Charms in Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, 320 pages

"If you can’t save your own life, is it even worth saving?"

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

"I hate meeting new people' she whispered. 
"Why?"
"Because they never like me."
"I liked you."
"No, you didn't, I had to wear you down.'

"She never felt like she belonged anywhere, except for when she was lying on her bed, pretending to be somewhere else."

--

This book took my breath away and never brought it back. I finished it in two nights, staying up both nights to only fall asleep at the most nerve-wrecking parts. I laughed and cried within the same page. The story is beautiful, very well written. It starts out very colloquial but the mood sets in and the reader can completely immerse zeself in the plot. It has cliche parts in non-cliche settings, so they balance each other out. Also, there are two perspectives, and I thought that really improved this story because instead of retelling the same event from both sides, the characters fluctuate with events and reactions which engages the reader. So, you have event Z happen to A and B, and you hear what happened from A, and then B explains what followed but includes zes psychology. Definitely recommend it. 

Words of Week 16

Trifling: Of very little importance; trivial; insignificant
Doppelganger: A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person
Pertain: To have reference or relation; relate
Precarious: Dependent on circumstances beyond one's control; uncertain; unstable; insecure
Lax: Not strict or severe; careless or negligent
Scrutinize: To examine in detail with careful or critical attention
Adverse: Unfavorable or antagonistic in purpose or effect:
Dogmatic: Asserting opinions in a doctrinaire or arrogant manner; opinionated

Why Do You Write, Nur?

Me: Beautiful sounds so artificial,I don't understand how a person can be beautiful, I can see prose being beautiful, or the ocean.But not people - people are complicated and pushy.

Her: A person is beautiful if someone can look at them and smile.Anyone - Words are superficial, feelings are not. Beautiful is a feeling.

Me: Words aren't superficial, not for me.

Her: Words are letters. They only mean something when they incite feeling. Why do you write, Nur?

Me: To get away from myself, away from my mind, my heart, my being..

Her: So basically you write your feelings out of you?

Me: Pretty much? It sounds so tranquilizing.

Her: So then what makes you like a poem or prose?

Me: Nothing. That's the problem.

Her: What differentiates good poetry from bad?

Me: Cliches, feeling, imagery. 

Her: You feel something, a connection or a disconnection. Doesn't matter. When it's your heart and not logic, when it's unexplainable, hard to control, easily changing...

Me: But I don't have inexplicable emotions

Her: You are impossible.

In a recent conversation with a close friend, I came across this question of why I write? What is the purpose? What are my motifs? Do I feel and write or write and feel? Do I try to convey emotion without experiencing it? WHY do I write?

We are the Y Generation, the millennial generation, the creative entrepreneurs, the people who are a bit more narcissistic than the others, the environmental activists, social rights advocates, the healers, the liberals, the geeks. We are the vloggers, the creators, the dystopian novel writers, and we are the people who ask WHY?

I initially wanted to video blog, but I decided against it due to my lack of expertise in video editing, the fear of facing my face, and my broken English speaking skills. So, I opened a writing blog (this one), and ranted about the problems in my life. But people mature, and every passing day I grow into a more aware person with an indefinite yet shaping purpose. Inside my mind, there are thoughts like tangled up earphones and no coordination like abstract art. I write to clarify my mind, and in the process maybe spark something in someone. Teach and educate, make people think, make people act.

In my opinion, without changing people’s minds, we can’t change the world. And what better way is there to access someone’s mind other than writing powerfully?

Lots of threads,

~Belle