Have you read this yet? Go. Then come back and let's discuss.
There's a reason the YA formula works so well in creating novels that are wildly popular. YA novels typically include the Plain Jane and a very handsome, very rich boy pining over her. YA novels are about attaining the unattainable.
Eleanor and Park is the complete opposite.
Eleanor is an over weight, dirt poor ginger, living with her mother, a brood of siblings and a very mean, very drunk stepfather who borderlines creepy.
Park is a Korean-American kid who obsesses over comic books, punk music and eyeliner. Park's father is tough but reasonably fair. And his mother, a petite Korean woman, is much the doting mother whose accent made me giggle.
Eleanor and Park isnt a novel...its a time machine, bringing the reader back to the pit of high school where bullies were a dime a dozen. It also brings the reader back to a time where the only diploma they held was one in secret phone calls and sneaking around, dashing into dark corners or backseats to take advantage at what little alone time was available. It reminds you of what being sixteen, hopelessly in love, and incredibly insecure felt like.
It became apparent early on that Eleanor and Park's options were limited. There were only so many ways their story could end. If the reader could take away anything from this ambitious novel, I'd say it would be that we all have the ability to choose. Whether it's choosing to remove ourselves from a sticky situation, choosing to love despite our own hang-ups, choosing to defend and protect loved ones, we all have a choice. Even if the best choice doesn't seem like the right one.
