by Rainbow Rowell
This is the book that started it all for me. Eleanor & Park changed the trajectory of my writing career. Well, career may be a bit strong. How about it changed the trajectory of my first novel.
The idea for Bicentennial Summer had been rolling around in my head for years, but I could never quite figure out how to make it work. That changed after reading Eleanor & Park. I realized the story I was trying to tell needed to be told from the kids’ perspectives. A year later, my first novel is nearly ready to publish (late 2024).
Eleanor & Park is a devastating reminder of what it’s like to be young and in love and just trying to survive the hell that is high school. A mismatched pair if there ever was, Eleanor and Park fall in love on the school bus sharing comic books and mix tapes of the music that was the soundtrack to my youth. I was instantly transported back, and all the pain and awkwardness came rushing back with it. I loved every minute of it and couldn’t get enough. And that ending … what were those three words? I have my own idea, but you come up with your own.
Rainbow Rowell has captured what life was like as a high schooler like no one has since John Hughes. Why hasn’t this book been made into a movie? Probably just as well, the book is always better.
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