Landline by Rainbow RowellPublished by: St. Martin's Press on July 8, 2014
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 310
Source: Purchased
Book Details
Rating: ★★★
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?
I feel a bit let down with Landline. On the one hand, I actually quite liked the book as I was reading it. It was an interesting story and I loved the idea of Georgie communicating with the teenage version of her husband. It was sweet! I really liked the idea of a book about a struggling romance. It was almost a bit weird for me to be reading it right before my own wedding, haha. It was fun though, and an interesting/sad thing to read about.
But for me, the downfall was the ending. What happened there?? This really broke the story for me because I felt left with more confusion and questions than satisfaction and answers. There was quite a big build up and then… bleh.
Why was Neal basically ignoring Georgie? That was the biggest question for me. Throughout the book, Georgie was trying to call Neal and he just completely ignored her calls time and time again. Then this was never explained! It was kind of a dick move, and it was just ignored.
The story made me fall in love with the past version of Neal, but the present version was just a huge question mark. Who was this guy? How has he changed? And again, WHY WAS HE IGNORING GEORGIE?? View Spoiler »
Landline started with potential, but the ending ruined everything. It just made me feel like the book was all for nothing. Nothing is worse than a decent book with an ending that completely misses the mark.
I had one major home run with Rainbow Rowell: Attachments. All the other books have been either ‘okay’ or a complete miss for me: Eleanor & Park (1.5 stars), Fangirl (3 stars), and now Landline with another 3 stars.
I wonder if it’s time for me to break up with Rainbow Rowell. 🙁
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The Verdict
I actually really enjoyed this book, but I felt the SAME WAY about how Neal’s awful behavior was never explained. Like, even if my boyfriend and I were in the middle of a fight, if I called him non-stop and he refused to talk to me, there would be a HUGE problem. You just don’t do that!
Yeah I really liked it until that part, and then I feel like the whole book just unraveled for me, you know? I literally just don’t get it and that REALLY bugs me!!
This one is a highly anticipated book for me, because I like Rainbow Rowell, but I have seen mixed reviews, so I’m not sure if this is a book I’m really going to buy anytime soon.
Yeah I was SO excited for this book but I’m bummed that I didn’t like it more. 🙁
I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s one I’m looking forward too. I’ve only read one other book by her, Attachments, and I loved that one 🙂 But, my library doesn’t have Landline in right now, so it’s going to be a while 😛
Gosh I loved Attachments SO MUCH!!
I’ve seen so many good Rainbow Rowell reviews, but I haven’t read either of her adult books. I liked Fangirl, but not Eleanor and Park. I think I’ll probably pick this one up eventually, but it’s not at the top of my list.
I adored Attachments! That’s by far my favourite one.
Oh, Rainbow Rowell has hit it out of the park for all of her books for me. Although I didn’t like Landline as much as her other books, I still did really enjoy it.
I didn’t actually feel like Neal was purposefully ignoring her calls. I just felt like he was the person to not pay that much attention to phone calls. I know people like that, so it didn’t feel that odd to me. And I guess I never felt like their was any worry about Neal cheating on Georgie. I just felt like it was Georgie’s insecurities popping up, but it didn’t feel like something Neal would ever do.
That’s just my take on it, though.
It’s just weird though. To go so long without speaking to your wife? Did he not even think to try to get in touch or make an effort? The whole thing was just unsettling to me.
I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like it much, but that happens! I’ve only read and liked Eleanor and Park so far, but I still want to give this one a try. Unfortunately I’m 70 on the library waiting list lol.
Wow that’s a huge waiting list!
A review I just read stated that Attachments was meh so I was thinking of beginning my Rainbow Rowell education with either Fangirl or Landline-Haha now I’m not so sure!
Neal’s behavior sounds terrible so I’m not sure if I’d be able look past that to like this one enough. Sure sucks when a book doesn’t live up to its hype!
Haha yeah people seem to be all over the place with Rainbow Rowell. We either love the books or really don’t like them. It’s hard to know which side you’d fall on! 😛
Ooh interesting thoughts! Your gripes with the ending didn’t really bother me as much, but now that you’ve vocalized those issues I agree! There are some holes left unexplained. I found the rest of the story to be interesting but at the same time, grows a little dull. It starts feeling like one note.
Yeah I actually quite liked the book, then I think the ending ruined it for me. I would have liked it so much more if it had a better ending!
Oh no… really, this hasn’t been getting such glowing reviews as her other books. I’m still a little stunned that you didn’t love Fangirl more – which I ADORED!
I’m going to skip this one, as I have yet to read a glowing review…
I know, I really WANTED to love Fangirl! I hate it when you don’t love something that you really want to love. 🙁
I completely agree with the review. The ending was a let down. The story was building up to something big, but the ending fell shy. The plot was diffidently an interesting one.
I really loved this book, but I definitely see your points. I actually got the fact that Neal was ignoring her in the present – he was fed up with Georgieand holding a grudge, and he decided not to deal with her. Was it a bit weird? Kind of, but when you took the state of their relationship and the fact that he was never a super communicative guy to begin with, it made sense in a frustrating sort of way. This book spoke to me, but then I’ve been married for a long time – and while I have a good marriage, I can relate to how hard it can be sometimes to keep communicating and to feel like your differences start to weigh heavier on your relationship than they did when things were new.
If that’s the case then I think I’m just annoyed that he didn’t really apologize. I get why he was holding a grudge or a bit annoyed, but he never really seemed sorry. It’s more like SHE just got fed up with him ignoring her so she ran into his arms and was like, “I’m sorry!” and that’s it. But he never had his turn to apologize as well. At least it didn’t seem that way to me.
Hi!
I also see the problem with the ending.Neal throughout the book seemed dry and uncaring to Georgie as his present self.What bother me more was the relationship between Seth and Georgie. Throughout the book hints are dropped , saying Neal was also jealous of him or that Georgie had a crush on Seth before Neal. Then in the end when Seth confess his love ( something that was totally out of place) nothing happened.
Love Rainbow Rowell but the ending needed more time to develop.
I read this when it first came out. It didn’t wow me like I thought it would, or like FanGirl did. Like you I felt let down with Landline.