A story of the first love of two high school students, set in 1980’s. Park is stuck somewhere in the middle of the social ladder, not exactly the most popular kid, but with enough of their respect to be left alone – and that’s how he prefers it. Together with his brother, he lives a happy home life with parents who love one another.

Eleanor is quite the opposite. Having to share a single room with all of her siblings and wearing hand me downs, she could not stick out more if she tried.

Their relation develops slowly when Eleanor, as a new student, starts sitting next to Park on the bus, travelling to and from school.

I’ve mixed feelings about this one. On the surface, it seems like a well-enough written novel with thought out characters. However, the more I thought about it, more problems seem to have arisen.

He made her feel like more than the sum of her parts.

Park’s personality tends to shift dramatically between mature and childish. He is pictured as the rationally thinking boy one minute who then gets offended at the slightest, inconsequent thing. He is also described as half-Korean but as we dive deeper into his family life and get to know his parents a bit more, it becomes apparent that this part of his life is not actually looked at at all. He is not aware of what this means for him, and neither his Korean mom or his dad try and teach him any cultural values.

Stereotyping seems to be common across the book. The issue is its purpose it’s not clearly explained and I fail to see how it pertains to the story, although I do acknowledge that it probably was an attempt to remain authentic to the times the novel is set in. I jus think it could have been written better onto the story.

She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.

Eleanor’s side of the story introduces the topic of domestic abuse. Together with the first love that flourishes between her and Park, there is no true plotline to this story. It reminded me of ‘Normal People’ in that sense. Yes, I read how it all progressed for our two protagonists, but it didn’t lead anywhere.

In terms of the writing style, I am and always have been a fan of short chapters, but the downfall that comes with it is that it is plain to see when different sections are written in the same style. The story is told from both Eleanor and Park’s perspective and the words used, on more than one occasion, were the same. As a reader, this disassociates me from the novel, it brings me back to reality and reminds me that both characters come from the same author. It pops the imaginary bubble, if you will.

The longer I read it, the more disappointed I felt and because the ending felt flat also, it is hard to restrospectively look at this novel in an overly positive light.