Eleanor and Park: Chapter 19 Summary & Analysis

Eleanor wakes up Friday morning feeling like it’s her birthday. She’s so excited to get out of the house and spend some time at her father’s place—and to talk to Park on the phone. Eleanor hasn’t seen her dad in at least a year—when he was still in their lives, even, she and her siblings never saw him for more than a few days at a time. On the bus, Park excitedly asks Eleanor what time she’s going to call. She tells him she has to wait until her dad’s kid settles down for the night. Park conspiratorially tells Eleanor that he has a “list” of “personal questions” to ask her. Eleanor cheekily tells Park he shouldn’t expect any answers.

After school, Eleanor sits on the steps and waits for her father. Enough time passes that she’s worried he’s not going to come at all—but then he pulls up in a fancy convertible, honking his horn. Eleanor’s dad drives her back to his house, which is only 10 minutes from school. They sit on the couch together and watch ESPN while Eleanor’s dad smokes cigarettes, drinks scotch, and takes phone calls about cars and bets. Eleanor’s father is a gambler, and though there have been times in his life where he’s been strapped for cash, she notices now that his house is full of “small luxuries.” Eleanor is excited for her dad to leave so that she can eat all the nice food in the house—and order a pizza.

Eleanor looks through her father’s old records, and is taken back to pleasant memories of listening to music as a child while her mother cleaned the house. She pushes the almost painfully sweet memories away and begins finding records she can use to make Park a mix tape of his own.

After school, Park arrives home to find Tina getting her hair done in the makeshift salon Park’s mother, Mindy—Min-Dae, in Korean—runs out of the Sheridans’ converted garage. When Tina sees Park come in to say hello to his mother, she asks Mindy if she’s met Park’s girlfriend yet, looking meanly at Park as she does. Park insists he doesn’t have a girlfriend. His mother urges him to go check on dinner, and Park, angry, goes into the kitchen and begins slamming cabinets as he gets dinner ready. His father comes in and yells at him, urging him to take his anger out through exercise instead.

After dinner, Park waits around for the phone to ring. Josh can tell he’s anxious, and makes fun of him—in front of their parents—for “dating Big Red.” Park tells Josh that if he ever uses that nickname again, he will “literally” kill him. Josh continues making fun of Eleanor, and Mindy sends him to his room.

Soon, the phone rings, and when Mindy picks up, she tells Park that it’s Eleanor. Park runs to his room to take the call there. Park and Eleanor breathlessly express their mutual excitement to say all the “things [they] can’t say on the bus.” They begin discussing everything, from Park’s Korean heritage (and Park’s fear that being half Asian makes him seem “half-girl” to his racist friends) to Eleanor’s devil-may-care attitude. Eleanor has an answer for everything Park says to her, but yet somehow avoids answering most of his questions. She refuses to talk about her family or her house, even though Park says he wants to know more about her life.

Eleanor hangs up at one point to put her little brother to bed, promising to call back in fifteen minutes—but barely have seven have gone by before she calls again. Park asks her where she is in the house and what she’s doing, so that he can “feel like [he’s] with [her].” She tells him she’s lying in the dark in front of the living room stereo. They talk about music until both of them start to grow sleepy. Eleanor says she misses Park, and wishes they could have some real time alone together. Park hears that she has started crying, and asks her why they can’t see each other. Eleanor replies that her stepdad would “kill” her. Park asks her why Richie is so angry with her all the time, but Eleanor says defensively that in her life, there aren’t always answers to everything.

Park asks Eleanor why she’s mad at him, but she won’t answer. In response, she asks him why he likes her in the first place. Park replies that he doesn’t just like Eleanor—he “need[s]” her. He says he doesn’t know why he needs her so badly—but has found that lately, all he wants is to be around her all the time. Eleanor doesn’t say anything, and Park begs her to speak up so that he doesn’t feel stupid.

Eleanor tells Park to ask her why she likes him. Park does so. Eleanor replies that she doesn’t like Park—she thinks that she “live[s]” for him, and feels like she can hardly breathe when they’re not together. Eleanor immediately feels embarrassed for having revealed her feelings, but soon Park speaks up to fill the silence. He tells Eleanor that he needs to find a way to see her—even if her “crazy” stepfather is standing in their way. Eleanor insists that Richie would “do whatever he could” to take Park away from Eleanor if he were to find out about them. She reveals that the last time Richie got really mad at her, he kicked her out of the house and refused to let her come home for a year.

Park invites Eleanor to come to his house—his family, he says, would welcome her. Eleanor worries that Park will be embarrassed of her—but Park says she could never embarrass him. Eleanor tells Park that she has seen headlights flashing outside—her father is home, and she has to get off the phone. Before he hangs up, Park tells Eleanor he loves her. Eleanor, stunned, hangs up the phone and pretends to be sleeping on the floor as her father walks in the front door.