“Landline”
Written by Rainbow Rowell
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia
A nostalgic and magical story, yes. A thorough and
developed story with layer and lessons learned, no. Landline by the beloved
Rainbow Rowell feels similar to if Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote It’s A
Wonderful Life. In this novel, we meet Georgie (a nod to George Bailey, a
similar character, perhaps?), who has been ignored and avoided by her husband at
Christmastime, when she chooses to spend more time working on her work project
than spending important time with her family. Georgie struggles to contact Neal,
through errors with her cell phone and voicemail tag, finding her parents’ landline
to work. However, once Georgie is enabled to speak to Neal, she finds that it
is a version of her past Neal that she is communicating with.
Georgie’s tale is one that I imagine most adults who
have been in long term relationships can understand. The Last Five Years
is a favorite musical of mine, telling the tale of Cathy and Jamie, who have
separated after they cannot both achieve their dreams and are determined to
hurt the other. I understand Georgie’s plight, that she does not want to sacrifice
her beloved career for the sake of her family. However, I do not think that she
would need to sacrifice one or the other; I think she just has an unyielding
and pressuring husband. When she speaks to Past Neal, Georgie does not seem to
learn any lessons or adapt any new behaviors, she acts the same way as before.
Perhaps it can be argued that Georgie realized how much she has missed with her
husband and children. Unlike good Old Georgie Bailey, our Georgie does not seem
to need this wake-up call. Personally, I was not going to be surprised if she
and Neal decided to divorce, Georgie would date Seth, her co-worker, and if Neal
would go back to date his pretty neighbor who happens to be his ex-fiancée.
I liked this novel more than I disliked this novel,
but as this is the second book I have read by this author, her work has
cemented into my mind in the ‘no’ category. Years ago, I was given Eleanor
and Park as a present by my mother, and we both were severely disappointed
by it. When considering buying Landline, I thought there would be a possibility
that as an adult, I could enjoy an adult-aged story, rather than her work for
teens.
I was drastically unimpressed by the unanswered questions.
Was Georgie imagining the communication with Past Neal? Now that she has
completed a massive grand gesture of soaring through airports at Christmastime
on her way back to him, they embrace. However, does that just solve every problem
they have? To me, Present Neal is the true problem that Georgie and he have.
Although her job is vitally important to her and her dreams are coming true,
Neal feels jealous of Seth. Neal nearly ruins his marriage, because she needs
to spend time on her dream project. When Neal and Georgie finally see each
other after she returns home, the story abruptly ends. Do they rekindle, and
will they be happy?
In conclusion, although I enjoyed the plot premise and
certain elements, I found the story to be too disinteresting. I found certain
chunks of the story to be filler, without any important lessons or events occurring.
I enjoyed the inclusion of Georgie’s sister, Heather, but I did not see much of
a point to certain scenes with her, including her dog giving birth and her striking
a romantic interest with the pizza delivery girl. A last and final gripe finds
me strongly disliking some of her jokes that have aged poorly about eating disorders
and victim blaming. I recommend this book, because I am sure that many people
would enjoy the story, I just have extremely high expectations when reading
romance novels. Due to my expectations, there are only certain authors that I
would consider to be my favorites and from who I love all their work. I do not
think I plan to read more from Rainbow Rowell, because none of her other books’
plots appeal to me.
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