Last week I started and quickly gave up on The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction by Linda Gordon. I so rarely give up on books and yet I only made it about 30 pages into this one. I’m not sure where I heard about the book – I assume either NPR or Real Simple – but whatever I heard or read made me add the book to be To Read list. The text was so dry and the type so tiny. I couldn’t take it. A book should be something I am excited to open. Not something that feels like homework.Fortunately, the next book I tried was the absolutely lovely Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This is definitely a Young Adult book but because it is set in the 80s and so heavily references 80s music, it’s the perfect young adult book for not-so-young adults, like myself, to read.
So many of the YA books that are popular now feature a stereotypically attractive (even if they try to imply otherwise) females in their teens opposite slightly older, very hunky males. The protagonists in Eleanor & Park are portrayed as completely normal. Not beautiful but not ugly. Just … normal.
Park feels like he’s on the outside of things at school and among his friends thanks to being half-Asian and into comic books and alternative music. Eleanor hides her poverty and rough home situation with wackadoo outfits and a back-off attitude. The two share a love story that stands out from the standard YA books.
I think Eleanor & Park would be a great summer / beach read for people who haven’t yet checked it out.
This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.
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