Landline

by Rainbow Rowell

I adore Rainbow Rowell's writing, both her YA and adult books (ATTACHMENTS is my favorite). Her characters are always alive, often uncomfortably so. She is a master at creating smart and authentic dialogue, and as with all her books, the dialogue was my favorite part of LANDLINE.

I wanted to fall head over heels with LANDLINE the same way I did with her other adult book, ATTACHMENTS. It sounded like a magical blend of FREQUENCY and a Hallmark Christmas movie (which it kind of was). And both do have a charming yet full of depth romantic comedy tone to them (ATTACHMENTS more so than LANDLINE). They feel very cinematic and are easily visualized, and of course, the dialogue is stellar and prolific (like in all her books, both YA and Adult). The reason that I'm only giving LANDLINE three stars is due to Georgie.

She's a mess, somewhat endearingly in the beginning. She's hyper consumed with work and her BFF writing partner, Seth. Her husband and kids get whatever dregs are left of her at the end of long days. It's unfair and she recognizes that. Her husband is unhappy and she knows that's her fault. She doesn't know how to take care of her kids or even connect with them. She's an absentminded slob who wears old clothes until they literally fall off of her.

In contrast, her husband, Neal, is a figurative rockstar. He quit his job to raise the kids, he cooks and cleans and gardens and paints and bikes and a million other things all without coming across as a doormat. Oh and he loves her to an awe-inspiring degree.

The problem began to manifest, for me as a reader, when Georgie kept acknowledging the gulf between herself and her husband. She sees all the sacrifices he makes for her and their family and over and over again notes how unfair that is and how unhappy she is making Neal with her choices. Cue the redemption, right? Where Georgie realizes she has to change her life and start trying to balance her dreams with the happiness of those she loves? Wrong. She just tells Neal this is the way she is and she won't change. Work and her flirty best friend/partner and going to always come first (she literally says stuff like that to him). At the very end, she vows to try harder, but without anything concrete to back it up. It feels like all her other promises: empty.

How is it okay for him to give everything and her to give nothing in their relationship? I can't imagine anyone accepting this if the roles were reversed and Neal was the ever absent spouse with the 80 hour work week and pretty best friend and Georgie was the miserable one who was just supposed to accept that he would never change. Who would put up with that?

I still love Rainbow Rowell, and many of the things I love about her writing are on display in LANDLINE, but ultimately, this story and the protagonist left a sour taste in my mouth instead of the wistful smile I've come to expect from this author.