Audiobook Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Landline
   by: Rainbow Rowell

Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Contemporary
Age Group: Adult
Source: e-audiobook received from CeCe who received from BEA.
Page Count: 308 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 4/5 stars

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?

 

 

This is my very first audiobook ever and I never in a million years thought I would enjoy one. Boy, was I wrong! I do feel the narrator in this one probably wasn't the best, as she was a bit robotic sounding, but that wasn't something that detracted from my enjoying the book at all. After listening to Landline, I can honestly say, I am officially on team audiobook. Especially if you're driving long road trips. This was also my very first Rainbow Rowell book. I have to say- I really enjoyed this one! It tugged at my heartstrings and I was so afraid of how it would all turn out.

 

Pacing: Rowell is clearly a descriptive writer, and while I did feel the story began on the slower side, I was still engaged and eager to hear Georgie and Neal's story. I love how Rowell went and flashbacked to how Georgie and Neal met and how their relationship developed into more. She does such a good job of this, that I felt like I was the one falling in love with Neal!

 

Storyline: Georgie McCool is a work-a-holic. She can't go to Omaha with her husband and her kids for the holidays because of work, and they end up going without her. Georgie's family takes great pity on her, as they all believe Neal has left her. She is adamant that is not the case, but the more she thinks about it and how she never seems to get a hold of him via phone, she has to wonder.... what if she lost him for good? I really liked how realistic this story was. The longer she thinks about how things were left and said, she starts to get really desperate, having not seen the signs of Neal's frustrations long before now. She doesn't want to go home to an empty house, so she ends up staying with her mom, stepfather, and sister, as they are closer to the studio. When she uses the old rotary phone in her bedroom to call Neal, she discovers she isn't talking to the angry Neal she knows now. Instead, she's able to call his 20-something year old self and communicate with him during the week in college Georgie thought they broke up. While she thinks she's going crazy, she can't help but crave talking to this Neal. A Neal who, while angry with her at the time, wants them to work things through. Georgie starts to wonder: Will talking to Neal in the past change things in the future? Is that something she even wants? Would his life be better without her?

 

Characters: I liked Georgie, even though I was screaming at her for most of the novel. The answer was so simple and she wasn't seeing it. She has let work and Seth, her co-worker and best friend, cloud her mind with the job opportunity of a lifetime and it really makes her lose sight of what's important in life. However, this was really a wake up call for Georgie. She has gone so long taking Neal for granted and now she is faced with the very real possibility she could lose the one solid person who has stood by her through thick and thin throughout the years. Georgie's reminiscing of how she and Neal met and how their relationship developed, as well as talking to past Neal on the phone, really wakes her up and makes her realize she's on the brink of losing it all.

 

Neal is a great dad and caring in his own way. He's not a grand gesture kind of guy. Instead, it's little, sweet actions that show his love. He's a bit on the gruffer side and was even back in college. It takes awhile for their relationship to develop, and it's mostly due to persistence on Georgie's part that they finally get it together. He is surprised vivacious, popular Georgie would pay attention to him, especially since he has not made it easy for her to get to know him.

 

Seth never really understood what Georgie saw in Neal, constantly calling him a hobbit and joking about his being from the Shire. Seth was a natural womanizer, but he and Georgie just clicked. I was worried Rowell would insert a love triangle here, but I am glad to say that is not the case. Seth and Georgie's friendship is one that has bothered Neal and I felt so bad seeing his insecurities over their relationship. You do have to wonder if Seth's feelings for Georgie actually went deeper than he let on...

 

Final Thoughts: My heart broke for Georgie because she's missed so much of what was right in front of her. She took her life for granted and now she's horrified of the thought it will all be gone. The sad thing about this book is that I'm sure tons of marriages dissolve for these very reasons and I wasn't sure how Rowell would end this one, as I've heard some of her other books have left people in tears. This one did hit hard because of how realistic it is, but I honestly think this is not a book to be missed.

 

A beautiful story about what it's like to rediscover falling in love and the lengths you'll go to hold on to that person and keep your life from falling apart in front of your very eyes....

 

"It's not like that," Georgie said. "You'll see. It's more like you meet someone, and you fall in love, and you hope that that person is the one — and then at some point, you have to put down your chips. You just have to make a commitment and hope that you're right.”