Currently Reading: Eleanor & Park

I was poetically introduced to Eleanor & Park when I saw it displayed on the YA table at a quaint, local bookstore called Barnes & Noble. It was sitting alongside everything that John Green has ever breathed on. (Mr. Green also penned the The New York Times review for Eleanor & Park.) I liked the cover, the headphones intertwined to form an ampersand. I was then distracted by the bright blue emanating from the endless copies of The Fault in Our Stars and moved on.
 
Months later I read The Interestings, a story of six characters who meet at a summer camp under the haze of young talent. The story spans from their teenage years to their 50s, and sadly, many of them prove happiest as teenagers at a summer camp. Adulthood makes everything serious and complicated. While reading, I found myself continuously reminiscing to the beginning of the book, when everyone was young, secretly hopeful, and didn’t yet know what would happen with their lives. I wanted to focus on that single period in life, to be stuck in the amber of youth. Re-enter Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.
 
Eleanor & Park takes place over the course of a single school year. It is a love story between Eleanor, unkindly nicknamed Big Red by classmates, and Park, a comic book and music lover. They meet on the school bus. They fall in love. I’ve been promised a powerful read. Here’s to stories of the forever young.

Currently Reading: The Interestings

The Interestings was published almost a year ago but only recently caught my attention, while I was in the car, listening to an interview with the author. Meg Wolitzer was making her media rounds to promote the book’s release in paperback. The story follows the lives of a group of talented friends who meet at an artsy, hip, pretentious summer camp called Spirit-in-the-Woods. As they all grow up, some of them find incredible success through their talents, while others find that their talents are nothing but of the past. The book explores what kind of life you lead when you have – or don’t have – any exceptional talents or you have – or haven’t – done anything exceptional.
 
I didn’t learn all of that during the radio interview. But I did hear the author talk about “thicker, finalized adult selves.” She describes how difficult it becomes to reinvent yourself as you get older. She points out that comfort and familiarity become so highly valued that those priorities in themselves prevent any kind of radical change. Going into the nth year of my quarter-life-crises, I thought the book may teach me a few things – or maybe even serve as a warning.
 
Note: I probably trust reviews more than I should, because I’m a big fan of reading one or two before committing to a book.