by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: February 26, 2013
Love stories are the hardest stories to write. The pitfalls are common, deadly, and all too easy for authors to stumble into: clichés, unrealistic dialogues, two-dimensional characters. Rainbow Rowell’s ELEANOR AND PARK is a love story of the highest order, and not just because she avoids the pitfalls. She succeeds because she draws characters so realistic that by the end you not only understand why they love each other—you love them too.
Eleanor is poor, heavyset, from a broken family, and “weird”—the kind of girl who was destined to be unpopular from the moment she stepped into the bus on her first day of tenth grade. Park is half-Korean, half-white, and at war with himself. It’s no surprise to any reader that they rescue each other; what’s by turns sweet, beautiful, and tragic is how they do it. The book is not about what happens to them, it’s about them.
What I like most about ELEANOR AND PARK is that it’s no fairytale. It’s about 16-year-olds with adult problems. It’s gritty and at times vulgar. It’s real.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete