Bon's Book Club: ELEANOR & PARK

Hello and welcome to book club!
(If you are new around here and want to join in for book club, it's super easy! Just read the book and then come back here on the last Thursday of the month to discuss. Full details are here.)

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2014 Book Club Schedule:

January: The Husband's Secret by Liane Mortiary (January 30) Discussion here.
February: I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (February 27) Discussion here.
March: Divergent by Veronica Roth (March 27) Discussion here.
April: Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern (April 24) Discussion here.
May: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (May 29). Discussion here.
June: Matilda by Roald Dahl (June 26). Discussion here.
July: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (July 31). Discussion here.
August: Brain on Fire: by Susannah Cahalan (August 27). Discussion here.

September: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

October: Z by Therese Ann Fowler (October 23)
November: Wonder by R.J. Palacio (November 20)
December: My Story by Elizabeth Smart (December 30)

The question is am I ever going to like a book that we read for book club? I feel like there must be something seriously wrong with me that I hate every book! I mean, I didn't hate them all, I guess. I loved In Cold Blood, but I've already read that so it feels like that's cheating. I just don't feel like we've read that book yet that has been a "I'M- SO- GLAD- I- READ- THIS- BOOK- IT'S- AMAZING" book yet.

I had really high hopes for eleanor & park. It has been so popular with the young kids and it was on the ninth grade honors reading list at my school- I just thought it was going to be awesome. It wasn't. I was totally disappointed.

My main issues with the book:

1) I feel like it's an impossible love story- one that would never happen in real life. My sister once told me that the formula for a successful YA novel is to have a very average, normal girl get an absolutely amazing guy. The guy has to be more perfect and dreamy than any guy that exists in real life and he has to fall head over heels for a super average girl. Young girls eat that stuff up because it is their fantasy- being an average girl that catches the dream guy. (Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent). Ever since she told me this I have been weary of books that do this. I feel like I'm being manipulated. eleanor & park is the story of an attractive and well liked Asian boy who falls for a poor and overweight redhead. Rowell states multiple times that Eleanor is overweight, (To the point that it got a little tiring for me- yes, I get it. She's heavy.) that she doesn't often shower or brush her teeth, that she has very few clothes that she wears over and over to school. I think it is sweet that Park, who comes from a perfect middle class family, falls in love with her, but it's just never going to happen in real life.

2) I didn't like Eleanor. She's just an extremely unlikeable character. She comes from a tough home, I get that, but I think Rowell went a bit overboard in making her be harsh. She pulls away from Park all the time, is constantly making him tell her why she likes him, she is defensive and just straight up mean. This plays into #1 a bit, I feel like no guy would sit there and chase a girl who is that mean all the time. And Park is just unbelievably nice, it was unreal.. I needed to see a bit more sweetness in Eleanor, and it just wasn't there.

3) NOTHING HAPPENS. The book is over 300 pages and here's the plot: Eleanor and Park meet. Eleanor and Park fall in love (which is a very typical teenage love story- nothing special or unique about it.) Eleanor gets bullied for her weight. Eleanor runs away because her stepdad finds out about the relationship. The end. There wasn't any suspense, nor did it feel like it was ever building up to anything. Even the part where her step dad found out about the relationship was very anticlimactic- Eleanor comes home, realizes he knows, and leaves the house immediately. Park drives her to her uncle's house in Minnesota. The book ends. I had 50 pages left in the book and was not a bit curious to see how it ended- that's definitely a bad sign in my book.

4) The book has too many f words for a YA novel. And they're pretty pointless f words too. I understand needing a few here and there to prove your point, but there are so many that are just in casual conversation or thought. I suppose my problem is that I know a lot of really good kids who like to read. Sometimes I worry that they read stuff like this and think they should act that way. You know, if even the nerdy people in books use the f word like that, or drink, or sleep around, then they should be doing that stuff too. I hate the way tv and movies portray high school. Usually books do a better job, but not this one. I know that Rowell was trying to make her characters realistic and relatable, but it makes me sad that we think our book heroes have to be using the f word right and left for teenagers to relate to them. There's a lot more good kids out there than we give credit for.

5) Rowell never tells us what happened between Eleanor and her stepdad that she was kicked out of the house before the book starts. We can pretty much assume what it was, but it bugs me that she never tells readers.

6) The end of the book says that Park gets a postcard from Eleanor with three words on it and then the book ends. Worst ending ever. What are the three words? I love you? Just tell us- stop with the guessing game already!

Things I liked about the book:
- Easy read and a fun and interesting voice.
- I loved Park's parents' relationship. They are so in love with each other, and that part was very sweet. He says something at one point in the book how when he would wake up scared at night he would think about how much his parents loved each other, not how much his parents loved him. All parents love their kids, but they didn't have to love each other. I thought that part was very sweet.

Alright, I'm ready for your thoughts!

Did you like the book?
Did you find their ill fated relationship to be sweet? Believable?
Did the language bother you?
And even if you haven't read the book-
Do you agree with me that f words in YA books are unnecessary?
Why do you think the author chose to add the language she did?

Add your link if you wrote your own post. Now that I have Disqus on my comments I am hoping we can have a great conversation below!

October's book is Z by Theresa Fowler. It is about F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda. I am so excited for it because I love the Fitzgeralds and I love everything about the 1920s. I hope it doesn't let me down. Join in for the next month!