Landline

Landline

Rainbow Rowell

Genre: Women's Fiction

Summary (from Goodreads):  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 home 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?

Review:  I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it as a good summer read.  I debated what genre it belonged in, because it was a little romance-y (except that the main characters were already married) and a little chick-lit-y (except that the characters are grown-up and responsible), so I settled on Women's Fiction.  It's not the kind of book I'd recommend to absolutely everyone; I think it would be most appealing to women like me - married with young kids.

I've never read a book by Powell before, but I thought she had a gift for natural dialogue and character development.  Her depiction of a relationship between a stay-at-home parent taking care of young children and a working parent was spot on, although it was unusual in that the father was the stay-at-home parent.   I appreciated the different relationship layers that the author touched on, and the complexity involved in deciding what is most important in life.  The paranormal element introduced by the time-bending rotary dial phone was a little bit of a bizarre twist, but it made sense as a way for Georgie to reflect back on her early relationship with her husband. 

Rating: 4.5 stars