Reading Blog Post 11 - Crazy Things Happening

The book I'm reading is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This book has only improved since I've started to read it and I really just can't put it down when I'm reading it! I'm so glad that this book is more interesting than the one I had to abandon in my previous blog postings.

This week I didn't get the chance to read a lot of this book which is upsetting, but it only made the pages that I did read that much more interesting. What really interested me this week during my read is the fact that Park's mother, whom hates Eleanor just by default because of the way she looks, dresses and carries herself, actually turns around and starts to care more towards Eleanor. The reason to this being that his mother grew up in a very poor household with loads of siblings and she thinks she understands why Eleanor is the way she is because they do have this in common. She realizes this and feels so terrible for the way she has just assumed things about Eleanor. This shows how people can change and why not to always judge a book by it's cover, in this case, Eleanor. Park's mother brings this to his attention and even buys Eleanor a Christmas present to apologize. I think that this is so sweet just because we haven't seen this side to her.

Another thing that happened in the book this week is that Park went and snuck out to see Eleanor. This is CRAZY. Not just sneaking out, but sneaking out to a girl house with a drunk father living inside, known to hurt people just for fun. He sent Eleanor away for more than a year just to teach her a lesson about obeying his rules. Park jumps up to the window where Eleanor sleeps and knocks gently on the window. When Eleanor turns around she is excited to see park, but is truly terrified for his safety. Nobody knows how bad Eleanor's family really is.

HOLD UP. I just literally read something at some point after i left class and before now that made me almost bawl my eyes out. So if I tell you, you may think it sounds childish- well maybe. But it's not! It's so great that people can be this heart warming without trying and it was just so sweet. In this scene Eleanor runs out of Park's house right before dinner because she doesn't like having dinner there. She feels like she's invading Park's family's privacy, but this probably too long quote may change her mind.(This is from Park's dad to Eleanor, just an FYI) "'Look,' he said, "I'm getting tired of asking you to  stay for diner.' 'Okay...' she said. 'What I mean is, I want to feel like you have a standing invitation. You're just...welcome, okay?' He seemed uncomfortable, and it was making her uncomfortable. Way more uncomfortable than she usually felt around him. 'Okay...' she said. 'Look, Eleanor... I know your stepdad.' This could go a million different ways, she thought. All of them awful. Park's dad kept talking, one hand on his truck, the other on the back of his neck, like he was in pain. 'We grew up together. I'm older than Richie, but this is a small neighborhood, and I've put in my time at the Rail...' The sun was too far gone to see his face. Eleanor still wasn't sure what he was getting at. 'I know your stepdad isn't an easy man to be around,' Park's dad said finally, stepping towards her. 'And I'm just saying, you know, that if it's easier to be over here, then you should just be here. That would make Mindy and me feel a lot better, okay?' 'Okay she said. 'So this is the last time I'm going to ask you to stay for dinner.' Eleanor smiled, and he smiled back." (Rowell, 209) I understand that this was super duper long, but I think it's worth it because this quote just hits you in all the right spots and makes you feel good inside and if it doesn't, well, maybe I didn't do a good enough job of explaining the situation. But it is a nice moment. I think. Has anybody had any experiences with this type of feeling in a book before?

Reading Blog Post 10 - Eleanor is the Cutest

The book that I am currently reading is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Nothing has happened that drastically since I wrote my last post, but I do feel more tension in Eleanor and Park than before. I'm thinking this is because Eleanor has had someone writing nasty things in her textbooks and on her folders, Park was upset, and she tells him it's this horrible... thing, named Tina. Park takes Tina's side and asks Eleanor if she's been writing those things herself to get attention. Eleanor goes crazy and is a little dramatic (like always and leaves Park's house. Now this seems like a small, stupid thing that I even felt a little immature writing, but it is well written in the book and makes me really feel for Eleanor. Park didn't mean to defend Tina over Eleanor or make her feels so bad, but he did. When she leaves he wonders about why he would say something like that and why he would even defend Tina and I think this whole situation is just bad news, but hopefully all goes well and they learn to find themselves and grow from things because it seems like they're the kind of people that want to learn from each other, whether they know it or not!

Now that I've shared my thoughts on that I'm going to take a look at the quotes I didn't mention last week. I found myself highlighting all over this book because almost every page has a line that makes me want to laugh or cry. I think that that is what makes it a really really god book. Just making you feel something different every page, and at any second the mood could go from being happy to sad and i feel like a lot of people could relate to it. It's not cliche though, don't even worry about that. If that were the case I would have put this book down the moment i started reading it. So one quote i'm going to share with you, I think is really funny, "Don't bite his face, Eleanor told herself. It's disturbing and needy and never happens in situation comedies or movies that end with big kisses. 'I'm sorry about yesterday," she said. He hung onto his straps and shrugged. "Yesterday happens." God, it was like he wanted her to eat his face clean off."(Rowell, 158) This quote is so funny to me. It's so true and funny and she's thinking what she would think, not some cliche, that's how she chooses to feel love and it's hilarious and adorable. Actually I'm only going to show you funny, cute quotes because this book is filled with them, so deal with it.

Another funny quote that i'd like to mention is from page 93 and it says, "He put his pen in his pocket, then took her hand and held it to his chest for a minute. It was the nicest thing she could imagine. It made her want to have his babies and give him both of her kidneys." Isn't that funny? I don't know. Maybe it's just me or maybe you just have to know the characters, but it hilarious to me. I mean who just thinks that up? Haha! Anyway i think that this book as a whole is just full of things that make me want to keep reading, broad I know, but it's true!

Reading Blog Post 9 - So Interesting

I have been reading the book, Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and so far it's one of my favorite books. The story in itself is literally just like any other book that I've read about two people falling in love, but this one is better and I will tell you why. Eleanor and Park is not about two ordinary people and it's not like they are perfect people and just have devestating things going on around them, they are imperfect beings and have imperfect lives and real feelings that I can relate to big time. As i recall, my last post about this book I had said that Park had been in denial for his feelings for Eleanor, since she was not ordinary. But he finally stepped up and the book had been a world wind of facsination since that point.

I have learned that Eleanor is pretty stable with her surroundings and I think she knows herself more than she thinks. Her family is so out of control and she doesn't want anybody to know how bad it is, which i think is part of her character. Eleanor is also not a nice person, in fact, Park tells his thoughts about this in the book. About how he does't think his family will like her because she isn't a "nice" girl. Eleanor is brutally honest. She doesn't stray from her comfort zone and she is confident in her decisions. I think this is because she's scared for the future. The future of her relationship with Park scared her and I know this because she keeps trying to find reasons to be upset with him or stray from him and that, to me, sounds like she is just trying to shield her feelings.

Park is a different story. Park has it all together and I think he did when he met Eleanor. He was content with his life. He has a good family, okay friends, and a future ahead of him, but I don't think he was interested in a life like that, and he was bored. Eleanor was totally not what he was expecting, but in some ways I think he needed a push in the right direction from Eleanor, to see things more clearly. Now he sees things for what they really are, not as how he had sugar coated it before. He says all the time that he doesn't even like Eleanor, he just wants to be with her. I don't know if that's a compliment or a negative comment, butI think it's true. I think he just has a soft spot for Eleanor.

This whole connection started with  Eleanor reading his comics over his shoulder. I think he was interested in her. I don't have my book with me right now, but I wish I did because the quotes inside of it to describe their interest for each other is never ending.