RATING: ★★★★☆
If you know anything about me, or if you have met me even once, you'll know that I love Fangirl. I rave about it all the time.
So when I got the chance to read Landline, Rowell's first 'adult literature' book, I was so excited. And luckily, as usual, Rainbow Rowell didn't disappoint.
Plot
Landline follows Georgie, a working mom who is struggling with finding the balance between work and family. She's married to Neal, who has become a stay at home dad for their two daughters, while Georgie writes scripts for tv-shows. Long days have always been standard, but when Georgie announces that she can't come to Nebraska with her husband to spend Christmas (because she has to work), everything seems to be crumbling.
When Neal and the girls leave, Georgie stays with her mother and uses the landline phone in her old bedroom to call Neal. She desperately tries to reach him, but when she finally does, he is not the Neal from now, but the Neal from when they first started dating.
A magic phone
So if you have read Rainbow Rowell before, like I did, you'll be used to realistic contemporary stories. I urge you to put that idea out of your head when you pick up Landline. It starts off realistically, but then there is a strong element of magic in there that you just have to accept. I spend a chapter or five struggling with the idea that anyone could have a magic phone and it ruined my reading experience. I put the book aside and decided to just roll with it (heck, I read Percy Jackson, a magic phone is nothing) and once I did that, I could thoroughly enjoy the story. It's realistic with elements of magic and Georgie is such a great character that it somehow kinda works.
The struggle of every woman
And Georgie is such a great character, because she is so damn realistic. The main struggle of the story is, like I said, between work and family. I'm still young and without a family, but even I found this a very relatable subject. Girls, from a far too early age, are being told that some day you'll have to chose between a family or a career and what I love about Georgie is that she doesn't. She loves her job and doesn't consider giving it up just so she could be home more. This book does not end in Georgie becoming a housewife - that is not the journey of this book. The journey is finding a balance between what you want and what your family needs and surprisingly enough, Neal makes that journey too.
Rating
It kind of kills me, but I can't give this book five stars. I adored Georgie, Neal and their relationship and even though I haven't focused on Rainbow's writing in this review (I've done that in all the other reviews from her books already) it was absolutely perfect again. But a magic phone? She really lost me there for a few pages, so I can't give it top marks. However, it's an excellent four star book.
