By:ย Noha Badawi
Title: Landline
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Contemporary / Adult Fiction
Published July 8th, 2014 by St. Martin’s Press
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Summary:
โGeorgie McCool โ a TV writer โ knows her marriage is in trouble. She still loves her husband, Neal, and he still loves her, deeply โ but that almost seems beside the point now.
Two days before theyโre supposed to visit Nealโs family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells him that she canโt go; somethingโs come up on her show and she has to stay in LA. She knows that Neal will be upset โ Neal seems to be always a little upset with Georgie these days โ but she doesnโt expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.
When they leave for the airport, Georgie starts to wonder if sheโs finally done it; if she has in fact ruined everything. That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal โ her Neal from 1998. Itโs not time travel or anything, but she feels like sheโs been given an opportunity to fix her marriage.
Now the question is, is fixing her marriage the best solution? Or would it be better for both of them if she ended it before it even started?โ
First things first, Iโve got to say that Rainbow Rowellโs books are beyond amazing. I have read all of her books now โ except for โCarry Onโ which recently came out and Iโm impatiently waiting for it to be available in Egyptโs bookstores โ and I can tell you with pure confidence that her writing fills me with this pure, raw happiness. I canโt help but smile whenever I remember a scene from one of her books or come across one of herย quotes.
Landline is a story about marriage, love and family. Itโs about a woman whoโs had a dream to write her own comedy show with her best friend ever since college. Itโs about a man madly and deeply in love with his wife.
โNeal didnโt take Georgieโs breath away. Maybe the opposite. But that was okay โ that was really good, actually, to be near someone who filled your lungs with air.โ
Neal, I think, is a model husband. The kind that paints the walls with rainbow colors because his wife is a woman who loves saturated bold colors, brings her breakfast in bed because sheโs that spoiled โ even when heโs pissed off at her and the man who always calls his wife sweetheart and looks at her as if sheโs the sun and he craves to be burned by her. Not just that, Neal is a perfect father to his and Georgieโs two adorable little girls, Alice & Naomi. Talks very little, Neal is kind of used to express himself with doodles and ink; heโs never good with knowing what he wants but is extraordinarily skilled when it comes to making big gestures.
Georgie is a woman, whoโs always got what she wanted, who always knew exactly what she wanted and went after it. Falling in love with Neal was what completed her; it was never in her plans but it was the missing part. Unfortunately, she always let work come first.
What happens when youโve had enough? Christmas is the time you spend with your family; you donโt just give up on that. So naturally, when Georgie announces to Neal that she has to stay in LA for something that came up with her show โ the show sheโs been dreaming about bringing to life with Seth, the best-friend โ he packs his stuff, takes the girls and goes home to Omaha. For quite some time, he ignores her calls and it drives her crazy. God, it drove me crazy. I felt so bad for him, for her too, and I wanted to pull them out of the book and tell them to please, fix it. Georgie starts to think about what went wrong and how she could fix her marriage. Miraculously, sheโs presented with an opportunity to go over the past, relive it in a way, and fix her marriage. Will she?
Intrigued?
Iโm not going to spoil that for you people; you have to read the book to find out.
All I can tell you is that reading this book opened my eyes to a lot of things we donโt take notice of until they actually happen. We always take the people we love in our lives for granted. Always in a rush, we never stop for a moment and think about how we treat them or how we actually show them how much they mean to us.
โNobody’s lives just fit together. Fitting together is something you work at. It’s something you make happen – because you love each other.โย
Through Landline, Rainbow Rowell, beautifully, presented what happens after years of marriage. She brought to life what happens when sacrifice in marriage is one sided, taken for granted by the other. Georgie and Neal made me realize how crucialย it is, even vital,ย to show the people you love how important they are in your life. I loved how honest and true to our reality this novel was, but thatโs the thing about Rowell; honesty always comes out of her pen.
Relationships, friendships, work life, family; those are things we encounter every day and I donโt think any of us can go their entire life without them. If something is wrong in your life, fix it. Donโt just stand there like a moron and watch it go down-hill.
โWasnโt that the point of life? To find someone to share it with? And if you got that part right, how far wrong could you go? If you were standing next to the person you loved more than everything else, wasnโt everything else just scenery?โ
I thought reading Landline was a beautiful life experience and Iโd hate for you people out there to miss out on it. Go to the nearest bookstore and pick it up; read it and tell someone you love that you do love them. If you never read a Rainbow Rowell book, please Iโm begging you to because you wonโt regret it. Promise!
Oh another thing, if youโve read Fangirl, be ready because thereโs a surprise at the end of Landline for you.
