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Georgie feels her personal life is spiraling out of control just when her professional life receives the break for which she’s been waiting. She, Neal (her husband), and their two girls were planning on going to Omaha for Christmas to visit Neal’s mom. However, that was before the network decided it liked Georgie and Seth’s TV pitch. Now, the network wants scripts for the pilot and several episodes. A real pilot, a script for their own show, the 15-year-old brainchild they have been tinkering with since college. And Neal takes the girls to Omaha without her.
Facing Christmas alone, in an empty house, Georgie visits her mother and ends up spending the night in her old bedroom. Before going to sleep she tries to call Neal from the old rotary landline in her bedroom. The catch? Not only does the landline call Omaha, it calls Omaha in 1997 — 15 years earlier. Georgie talks to the old Neal, the one she dated before they were even engaged. Georgie wants to talk to “1997” Neal. Maybe she can fix “2012” Georgie and Neal, but what if by doing so, she alters Neal’s course in some way that erases the last 14 years of their marriage and their two children?
I have two complaints about Landline. One, there is too much profanity, which is something of a constant among Rainbow Rowell’s novels. Two, it ends too soon. Ms. Rowell usually leaves me wanting more but still satisfied. This time I was left slightly unsatisfied; there was not quite enough resolution for me. I loved the book, but wished there had been an epilogue just to tie up a few loose ends and reassure my mind in a more explicit way. I completely understand why it ended where it did, from a rhetorical perspective, and I think I can assume that all the characters ended up where I wanted them. But, after getting so invested in the characters and story, I was left feeling disappointed that there was not more explicit resolution for some characters.
Rated: High. The only problem with this book is profanity and it is almost entirely strong. I don’t think there were more than a handful of instances of milder language; however, there were probably 20-plus instances of harsh language throughout the book.
