Well this was the most lively Book Club episode in a while!
Eleanor & Park was a book that I fully expected to dislike, based on the tone of some reactions I got when I said I would be covering it, and on some random commentary here and there on social media. However (and maybe it's just because I was coming off a couple of books I really didn't like very much) I actually enjoyed this book!
Candace, my cohost, did not.
The episode actually turned out to be really interesting because Candace and I started off from such different places and gradually began to uncover where our perspectives were coming from and why we saw certain things the way that we did. In particular our discussion of domestic violence and the role it plays in this book evolved over the course of the episode and I think we both saw that there we were bringing some of our own baggage to the table on that, with vastly different results.
I would definitely be interested in hearing what you all thought of the book (if you read it) because I'm aware that there are further arguments to be made about some of the points that Candace brings up.
Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you in 2 weeks with Charlotte's Web!
