I just finished the first reading installment of Eleanor and
Park. Overall I enjoyed the reading very much, but still have some grievances
with the writing. Mostly my complaints lay within the mirroring of Eleanor’s and Park’s
relationship to Romeo and Juliet . Yes, I do understand that is the point of the
story to an extent, (young love and all that jazz). It is even a fear of Park’s
when he first admits his love for Eleanor over the phone that he sounds too
much like Romeo and Juliet. Eleanor also
refers to him as Romeo at one point. However, I feel that even though it is addressed
and it makes a lot of sense with the context of the story, it still feels weak
and stale. This book is also a high school level book about high school. So I
really don’t know what I expected from it. This is not to say I dislike the
book at all really, I even had a bit of trouble stopping where I am because I
wanted to finish the rest of the story. Another quick complaint would be that there
are too many flat characters such as Steve, Richie, Mr. Stessman and Tina. I’m
sure there will be more development with these characters later on, but as of
now they seem boring with little to add to the story in terms of growth. I do
really enjoy the musical and comic taste of the two, (Joy Division & Watchmen specifically) and how they embrace and bond over how nerdy they are. What I
really enjoyed so far is the very real approach and reminders of Eleanor’s
poverty and troublesome home life. Small things such as being afraid to let any
information slip in front of her classmates that may reveal her home life,
being amazed by her father’s full cupboards and being scared to ask for a
toothbrush from her school counselor. Child poverty is a very real problem in the United States, with 21% of children Living in what would be considered poverty.
I agree that Romeo and Juliet seems to be an underlining theme, including the mention during a class. The development of the relationship is much more fun, as you mentioned, with sharing comics and music.That's been my favorite, too.
ReplyDeleteI can see where you are coming from with the correlation between Rome and Juliet, but my biggest grievance with the story is the repeating story line between home, the school bus, and school. I'm not sure if this may be something that slows the story down for you also.
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean, but I actually like that the story is set at very few locations at first. It makes the introduction of her dads home and visit to Park's house seem more exotic and special. I assume as the story progresses we will start to see more of the wold they live in.
DeleteI can see where you are coming from with the correlation between Rome and Juliet, but my biggest grievance with the story is the repeating story line between home, the school bus, and school. I'm not sure if this may be something that slows the story down for you also.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the "too many flat characters." I thought Steve and Tina etc. would have much more important roles since they were the very first characters that were introduced. They seem to be falling more and more into the distance as the story progresses. But that could possibly be reflective of how unaware they are becoming of their social status and how much more aware they are of each other and themselves.
ReplyDeleteMy best guess is that his friend Richie may become important later, otherwise it would make no sense for the author to introduce him as a character to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI, too, don't really understand the need for characters like Steve and Tina except for how they affect Eleanor and Park specifically. Tina is a bully, Steve is a show-off neighbor that dabbles in bullying along with Tina. So far, i don't understand why we have so much backstory for these two characters except for the fact that they have both known Park for a long time...
ReplyDeleteI also agree that I am surprised about the lack of role that the minor characters play in the story so far. I would like to see them develop more into the story.
ReplyDeleteI disagree actually. I think the point of the story is to prove that Romeo and Juliette is as ridiculous as Eleanor states. This isn't a love at first sight story like Romeo and Juliette, it's deeper.
ReplyDeleteI agree that other characters aren't really fleshed out. Most side characters might have one or two pages of stuff about them. Tina seems to have the most and she still doesn't have much written about her.
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