Setting of the book eleanor and park

Park makes eleanor to promise that she will call and write, but when park returns to omaha, eleanor does not read his letters for several months. The story begins in august of 1986 and travels thought the school year as two 10th grade students fall in love and have to deal with the every day problems of being a teen in 1986. Just like romeo and juliet, rowells novel is a searing look at the total intensity of first love and the power of familial, societal, and economic barriers to stand between a pair of young lovers chance at happiness. Eleanor and park could be conceived of as a very loose contemporary take on shakespeares romeo and juliet a play eleanor and park study in their english class. Their friendship quickly solidifies into something stronger. The reason why it is important is to show the two main characters coming together and their own thoughts and feelings. When the book opens, we learn right away that our narrator, park, has lost someone named eleanor. Summary eleanor and park by rainbow rowell is a realistic fiction novel. If that had been the case, eleanor would forever have thought of park as the stupid asian kid who cursed at her, and he wouldve considered her the big and offputting weird girl.

This becomes a major setting for the action of the story, especially during the early chapters. This book is wellwritten, almost like rowell popped the top on the teen brain with all the first, raw emotions spilling out into a funny, lugubrious, intense singular story line with the perfect ending. The other 20 percent was just keeping your head down. They agreed about everything important and argued about everything else. Eleanor and park is set in omaha, nebraska, over the course of the school year from the fall of 1986 to the summer of 1987. The point of view is in third person limited omniscient in eleanor and park.

I fell in love with park, i fell in love with the way he fell in love with eleanor. Rowell constantly sprinkles references to mid80s pop culture and music into her book, but we get the feeling that she chose the 80s for more than just a nostalgiafest. Youve got two teenage protagonists dealing with young love, family issues, identity, and acceptancebasically the bread and butter of ya lit. Eleanor and park are two sixteenyearolds forced to sit together on a school bus in 1980s omaha, nebraska. I have not been a teenager for quite a long time but reading this took me back to those years so vividly. Irony the whole book uses irony because no one ever expected eleanor and park to be together, especially not them. It also affects his dad because his dad was in vietnam which shaped his personality which creates friction between those two. Eleanor is sixteen, living with her mother, step father, and four younger siblings. Before chapter 1 of eleanor and park begins and the setting is given. Eleanor is the new girl in town, and with her chaotic family life, her mismatched clothes and unruly red hair, she couldnt stick out more if she tried. She is in high school and takes honor classes in english, history, and geography. She doesnt live in good conditions, her stepfather had kicked her out of the house before, and he is abusive to her mother. Its formatted where each chapter is told by one of the two major characters eleanor or park.

The novel eleanor and park was written by rainbow rowell. Rainbow rowells nontraditional romance novel eleanor and park. Rather than beginning at the beginning, the novel flashes forward in time, suggesting. The contemporary romance novel followed two high school misfits in omaha. Over time, we learn that park and eleanor have very different lives.

Complete summary of rainbow rowells eleanor and park. Published in 2012, the story follows dual narratives by eleanor and park, two misfits. The setting in the book eleanor and park takes place in omaha, nebraska. Eleanor and parks bond became tighter with the progression of time, and the two were extremely protective over one another. Coming from a similar setting i have to say when youre in it, you dont really. The novel is set during 19861987 in omaha, nebraska and follows the lives of two teenagers while exploring issues like peer pressure, identity and body image. But most people believe that punk rock started in the.

Park in the opening chapter of the book, we are introduced to the main character, park, as he rides the bus to high school. Both eleanor and park hate the bus until it becomes the place where they get to spend time together. These elements combine to make a read that moves the reader and warms the heart. Park, the only halfkorean fan of punk and new wave at their high school, is by no means popular, but he benefits from his familys deep roots in their lowermiddleclass neighborhood.

Summary read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. Rainbow rowell has outlined a sequel for eleanor and park. Sometimes, if you ignored steve for a minute, he moved on to someone else. Eleanor, her mother, her four siblings, and her stepfather share a twobedroom house. Eleanor, a chubby 16yearold girl with curly red hair, and park, a halfkorean, 16yearold boy, meet on a school bus on eleanors first day at the school and gradually connect through comic books and mix tapes of 80s music, sparking a love story. The novel closes the day after prom, when park receives a postcard from eleanor.

