Eleanor & Park is the first young adult novel written by Rainbow Rowell. Published in 2012, the story follows dual narratives by Eleanor and Park, two misfits living in Omaha, Nebraska from 1986 to 1987. Eleanor, a chubby[1] 16-year-old girl with curly red hair, and Park, a 16-year-old biracial Korean boy, meet on a school bus on Eleanor's first day at the school and gradually connect through comic books and mixtapes of 1980s music, sparking a love story.
Eleanor Douglas is beginning 10th grade. She is the oldest in a family of two girls and three boys who live with their mother and stepfather, Richie, in a tiny two-bedroom house. The children share one bedroom. There is one bathroom, and Richie has removed the door and will not allow a curtain for privacy. Richie is physically and emotionally abusive to their mother and often drunk. The children live in terror of him. Eleanor does not own a toothbrush or properly fitting clothes. She patches her clothes in bright colors, wears ribbons in her hair, and creates strange clothing combinations, over which her fellow students bully her. Eleanor has just returned after sleeping on the couch of her mother’s high school friend, since Richie threw her out a year earlier.
Park Sheridan has lived in Omaha his whole life. While his family is not affluent, and his parents come from very different backgrounds, his home is filled with love. While his father is tall and masculine, Park takes after his mother in appearance and is shorter than his younger brother. Park believes he is a disappointment and is unenthusiastic about taekwondo, which his father values. Park is instead interested in alternative music and comics. He feels insecure about his size and Asian heritage, despite getting along with the popular kids at school.
On Eleanor's first day at her new school, the students find her weird. They rearrange their seats on the school bus to get her yelled at by the driver. When Eleanor is about to cry, Park rudely offers her a seat. They have a few classes together during which Park notices Eleanor is one of the smartest students in class. They begin to connect.
Eleanor is regularly bullied at school. Girls cover her gym locker with sanitary pads, and someone writes disgusting and inappropriate remarks on her school books. At home, Richie frequently screams at Eleanor's mother and abuses her while drunk. One night, Eleanor hears gunshots and calls the police, but they believe Richie's lies over her report. Eleanor tries to conceal her living situation from Park, but gets frustrated when he takes some things for granted, like a telephone, batteries, or safety. She tries to reject Park's gifts, believing herself unworthy. The two spend more time together in secret, since Richie won't allow Eleanor to have a boyfriend, and her mother and siblings' loyalties have shifted to Richie. Park professes his love for Eleanor, making her uncomfortable. Her first meeting with his parents, especially his mother, does not go well.
Park gets into a fight with Steve, who was bullying Eleanor, and lands a taekwondo kick to Steve's mouth. Park's nose is broken in return. His mother grounds him "forever", thinking Eleanor is leading Park into trouble and is a "weird white girl". Park's father, on the other hand, is proud of Park and understands that Richie is an abusive alcoholic. After seeing Eleanor's family, Park's mother invites Eleanor to stay at their house. Eleanor accepts and lies to her family about it. Eleanor's uncle offers to take Eleanor to Minnesota for the summer so she can attend a program for gifted teens, but Richie says no.
One night, Park's mom tells the kids to go on a date. Eleanor returns home to a fight between Richie and her mother and she finds her personal possessions destroyed. She matches a hateful message written by Richie to the handwriting of the highly perverted notes in her school books. Eleanor flees and ends up in Steve's garage with him, Tina, Mikey, and another girl who turn out to not be as bad as she had thought. She goes to Park's house and tries to formulate a way to get to her uncle in St. Paul, Minnesota. Park insists upon driving her. His father sees him sneaking out of the house, but, surprisingly, gives Park money and tells him to take the truck. Park leaves Eleanor at her uncle's house. Eleanor's aunt and uncle welcome her and plan to remove her siblings as well.
Park sends Eleanor letters, but she does not respond. In fact, she doesn't even read them. Park tries to forget her, but can't. Soon, Eleanor's siblings and mother disappear from Richie's house, leaving Richie alone once again. Park passes by Eleanor's former house frequently, longing for her. Park encounters Richie one day as he is coming back from one of his drinking binges. Park fantasizes about killing Richie frequently, because he "can" and "should", but ends up only kicking the ground in front of Richie's face, who had fallen in the snow. Six months later, Park receives a postcard from Eleanor with three words on it.
