Currently Reading: Eleanor and Park

Hi guys,

It's me again and I'm here to tell you a bit about what I'm currently reading.

Now Eleanor and Park is a book that has been around for quite some time. If I remember right it was published in 2013, during a time where I wasn't really doing much reading. Now I have already read two Rainbow Rowell novels, Fangirl and Carry On and I loved them a lot, especially Carry On which was just beyond magical to me and also added a lot of humor to the whole Chosen One trope but Eleanor and Park is a book that I have recently heard a lot of not so good things about.

Recently, it came to my attention during a twitter thread that there were quite a few things within Eleanor and Park that were triggering to poc culture, especially Korean culture. This made me feel a bit conflicted about reading it but since I had bought a signed copy before knowing that it contained anything racially insensitive I decided to warily read it anyway.

Is it bad that I still love Rainbow Rowell's writing style? Because I have to tell you that I do. There is something lovely about how Rainbow Rowell writes a book. Her way with words is just fantastic but I do have to let you all know that right from the beginning I found some things within the literature that were racially insensitive. Things were mentioned about people that I felt did not need to be mentioned and would not have been mentioned had the characters in question had not been POC.

As for the book itself and the friendship/eventual romance between Eleanor and Park, I do find that at first, I was a fan. Their friendship was very adorable and they both gave things to each other that no one else had but I do feel that they sort of went a bit weird once they confessed their love for each other (for example: Eleanor's comment about how Park has "magic eyes" and makes her feel like a cannibal <--- say what now?).

I'm hoping that once I get going again on this book that I might be able to enjoy their romance a bit more. If so, I'll give you all the details and if not, you can be sure to hear all about those details as well.

Amber