Non-hispanic whites make up 67.2% of the population, while Asians and Asian Americans make up only 3.3%. Rainbow Rowell is a white American woman who grew up in Omaha, the predominantly white city in which the story takes place. It’s important to begin by recognizing the potential problems with writing authentic characters with identities removed from the author. Problematic representation can have harmful implications for those being misrepresented, particularly when it is marketed as a cute love story towards a young and impressionable audience. The book does more harm than good in terms of East Asian representation in popular media. The erasure of non-East Asians must be recognized as an important issue in broader discussions of Asian representation, and how “Asian American” is a politically created identity that effectively ignores diversity among Asians living in America.Įleanor & Park perpetuates stereotypes and contributes to the fetishization of East Asians, as well as depicts a toxic power dynamic between an interracial couple as an example of romance. This is an important distinction to make, as non-East Asians are often grouped and erased under typical Asian stereotypes that predominantly apply to Asians who gain privilege from their proximity to whiteness. Eleanor & Park is essentially a high school love story that tries to grapple with issues of poverty, domestic abuse, racism, and so on -but ultimately falls short.Īs this article is a response to a particular book’s portrayal of an East Asian character, the analysis will consequently be on representation and implications regarding East Asians in America. She often comes off as closed-off, snarky, and insecure, although readers get a better glimpse into her mind when the perspective switches from Park’s to hers. Eleanor is described as an overweight redhead who comes from a poor, abusive household.
He enjoys spending his time listening to music and reading comic books, and is also deeply insecure about his Korean identity. Park Sheridan is a half-Korean, half-white high school student from an upper-middle class family. The young love story takes place in the late 1980s, in Omaha, Nebraska. If it’s such a great romance novel that features the rare Asian-American protagonist, why didn’t I love it? Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.
Upon being published in 2012, the young adult novel by Rainbow Rowell received favorable reviews it made NPR’s list of Best Books of 2013, won the 2013 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction, and in 2014 was awarded the Michael L. I initially began reading Eleanor & Park because it features an Asian-American protagonist who doubles as the main love interest - a rare occurrence in popular contemporary American literature.
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