Eleanor desperately seeks for a way to get out of her everyday house and Richie, even though she knows that would mean leaving Park behind. She gets what she wants when Park offers to drive her to Minnesota, away from Richie and her house but what he gets in return is that Eleanor's mother and siblings also go to where she is, leaving Park with just memories the two have made together.
Domestic abuse
A key issue revolves around Eleanor and her stepfather, Richie. There are countless times when Eleanor notices bruises on her mother's face. Richie abuses Eleanor's mother both physically – though Rowell never shows Richie hitting Eleanor's mother, Sabrina – and emotionally. Richie yells at and controls Sabrina throughout most of the novel, and Eleanor is so used to it that she can "sleep through the screaming." Sabrina treads lightly around Richie, so as not to spike his anger, making sure everything is right so Richie will not hurt her or the kids. Later in the novel, crass notes written by Richie directed towards Eleanor are shown.
Child abuse
Richie physically abuses the kids, hitting them when they do something wrong, as well as verbally abusing them, calling them insults. The kids go without new clothes or shoes, wearing the few items Eleanor's mother can get at Goodwill. The children do not have toothbrushes or toothpaste, nor shampoo or conditioner to wash their hair; they only have access to dishwashing soap. They do not have much to eat, either. All five children sleep in a small bedroom with a bunk bed, the boys on the floor, Eleanor on the top bunk and Eleanor's younger sister on the bottom.
Bullying
Eleanor deals with bullying at school and at home. At school, her classmate Tina and other students bully her about her size, her hair, and her clothes. Eleanor's father makes comments about her size, as well as Richie, whose comments are much more vulgar.
Body image
Eleanor is constantly bullied about her size. She wears large clothing because her cast-off Goodwill clothing is seldom in her size. In one brief moment with her father, Eleanor says he used to drop "hints about her weight." Richie hurls insults at Eleanor about her appearance. Eleanor does not hate being fat, but dislikes how much of an outcast she becomes because she looks different than anyone else. Park loves everything about Eleanor, body type included.
Reception and honors
The critical reception for the book has been mostly positive. Kirkus Reviews said: "Funny, hopeful, foulmouthed, sexy and tear-jerking, this winning romance will captivate teen and adult readers alike."[2] Author John Green said Eleanor & Park "reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book."[3]
The Anoka-Hennepin School District, the largest school district in Minnesota, revised its policies following a challenge of the book at Anoka High School.[16] The parents of an Anoka High student, partnering with a citizen's group within the district, had challenged the book's place in school libraries, calling it "vile profanity" because of its crude language. They cited 227 instances of coarse language and sexuality and demanded it be pulled from library shelves.[17] The district and the Anoka County Library withdrew an invitation to the author to speak about the book.[17] When the Anoka High principal convened a committee of parents, staff and a student to review the book, the committee determined that it was powerful, realistic and appropriate for high schoolers.[17] During this controversy, the book received support from the National Coalition Against Censorship, which noted irony in the school district canceling an appearance by the author that was scheduled to occur during Banned Books Week.[18]
Criticism of racism
The book has received some criticism for being anti-Asian.[19][20][21][22][23] Critics say Rowell mishandles Park, a biracial Korean-American boy, and that his internalized racism is never unpacked by the end of the story. Critics also accuse Rowell of fetishizing and exoticizing Park throughout the book. At one point, Eleanor says that Park "looked dangerous. Like Ming the Merciless," referencing a stereotypical Asian villain from the Flash Gordon comic strip and TV show. Critics also noted that the author often fixated and exoticized Park's physical features, describing his eyes as green but "almond shaped", "almond flavored" and "almondy", as well as describing his skin as "honey". The former is a common but inaccurate description of epicanthic folds, and the implication of the latter is that it is an alternative way of calling Park "yellow", a labeling that has racist roots directed toward people of Asian descent. Park's younger brother, Josh, is described as white-passing, and Park's Asian features are described to have negatively affected his appearance unlike his brother's features. Taekwondo is misspelled as "taekwando" and is also treated as interchangeable with kung fu at one point (the former is Korean while the latter is Chinese).
