Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2015
320 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
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 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?
Published in hardcover July 2014
"Starred Review. While the topic might have changed, this is still Rowell - reading her work feels like listening to your hilariously insightful best friend tell her best stories." - Library Journal
"Rowell is, as always, a fluent and enjoyable writer - the pages whip by. Still, something about the relationship between Georgie and Neal feels hollow, like it's missing the complexity of adult love, despite the plot's special effects." - Publishers Weekly
"The realities of a grown-up relationship are leavened by the buoyancy and wonder of falling in love all over again." - Kirkus
This information about Landline was first featured
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Photo: Augusten Burroughs
Sometimes Rainbow Rowell writes about adults (Attachments and Landline).
Sometimes she writes about teenagers (Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Carry On).
But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they're screwing up. And people who fall in love.
When she's not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don't really matter in the big scheme of things.
She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.
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