Catching up on reviews! After this I’ll only be one behind-slash-right on track. After the last review/ramble, I decided to change up my format a little, as well as adding a festive moose for the Christmas season. It’s always a work in process of course.

I’m super debating reading a ton of Christmas chick-lit during December, due to my wonderfully single life. Anyone think this might be a bad idea?

This was my first Rainbow Rowell book. It’s not the first one I bought (Carry On was, but it’s been in a book until recently) and I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Everyone I know seems to enjoy her books, so of course I had to try. I suspect I’ll have finished the three I own before the end of the year.

Landline

By Rainbow Rowell

Publish Year: 2014 – Goodread’s 2014 Winner for Fiction

Genre: Contemporary, Chick-lit

Format: Paperback

Rating:  3/5 Moose

---

Quick Synopsis: 

Georgie McCool’s in a typical female battle:  Job vs. Family. And clearly, her marriage has hit a point where it may not be able to turn back. Neal and her daughters have gone to his mother’s house in Nebraska for Christmas, while Georgie is left working in California on the job of a lifetime.

Deflated and torn between what is apparently ever female’s struggle, she goes to her own mother’s house for dinner and calls Neal on her old landline phone. The Neal that picks up isn’t quite the Neal that she knows now, but instead, the Neal back before they married. It’s not exactly a TARDIS, but it’s a way to fix her marriage before it even started.

Or maybe end it.

Characters:

There are two main characters: Georgie and Neal, and a gaggle of supporting characters. Here are the four worth knowing:

Georgie – A wannabe Tina Fey, in my mind. A comedy writer on the verge of a great new show while writing on a relatively successful show with her best friend. Married to Neal, two girls.

Neal – A stay at home dad, half because he never could figure out what he wanted to do with his life, and half because he seems to enjoy it. Artistic, quiet, introverted to a fault.

Seth – Georgie’s best friend from college, her co-writer on her new show. A gorgeous man who is also a bit of a womanizer. The guy that everyone treats as Georgie’s “the one that got away.”

Heather – Georgie’s much younger (like 15+ years younger) sister, who helps give Georgie some perspective on the whole situation

Rants and Raves:

Gah. This should not have been my first Rainbow Rowell book. That being said, the cover of this book made is sound so much more interesting than what it turned out to be.

Two important things: I am a sucker for good chick lit, and no matter how I feel about this book, I loved Rainbow Rowell’s writing style.

If I had read this years ago…or maybe if I had even read it last year when it came out, I probably would have loved this book. But given where I currently am in my life, I found Georgie whiny and frustrating as hell. Job….marriage. Marriage…job. Which is more important?!

I’m so tired of this argument. I fully believe that a woman can have both. And if the roles were reversed, a man would not be doing everything he could to try and save his marriage. He wouldn’t blink an eye at his wife’s frustration!

No really, I’m tired of it. This is something she’s been working for her entire life, and her husband throws a hissy fit causing her life to crumble.

And what makes me even more angry is that I CAN SEE THIS ALL HAPPENING. (Okay, the time machine phone, not so much. That’s a lie. It can totally happen.) Georgie basically admits having kids was a mistake (which I love — not all women want to be moms and some shouldn’t be) and she comes off as selfish and baaaaaaaaaaaah. I can’t.

I seriously commend Rainbow Rowell though. While I hated the story concept, I enjoyed her writing. I could see the talent. I’m not entirely sure she wrote this expecting us to like Georgie. This is the only reason I’m giving her books another shot — and because Carry On seems amazingly wonderful.

Final Verdict:

Don’t start with this book if you haven’t read anything by Rowell. If you are already a fan, you’ll probably enjoy it. If you love the woman’s age old question of work vs. love, read it.