Rowell has also received criticism for Park's name, as Park is a common Korean surname rather than a given name. Rowell has addressed the character's name on her website's frequently asked questions page:[19]
My backstory for Park's name was that "Park" is his mom's family name, and that his parents thought it would be nice for him to have both their names, "Park" and "Sheridan." This is fairly common in American families – to use the mom's maiden name as the kid's first or middle name. (It's a tradition in my family.) I was also thinking about how in lots of families, the oldest kid has a more unusual name. (Like "Rainbow.") And then the parents decide to play it safer with younger kids. (My brother is literally named "Jerry.")[24]
Some have responded that this custom, which applies to Rowell's white American family, is unlikely to apply to Park's South Korean immigrant mother. There are also accusations of the book romanticizing the relationship between Korean women and American soldiers during war times and having racist depictions of an Asian women – Park's mother is described as a "China doll".[21] In addition, in a now-deleted post, the author addressed her reasons on making Park Korean (Note: the post, however, still remains on the author's personal Goodreads account[25]). Reasons range from her father serving in Korea in the Army and being in love with a Korean girl to old Asian-American high school classmates, and representation in young adult books during the time the book was released.
"There aren't a lot of Asian boys in YA; the character calls attention to himself. Why would a white author write about an Asian guy? I don't have a complete, definitive answer. Why is Park Korean? Because I think there should be more Asian-American characters in YA, especially boys. (And also more chubby girls.) Because it's up to people like me, who write, to write them ... Because that's how I saw him the moment I saw him. And then I couldn't imagine him any other way."[26][19][27]
The book has also been criticized for perpetuating anti-black stereotypes. In the novel, Eleanor makes friends with two black girls named Beebi and DeNice. The two characters have been viewed as stereotypical.[citation needed]
Film
In 2014, it was announced that DreamWorks had purchased the rights to make an Eleanor & Park film adaptation, for which Rowell was asked to write the screenplay.[28] In May 2016, however, Rowell confirmed via Twitter that the film was no longer in development, and the rights were back with her.[29] Then again in May 2019, Rowell confirmed via Instagram that a movie was again in the works under and that she would be writing the screenplay. The film was officially announced to be produced by Picturestart and Brad Pitt's production company Plan B.[30]
In July 2020, author Rainbow Rowell announced on her Twitter that the film adaptation of Eleanor & Park will be directed by Japanese filmmaker Hikari and that casting would also commence the same month.[31]
As of January 2024, no movie has been released.
Related Research Articles
Jonathan Anthony Stroud is a British writer of fantasy fiction, best known for the Bartimaeus young adult sequence and Lockwood & Co. children's series. His books are typically set in an alternative history London with fantasy elements, and have received note for his satire, and use of magic to reflect themes of class struggle. The Bartimaeus sequence is the recipient of the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire and Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards. Stroud's works have also been featured on ALA Notable lists of books for children and young adults. In 2020, Netflix announced a TV series based on Lockwood & Co., with filming initiated in July 2021.
Lesléa Newman is an American author, editor, and feminist best known for the children's book Heather Has Two Mommies. Four of her young adult novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making her one of the most celebrated authors in the category.
Eleanor Estes was an American children's writer and a children's librarian. Her book Ginger Pye, for which she also created illustrations, won the Newbery Medal. Three of her books were Newbery Honor Winners, and one was awarded the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Estes' books were based on her life in small-town Connecticut in the early 1900s.
Faith Erin Hicks is a Canadian cartoonist and animator living in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Russell A. Freedman was an American biographer and the author of nearly 50 books for young people. He may be known best for winning the 1988 Newbery Medal with his work Lincoln: A Photobiography.
Lauren Myracle is an American writer of young adult fiction. She has written many novels, including the three best-selling "IM" books, ttyl, ttfn and l8r, g8r. Her book Thirteen Plus One was released May 4, 2010.