The setting affects the book because the 1980s is when the punk rock bands start coming out which is what shapes parks personality. Black tshirts, headphones, head in a book he thinks hes made himself invisible. Despite the 80s setting, this book felt timeless a story that could reach across the ages. Eleanor is the new girl, the girl with the crazy red hair and the strange clothes. Eleanor, the new girl in town, is heavier than average and struggles with a bad home life. Eleanor is getting nasty messages written on her notebook, and park asks her if she was writing the messages on there herself. Park drives eleanor to her uncles house, and then he heads home. When eleanor meets park, youll remember your own first loveand just how hard it pulled you under.

Early in the book you learn that eleanors stepdad is not a good guy. And that was good too, because whenever they argued, eleanor could always crack park up, 64. The novel progresses as the pov shifts between eleanor and park. If youre a librarian or library worker looking for suggestions to offer readers, this list includes both older and new titles. Eleanor and park slowly begin to learn more about each other and fall in. Eleanor and park by rainbow rowell deliriously beautiful. I also loved that the book was set in the 80s and eleanor and park bonded over. Pdf eleanor and park by rainbow rowell book download online. Obviously, eleanor totally differs and her tone is suspicious when she poses this inquiry. Printz honor book for excellence in young adult literature.

When eleanor discovers that ritchie knows about her and park and he is the person who wrote lewd comments on her books. In 1986, he is sixteen years old and struggling to fit. It is written about teens, sure, but the themes are so universal that anyone who survived high school will relate to the lives of the two protagonists. First, as is true with the birth of most genres of anything music, art, architecture, etc pinpointing the beginning is tough, if not impossible. The book is in the third person, and the narrative alternates between eleanors perspective and parks perspective. Couldnt wait to hear what the other had to say about the same situation. Read online or buy pdf of eleanor and park rainbow rowell novel. When eleanor sat next to park on the bus for the first time, park saw her as this big awkward girl with messy hair and no style, he probably never thought he would even talk to her. Park is a halfkorean boy growing up in omaha, nebraska. Eleanor thought park was just some stuck up boy that was friends with a dumb guy and the girl that. Eleanor comes from a danish family, giving her the trait of her crazy red hair. He kicked eleanor out and he is hurting her mother as well.

Almost the entire story is framed as a flashback, since in the prologue, eleanor and park are already geographically separated. Not in a happilyeverafterway but the story between park and eleanor was so carefully built up, you could almost fall for eleanor park as well as the characters. Slowly, steadily, through latenight conversations and an. Since this book is set in the mid1980s, in true 80s cassettetape style, we rewind to the beginning of the school year to find out what happened. Download the eleanor and park pdf or buy from amazon. At the end of the book, park seems to have moved on from eleanor when he finally receives a. Eleanor and park is a young adult novel written by rainbow rowell in 20. He is listening to music on his walkman in order to distract himself from the other people on the bus. Published in 2012, the story follows dual narratives by eleanor and park, two misfits living in omaha, nebraska from 1986 to 1987. Eleanor and park often confuse bases as if adhering to some rule to follow a particular sequence. In essence, the novel is about accepting ones identity and the struggle many youths have with selfimage. The fact that it was set in the 80s, in my era, was an added bonus.

Park is thought of as a feminine boy by his father, a fact that is of constant debate between parks parents, and shocks him when he starts using eyeliner. Eleanor douglas is a tenthgrader who has just transferred to a new high school. Eleanor and parks friendship and romance show that you cant judge someone by your first impression of them. Eleanor and park summary and study guide supersummary. The eleanor and park community note includes chapterbychapter. Park and eleanor examine parks looks, and he clarifies that he doesnt feel appealing on the grounds that he is asian and asians arent generally considered attractive. The novel closes with eleanor and park still living in separate states. The story of eleanor and park by rainbow rowell is a realistic paced tale of two high school students, eleanor and park, who find everything in one another on a loud school bus. Knowing that was 80 percent of surviving with steve as your neighbor. This book demonstrates how two people from different worlds can fall in love with each other. Eleanor enlists parks help, and the two travel to st. I felt like every word was chosen so carefully to describe the relationships between all of the characters, its.

I would love a sequel just to know how this love story continues. When eleanor thinks shes fat, park describes her as beautiful. Eleanor and park study guide from litcharts the creators. Park comes from a loving middleclass home, whereas eleanor lives in an abusive household with her stepfather, richie. Their relationship was so beautifully written, humorous at times and smile inducing while tugging hard at your heart.