Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date:July 08, 2014
Source: Purchased
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

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 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 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?

My thoughts:

100 page evaluation: I like the book so far even though I definitely don't like it as much as Rowell's other books.  It took me a little while to get into it partly because it's a little slow in the beginning and partly because I don't like when girls have guys names. And the main character's name is Georgie. She's also not a very like able character. So far she is very selfish and she only thinks about herself and her career. I'm hoping that by talking to Neal in the past that she can change some of her ways and think about the needs of her husband and their children.

My thoughts after one hundred pages weren't all that different after I finished the book. Landline was still a pretty good read just not up to the level and enjoyment of Rowell's other books. I appreciated that Landline was a nice change-up compared to all the other YA books that I normally read because it tackled the subject of a marriage that was on the brink of failure which is not something that I normally read.

My problems with the book are actually just problems with the characters themselves. Georgie is the type of girl that I wouldn't really like in real life and I definitely would not be friends with her. She's the type of girl who is usually only friends with guys. As a married woman she has this inappropriate and unreasonable friendship with a guy/co-worker. Throughout the entire book I was thinking to myself that she needed to do her husband a favor and put some major boundaries on her relationship with Seth. Georgie was so selfish throughout the whole book and couldn't even see that her husband had basically given up his life and career to raise their children while she focused on her own career. So I could definitely see why Neil was on the edge of leaving her.

Throughout the whole book, Neil was my favorite character. He was supportive and he tried his best to be understanding. I was totally on Neil's side the whole time and I just wanted to punch Georgie in the face.  But overall the book was pretty good and it ended with closure. If you're a fan of Rainbow Rowell I definitely recommend Landline just know that it's not up to par with her previous novels.