Friday, September 26, 2014

Review: Landline

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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?


(taken from goodreads.com)

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Rating: 3/5 Stars






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I have heard very good things about Rainbow Rowell, probably in regards to Fangirl which I want to read. However, my mother-in-law read this and didn't like it, which didn't bode well for me going into it.  Now the feeling comes from having read the first chapter. I feel like that was too fast to start a book. While I understand you can really do whatever you want a a writer, there are also some key things you need to give the reader when they are reading. So just from chapter one I would have liked more background (and I understand this does have to do with the past, but seriously there's some gotta know now's). I would have liked a chapter on her and her husband having a normal day in the life of where  we see their normal issues and fighting. Then I would have liked to see the scene where she had to accept working on the holiday. 

Now that I'm finished with the book, I'm rather disappointed from all the hype. And I'm not saying the writing itself was bad, in fact I think it was good, rather one of my issues was the awkward  breaks between scenes. It read rather choppy and a bit annoying. Another thing the idea for the book was great, yet there seemed to be a lack of depth to it. It really seemed like just another messed up marriage from the POV of the wife, and only the wife. We kept hearing that she had messed up... but something was missing. 

Neal was just too passive. I would have liked to hear why he had finally snapped and decided their marriage was over. Was it just an assumption from her mom? Was he seriously done with her and considering leaving her? Did his resentment really build because they stayed in California and he couldn't pursue his own career? All we get to see is the inside of Georgie's head which was way too onesided for me to truly grasp

The situation with Seth just seemed weird to me. I liked the turn of him being a semi-antagonist... but it seriously should have been done more. Again we only see it from Georgie's narrow-minded, foggy perspective.   

When I read the except about what the book was about, I was looking for something meaningful that I could connect with. I have been married for 6 years and it is not the fairy tale that Disney princesses portrays to young girls. I won't be recommending this book to people because of this.  

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