Eleanor & Park: Chapters 22–32

by Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell's best-selling novel chronicles an unlikely love story between two teens struggling to fit in.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 13, Chapters 14–21, Chapters 22–32, Chapters 33–43, Chapters 44–58
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. immune
    not affected by a given influence
    You wouldn't think Mr. Stessman would be prone to all this Husker crap, but it seemed like nobody was immune.
  2. hyperventilate
    breathe excessively hard and fast
    "Like for being weird," she said. "Or . . . for hyperventilating in your living room."
  3. stricken
    affected by something overwhelming
    He looked back at her, stricken.
  4. stagger
    walk as if unable to control one's movements
    He staggered forward and the assistant principal caught him.
  5. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    Was Eleanor supposed to be mad at him still? Was she supposed to be indignant?
  6. stern
    serious and harsh in manner or behavior
    "Taekwondo is the art of self-defense," he said sternly.
  7. incoherent
    unable to express yourself clearly or fluently
    When Park walked in, his mom was practically incoherent.
  8. leprosy
    communicable disease characterized by wasting of body parts
    Park could tell her that he had lice and leprosy and parasitic worms living in his mouth, and she would still put on fresh ChapStick.
  9. chrysalis
    pupa of a moth or butterfly enclosed in a cocoon
    His face looked ready to break out of its chrysalis.
  10. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    He pulled on her hand again, and shook his head, gingerly.
  11. manic
    affected with or marked by frenzy uncontrolled by reason
    And she always had a manic, surprised look in her eyes—that look people get when they can't keep a straight face.
  12. agitated
    troubled emotionally and usually deeply
    His mother looked agitated. "You're grounded until you stop think­ing about that trouble girl."
  13. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    "I don't like her," his mother said adamantly.
  14. crochet
    make needlework by interlocking thread with a hooked needle
    His grandmother crocheted. She was working on a blanket for somebody's baby shower.
  15. adrenaline
    hormone secreted by the adrenal gland in response to stress
    Gil took forever to answer the door, and when he did, Eleanor realized she'd used up all her adrenaline knocking.
  16. tramp
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    Eleanor heard the police tramping through the house.
  17. veneer
    coating consisting of a thin layer of wood
    The veneer splintered.
  18. allegiance
    the act of binding yourself to a course of action
    (Richie must have recognized before Eleanor that her mother's allegiances had shifted.)
  19. submissive
    inclined or willing to give in to orders or wishes of others
    Eleanor hated it when her mom acted like that. Relentlessly submissive.
  20. deliberately
    with intention; in an intentional manner
    Then, without really thinking about why, Eleanor deliberately pressed a key.
  21. irritable
    easily annoyed
    On the way home, she wasn't irritable; she wasn't anything at all.
  22. tourniquet
    a bandage that stops the flow of blood by applying pressure
    She wanted to lose herself in him. To tie his arms around her like a tourniquet.
  23. principle
    a basic truth or law or assumption
    Never mind that this principle didn't hold true in her own family.
  24. imply
    express or state indirectly
    (Mrs. Dunne loved the op­portunity to be good in a crisis, so all Park had to do was imply that it was a emergency.)
  25. solemnly
    in a serious and dignified manner
    "Nothing Alan Moore writes can be blah-blah-blahed," Park said solemnly.
  26. genre
    a kind of literary or artistic work
    "I'm beginning to think you shouldn't have started reading comics with a book that completely deconstructs the last fifty years of the genre," he said.
  27. prerogative
    a right reserved exclusively by a person or group
    And if she wanted to hide in the kitchen every time Eleanor came over, Park thought, that was her prerogative.
  28. surreptitiously
    in a secretive manner
    Eleanor sat with Park on the floor, leaning against the couch, and when he surreptitiously took her hand, she didn't pull away.
  29. condensation
    atmospheric moisture that has changed from a gas
    She climbed into bed in her street clothes, opened the cur­tains, and wiped the condensation off the window.
  30. mysterious
    beyond ordinary understanding
    "She wasn't even into you, you know. She was just bored, and she thought you were mysterious and quiet—like, 'still waters run deep.' I told her that sometimes still waters just run still."
  31. frantic
    excessively agitated; distraught with violent emotion
    They were almost never alone, and now that they almost-practically were, he felt kind of frantic for her attention.
  32. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    Eleanor paled from pale to ashen. It was like all the blood in her body rushed to her heart, all at once.
  33. speckle
    mark with small spots
    Her speckled lips hung open.
  34. caste
    a social class separated by distinctions of hereditary rank
    Being Tina's first boyfriend kept Park out of the lowest neighbor­hood caste.
  35. crypt
    a cellar or vault or underground burial chamber
    (Her mom said Eleanor had to come out of her crypt if she was hungry.)
  36. forfeit
    lose the right to or lose by some error, offense, or crime
    Maybe her mom realized that she'd pretty much forfeited the right to ask questions for all eternity when she dumped Eleanor at some­body's house for a year.
  37. scuttle
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    The kid scuttled up the steps nervously when Park stopped in front of the house.
  38. psychopath
    a person with an antisocial personality disorder
    She just wanted to see him. Even if he did think she was a perverted psychopath who wrote herself badly punctuated threats.
  39. undermine
    weaken or impair, especially gradually
    "You can't keep throwing tantrums about it, you can't keep trying to undermine this family—I won't let you."
  40. rational
    consistent with or based on or using reason
    She almost sounded sane, Eleanor thought. If you didn't know that she was acting rational on the far side of crazy.
Created on Fri Jul 07 14:39:07 EDT 2017 (updated Tue Apr 09 15:07:06 EDT 2019)

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