In the chronological first line of the novel, Park uses music “for drowning out the morons at the back of the bus.” Similarly, Eleanor uses her Walkman (the eighties equivalent of an iPod) as a way of drowning out her life. In turn, Eleanor repays that ‘debt’ by exposing him to The Beatles. and love them all to death.” The Eighties were a time where people made mixtapes (like sharing Spotify playlists), and other protagonist Park Sheridan does so for Eleanor, introducing her to The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, U2 and The Cure. Of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by Joy Division, eponymous protagonist Eleanor Douglas says, “I just want to break that song into pieces. Once you’ve read the book, hopefully you’ll be catching Eighties (and pre-Eighties) references like your name’s Corey and you were born sporting a permed mullet.īefore it’s a novel about characters falling in love with each other, Eleanor & Park is a novel about falling in love with music. But maybe that’s my mistake - as an Eighties ‘period novel’, Eleanor & Park does an amazing job with contemporary references. I’m not an expert on how American cable television worked in 1986, but Back to the Future was only released on videocassette at the end of November that year, so I’m surprised that the Sheridan family could see it on TV without a flux capacitor. For me, the only reference that stood out as potentially anachronistic was “After dinner, they all watched Back to the Future on HBO”. It’s set in the Eighties (1986 to ’87), so if you’re a current Eddies student, all of the ‘references’ are from at least ten years before you were born.
She’s the author of three great novels: Attachments is about adults in their late twenties Fangirl is about university students Eleanor & Park (the book that’s now in the library) is about students who are your age, in their mid-teens. One of the St Edmund’s library’s latest purchases is by Rainbow (her real name: ) Rowell.
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