Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Orion (3rd Jul 2014)
Received a proof copy for review from Orion, thank you!
Blurb:
Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it's been in
trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and he still
loves her - but that almost seems besides the point now.
Two
days before they're supposed to visit Neal's family in Omaha for
Christmas, Georgie tells him 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 - he is always a little upset
with her - but she doesn't expect to 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?
In the last few months, I’ve read all of Rainbow Rowell’s books, including one of my all-time favourite books, Fangirl which made me fall in love with Rainbow Rowell’s unique writing voice. I was ever so excited to receive a proof copy of Landline and I was saving it up to savour it. Landline was hugely anticipated, but sadly, it wasn’t what I expected it to be.
The book follows the story of Georgie McCool – yes, that’s her real name – as she struggles to balance the most important things in life. She is a hard worker, the breadwinner of the family and she knows her marriage is hanging by a thread. The final straw is when she is forced to stay back in LA to work on a TV scripts, instead of flying to Omaha to her in-laws’ for Christmas. Miserable and lonely, she finds an old telephone in her mum’s house and miraculously, it connects to calls in the past! Is this a chance for Georgie to fix her failing marriage? Or is she too late to make the call?
As I’ve mentioned, Landline is one of my most anticipated books this year, and I was devastated when I turned the final page. I didn’t get all the answers I wanted. I admit, the concept of the “magic phone” that allows Georgie to call her husband, Neal in the past is really intriguing. I really enjoyed reading Georgie and Neal’s late night phone conversations and they were cute and very well-written. But I felt that Rainbow Rowell ended up in a wall with it. WHY? HOW?
Georgie McCool has to be the first heroine I didn’t like at all. I really tried to find some redeeming qualities in her, besides being brave for once in the end, but I thought she fell flat and at some parts, she did annoy me. A lot. At times I did wonder if she was having mental breakdowns and the “magic phone” was actually a figment of her imagination.
Landline wasn’t all bad for me, I did enjoy reading about how Georgie met Neal, how they fell in love and the plot was well-constructed. It flits between Georgie’s present day dilemmas and her past where she falls in love with Neal and all that. But it took some effort on my part to read the first 100 pages. After that, the story finally picked up. Rainbow Rowell’s signature writing style did shine through her characters’ dialogue and I will commend her on that. The thing about Rainbow Rowell's books is that the characters fall in love in a very real way, she writes relationships with such honesty and flair, which I think it's pretty brilliant. She managed to handle the intricacies of marriage deftly and honestly.
If it weren’t for her writing voice, Landline would have fallen flat. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. Landline isn’t my favourite by Rainbow Rowell, but I will be looking forward to reading her future books. Some parts made me laugh, some really made me feel bad for the heroine. I guess what I’m trying to say is, it didn’t meet my expectations. The book had so much potential, for me, it didn’t move me.
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| Rainbow Rowell as Georgie and Patrick Dempsey as Neal |
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