Review: Landline

Landline

By Rainbow Rowell

St. Martin's Press July 2014

310 pages

From the library 

Georgie McCool finds herself making an impossible decision yet again. She and her writing partner Seth are finally getting their big break. But the meeting about their tv show has to happen over the Christmas holiday. Georgie knows that her husband Neal and their two daughters will be disappointed, but she is surprised when Neal takes the two girls and heads to see his family without her. The tension has been building between Georgie and Neal and she wonders if this is the final blow to her marriage. She crashes at her parent's house one night and makes a curious discovery - the old yellow phone in her bedroom connects her to her husband back when they were dating. Can she save her marriage in the present by making different choices in the past?

Rainbow Rowell is mostly known for writing YA juggernaut Eleanor and Park. In Landline, we deal with a set of problems specific to adults - namely balancing professional dreams and family lives. Georgie and Seth have been writing funny things together since college. But late night writing sessions have cut into dinnertime and bedtime over and over again. This causes great tension in Georgie and Neal's marriage and in Georgie's own heart and mind as she has to choose time and again between her passion and the people she loves best. Most of the time, she finds that either decision leaves her unhappy. 

The central conceit here that Georgie could talk to husband in the past is a cute but fascinating way to have Georgie look back on the decisions she has made throughout her relationship. It's just a little touch of magical realism that gives Georgie (and us, along for the ride) the opportunity to see what choices work in a young relationship and which ones we regret with hindsight. There is such beautiful development in this story as we see Georgie grapple with her dream of being a writer in opposition to spending time with the family she loves so madly. She knows that her husband has been unhappy and at several points in the book, she wonder if she should let him go and let him be happy. Is love really enough? 

Landline's greatest strength is its insight into a marriage over time. While this novel is essentially a light read with a magical telephone, there were several moments when I caught my breath because Rowell explained marriage so perfectly.

“Nobody's lives just fit together. Fitting together is something you work at. It's something you make happen - because you love each other.” 

“You don't know when you are twenty-three. You don’t know what it really means to crawl into someone else’s life and stay there. You can’t see all the ways you’re going to get tangled, how you’re going to bond skin to skin. How the idea of separating will feel in five years, in ten—in fifteen. When Georgie thought about divorce now, she imagined lying side by side with Neal on two operating tables while a team of doctors tried to unthread their vascular systems.” 

I loved reading Landline. I love that Rowell took a problem familiar to many of us as we try to balance work and family and refused to pass judgement. Instead, she lets us just live alongside Georgie as she makes her decisions, both good and bad. The characters, as always, are quirky and wonderful and my only regret is that I didn't get to spend more time with Georgie, Neal, Seth, and the others who live between the covers of Landline. 

My reviews of Eleanor and Park and Attachments

Review: Attachments

Attachments

By Rainbow Rowell

Plume March 2012

323 pages

From my shelves

Lincoln O'Neill wasn't expecting to read people's emails when he took a job as a security officer at a newspaper. But that is what he is asked to do each evening. Most of the emails that are flagged are inappropriate, but the exchanges between copyeditor Jennifer and movie critic Beth are a blast to read. The friends are kind and funny and Lincoln finds himself wishing that he could actually talk to them instead of just cyberstalking them for a paycheck. When he finds himself falling for Beth, Lincoln decides he couldn't possibly introduce himself...or can he?

Attachments is a wonderful read. It is told in alternating chapters - some chapters are from Lincoln's POV and the others are email correspondence between Jennifer and Beth. I am not usually a fan of epistolary novels, but this one makes it work. The emails between the two girls look just like the ones that are in your inbox from your best friend. While I certainly agree that characters don't have to be likeable to be interesting, there is something irresistible about falling for characters as they fall for each other. Lincoln and Beth and Jennifer are people you can't help but love. They have quirks and flaws, but they quickly feel like friends who you have known for years. 

This story takes place in 1999 and 2000. Rainbow Rowell manages to hit the perfect balance of placing her story firmly within a time and also making it feel timeless. The newspaper where they work may just be introducing an online edition and Y2K may be a real concern (remember that?) but their story of figuring out who they want to become is timeless.

The characters in Attachments are going through the big life changes of their mid and late twenties. They have graduated from college and are in that middle place where they are deciding if their first job will become a career, if they want to have kids, and if their first love will be their partner for life. These decisions feel just as important for these characters as they are in real life, but their magnitude doesn't weigh down the story.

Attachments is a really fun read that will have you cheering for the characters and smiling when you turn the last page. The problems that Beth, Lincoln, and Jennifer are dealing with are real - the day to day frustrations and the major life decisions that each of us encounter - and they will resonate with readers. This is a perfect book for those days when you need to believe again that good friends can get you through the pain and uncertainty of life. 

Review: Eleanor and Park

Eleanor and Park

By Rainbow Rowell

St. Martin's Press February 2013

325 pages

From the library

Eleanor and Park is one of the most popular novels of the year. Park is a high school kid just trying to make it through each day. He is used to keeping his head down and staying invisible, but he can't help himself when a new girl climbs onto the bus one morning. Eleanor sticks out like a sore thumb with her bizarre clothing choices and flaming red hair. Park begrudgingly offers her the seat next to him and a tentative friendship is struck over music and comic books. As their relationship shifts from friendship to love, can their bond survive the cruelty of high school and the pain of Eleanor's broken home?

Since I may actually be the last person on the planet (at least among the book bloggers) to read this book, I am only going to write about the book itself for a bit. I liked this book a lot. Rowell effortlessly captures life in the 1980s and life as a teenager. I appreciated that she gave us a multitude of characters - the popular kids, the outcast, and a character in the middle. Too many authors don't create any characters in between the two extremes. Eleanor is mercilessly picked on. Park has a few close friends but isn't one of the popular kids. Rowell succeeds in making even her tormentors surprising and developed characters. I loved that she showed the nuances of every type of high school kid.

I also loved the relationships between Park and his parents. It's so refreshing to see teens having a good relationship with their parents that doesn't preclude disagreements or discipline. This book strikes the perfect balance of a fluffy teen read and a dark look into young love that faces challenges at every turn. Eleanor and Park is charming and heartfelt and I completely understand how so many readers and bloggers have been won over by it.

That being said, I think I fell prey to the "problem of the popular book." When you hear about a book over and over again, you get very high expectations. Everyone seemed to adore this book and I was prepared to join the exclaiming masses. I did really like this book, but I think the best way to read Eleanor and Park is without preconceived nations. This is the perfect story to discover unexpectedly as surprising gift from a talented writer. If you haven't read this book yet, plan to pick it up. The best way to read it will be in a few months when all of the buzz has died down.