Gabrielle Zevin is an American author and screenwriter.
Jandy Nelson is an American author. Prior to her career as an author, Nelson worked for 13 years as a literary agent at Manus & Associates Literary Agency. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University as well as several Master of Fine Arts degrees. She later attended Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Amy Sarig King is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."
Kirstin Cronn-Mills is an American author of children's books including the Minnesota Book Award finalist The Sky Always Hears Me And the Hills Don't Mind (2009) and Beautiful Music for Ugly Children (2012) which was a Stonewall Book Award winner and a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her third novel, Original Fake (2016), was a Minnesota Book Award finalist in 2017, along with her third nonfiction volume for high school libraries, LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field. Her fourth novel, Wreck, will be published in 2019.
Fangirl is a young adult novel by Rainbow Rowell, published in 2013. Fangirl is Rowell's second published young adult book, following Eleanor & Park, and third published book overall.
Rainbow Rowell is an American author known for young adult and adult contemporary novels. Her young adult novels Eleanor & Park (2012), Fangirl (2013) and Carry On (2015) have been subjects of critical acclaim.
Make Lemonade is a verse novel for young adults, written by Virginia Euwer Wolff and originally published in 1993 by Henry Holt and Company. It is the first book in a trilogy series consisting of Make Lemonade, True Believer, and This Full House. These novels are characterized by their free verse style. The trilogy is unified by its protagonist LaVaughn, a fourteen-year-old girl who recounts her experiences and perspective from first-person point of view. All three books have been published as audiobooks read by Heather Alicia Simms.
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass is a 2013 young adult novel by Cuban-American author Meg Medina. The book was first published in the United States on 26 March 2013 through Candlewick Press and is the winner of the 2013 Cybils Award and the 2014 Pura Belpré Award. The book has been challenged in some schools due to its title and language, and deals with the theme of teen bullying and its effects on the individual and their lives.
All the Bright Places is a young adult fiction novel by Jennifer Niven which is based on the author's personal story. The novel was first published on January 6, 2015 through Knopf Publishing Group and is Niven's first young adult book. A film adaptation starring Elle Fanning and Justice Smith was released on February 28, 2020 on Netflix.
Landline is a 2014 American sci-fi novel by Rainbow Rowell. It tells the story of 37-year-old Georgie McCool who discovers that she is able to call her husband's 22-year-old self through his landline. Rowell stated that aspects from the novel are loosely based on her own life such as the fact that Georgie is incredibly career-driven while her husband is a stay-at-home dad. The character of Georgie McCool was named after the song Georgy Girl and the village of McCool Junction.
Angie Thomas is an American young adult author, best known for writing The Hate U Give (2017). Her second young adult novel, On the Come Up, was released on February 25, 2019.
Emily X.R. Pan is a New York Times Bestselling American author of young adult fiction, best known for her debut novel The Astonishing Color of After.
Wayward Son is the fourth young adult novel written by Rainbow Rowell, published in 2019. The story follows Simon Snow and his friends a year and a half after the end of the first book of the trilogy, Carry On. It explores their young adult lives and how they navigate them now that Simon destroyed the biggest threat to the World of Mages, the universe's British sect of magic. The group finds themselves in the United States under the guise of visiting their friend, Agatha, in California, but the story takes the characters on a road trip filled with cryptids, self-discovery, and a new friend. The story is narrated by multiple characters.
Nina LaCour is an American author, primarily known for writing young adult literature with queer, romantic story lines. Her novel We Are Okay won the Printz Award in 2017.
↑ SCHOOL BOARD POLICIES – 600 EDUCATION PROGRAMSArchived 2013-01-15 at the Wayback Machine Anoka Hennepin School District. 603.1 Curriculum Development and Materials Selection and 606.2 Library Media Materials Selection revised March 26, 2014. "In selecting media materials for purchase, the library media specialist will evaluate the existing collection and consult reputable, unbiased, professionally prepared selection aids and specialists from all applicable departments and/or all grade levels."
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
