Helpful Score: 1
ELEANOR & PARK is not the witty and light-hearted read that I had expected it to be. Instead, it has trouble deciding whether it wants to be a charming romance or darker exploration into messed-up families. Either one wouldve worked for me, but straddling the two made for what was ultimately an unsatisfying read for me.
Dont get me wrong: I enjoyed watching Park and Eleanors interactions unfold. Theyre an unexpected couple, and it was fun to watch them slowly begin to open up to one another. However, I wasnt convinced that Park and Eleanors relationship endured realistically in their world. I ended up being more interested in Park and Eleanors relationships with their families than their relationship with one another, and felt that one world seemed to always be intruding on the other, in terms of my understanding of each. After a while, I began to be more interested in reading about their interactions with their families, with the result that I felt confused about what the book wanted us to focus our attentions and interests on: the romance that initially sold the book, or the deeper but never thoroughly explored familial relationships that intrigued me more.
ELEANOR & PARK was, for me, a temporarily touching but ultimately forgettable love story where the heavy-handed emphasis on romance crushed the subjectively more interesting aspects of the characters lives, namely their relationships with their families.
Dont get me wrong: I enjoyed watching Park and Eleanors interactions unfold. Theyre an unexpected couple, and it was fun to watch them slowly begin to open up to one another. However, I wasnt convinced that Park and Eleanors relationship endured realistically in their world. I ended up being more interested in Park and Eleanors relationships with their families than their relationship with one another, and felt that one world seemed to always be intruding on the other, in terms of my understanding of each. After a while, I began to be more interested in reading about their interactions with their families, with the result that I felt confused about what the book wanted us to focus our attentions and interests on: the romance that initially sold the book, or the deeper but never thoroughly explored familial relationships that intrigued me more.
ELEANOR & PARK was, for me, a temporarily touching but ultimately forgettable love story where the heavy-handed emphasis on romance crushed the subjectively more interesting aspects of the characters lives, namely their relationships with their families.
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