Monday, July 7, 2014

[Book Review] Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Landline by Rainbow Rowell


Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Source: ARC from publisher

Summary

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 Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems besides the point now.

Maybe that was always besides 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 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?
(Courtesy of Goodreads)

My Review

Note: I received and advance readers copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is a spoiler free review.

I am usually hesitant to pick up adult novels, especially ones that are not genre fiction (i.e. fantasy, science fiction, etc), but I knew that with Rainbow Rowell I couldn’t go wrong. And I was so right. I was once again blown away by Rowell’s beautiful writing and her prose that seems to bring out all of my emotions. I read Landline in one day and even stayed up late into the night to finish it because I simply could not put it down. Everything from the characters to the plot to the mystery of the “magical” landline had me hooked from page one. 

I loved Georgie as a character. She was flawed, imperfect, and the more she reconnected with her past, the more she realized it. Georgie’s character arc and growth is magnificent. I could see how much she changes in the course of a week and I loved every minute of it. Her relationship with her husband Neal is the center of the story but her interaction with the rest of the cast of characters is just as important. At the heart of the story though, is her relationship with herself and her own feelings of self-discovery. We as people never really stop growing and Georgie shows us this through her change from start to finish. Landline is definitely a character driven book rather than an action driven one and Rowell executes it perfectly.

Landline is definitely an adult novel, in the sense that it deals with the problems of a thirty-something woman rather than those of a teenager as in her two popular YA novels, Eleanor & Park and Fangirl. It definitely is more similar to her other adult novel Attachments in terms of the topics it deals with. As a twenty-one year old, I’m finding that I’m slowly becoming more attracted to these more adult themed novels because they deal with problems that are more similar to my own. I especially loved the back and forth between Georgie’s present self and her college past and how the two find themselves so closely intertwined as a result of her old yellow landline telephone. That being said, I’m not sure how much Rowell’s younger teenage audience will be able to relate to Georgie’s problems but I think they will still be able to appreciate her beautiful writing that never fails to enthrall me.

If you liked any of Rainbow Rowell’s past books, I highly recommend you pick up Landline. Being able to write such a variety of different books for different age groups It is the mark of a great author. After reading four books by this wonderful writer I know that I will be lifetime fan of Rainbow Rowell.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


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