Review: Landline

Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
Published by Macmillan on July 8th 2014
Also by this author: Eleanor & Park, My True Love Gave To Me, Fangirl
Format: Audiobook (320 pages) • Source: Audible
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Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble;it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

I feel like this past month has been full of books that I wasn’t sure how to rate, and this was no exception throughout most of the book. The ending REALLY sealed the deal for me (in a good way). I don’t think I have too much to say here, so I’ll break it down short and sweet.

• This book just felt so real: the feelings, the thoughts, the reactions. It reminds you that all relationships take work. You can’t take things for granted. There were lots of little lessons that make the reader really understand how things just can slip away undetected until you don’t even know how you arrived at where you are.
• Rainbow Rowell’s writing + the narrator = perfect. Highly recommend the audio version.
• The ending of the book brought a major smile to my face. I wasn’t sure how I felt about things for a while, because of all the reasons below, but I think the ending totally made up for all of it. Adorable.
• There were SO MANY great quotes. Some of my favorites are scattered around the post!

 

 

• I really didn’t even like the characters… that seems like an awful big negative, eh? Well, throughout the whole book, Georgie made decisions and said things that just made her seem so selfish and self-destructive. She constantly took Neal for granted, worked too much, and just didn’t seem to care about any dreams but her own. Neal was totally too good for her… and I didn’t even like him either. The guy never LAUGHS or smiles??? What the hell? I could literally never fall for someone like that. Ever. He was kind of weird and bland, but he was such a great husband and partner in every other way. She really didn’t deserve him, but somehow their relationship worked I guess.
• That was another thing – the whole book goes through through Georgie’s memories, her present day thoughts, and talking through the imaginary phone. It all came together to make a really nice story, but it wasn’t that easy to see a lot of chemistry or WHY they even work that well together. I didn’t swoon that much. At all.

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