“Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell

            Eleanor & Park is a young adult, romantic novel written by Rainbow Rowell. The story is set in Omaha, Nebraska in 1986.

As you can tell from the title, Eleanor and Park are the main characters, but I think the book focuses more onto Eleanor, in my opinion. Eleanor in the beginning, is new to the school, and is hoping to just let the days pass by without anyone noticing her. Park, in the beginning, is the type who mostly keeps himself to himself, and also wants the days to pass by. At the end, both of them have changed; fallen in love with each other, protected each other, and got in trouble just to be there for each other.

The minor characters, which mainly affect Eleanor and Park are the family members of both main characters, especially the stepdad of Eleanor’s – Richie, and some classmates – Steve and Tina. Eleanor and Park both strongly hate Richie, and starts developing hatred towards Steve and Tina since they’re bullying Eleanor. But Park’s parents are there to protect them, if it’s needed.

The turning point is near the end, when Eleanor finds out that it is her abusive dad that left inappropriate notes on her notebooks, so then she decides to run away to her uncle in Minnesota, from all the way in Nebraska. That was not foreshadowed, and I was completely shocked to find out it was her father who left those disgusting notes.

I don’t think there’s a specific theme associated with this novel, it just tells a story between an unfortunate girl falling in love with an unexpected boy, and all the adventures/problems they’ve experienced together. I guess the author wants the readers to know that someone will always be there to love you, even if you don’t believe so.