stepdad, Richie.

Thematic Analysis
One of the themes in Eleanor and Park is love or more specifically, first love and what it's like to fall for someone when you haven't loved someone before. Eleanor and Park are each other's first real loves and although they know they probably won't last, they were desperate enough to try. They go from being awkward strangers on the bus to admitting their love for eachother. This novel challenges the idea of love at first sight and what we find attractive.

Literary

Open Document