Landline – Rainbow Rowell

Format: Hardback
Publisher: St Martin’s Press
Piublished: 8th July 2014
Pages: 308 Pages

The Blurb
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?

Rating: 4/5

The Review
Out of all the Rainbow Rowell novels I’ve read this is probably my least favourite – there was just something about Landline that made me feel a little bored. However, even though I’ve started the review with a negative I did enjoy Landline as a whole.

Georgie McCool is a comedy writer and everyone loves her shows, but does her profession take over her life? Neal her husband would probably say yes, he doesn’t spend that much time with her.

Christmas is around the corner and everyone is celebrating, yet as suspected, Charlie is too busy working to enjoy the holidays. Neal travels to his parents and celebrates Christmas with them instead. The moment Neal decides he’s going to his parents for Christmas is the first time Charlie cracks mentally. She has a troubled mind and flashbacks to previous events where she first met Neal and times where she is at college and enjoying herself. I did feel sorry for Charlie because I felt she developed a hint of depression. All she needed to do was take a step back from work and spend some quality time with her family. However, the only person she had to blame was herself. She was never forced to take the role she was in and Neal was quite happy for her to do whatever she wanted as long as she was happy.

The old landline phone that makes a big apperance is a significant feature to the novel and without it the story would not have made sense. To me, it was a metaphorically sign of Charlie’s nostalgia – she missed the past and didn’t know how to change the present to feel content. Well, that’s my theory anyway – the landline phone could be literal and I’m just thinking too much into it.

Landline was a quick read that you’d all enjoy – sadly not mind blowing, but good all the same.

You can purchase Landline on Amazon UK, Amazon US and Hardback. Paperback is due for release 30th July 2015.

Find out more about Rainbow at her website at www.rainbowrowell.com and on Twitter at @rainbowrowell.

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