Ultra Meital Reviews: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I'm sorry for what I'm going to write in this review as I feel like it's not going to be very nice. It's my personal opinion (obviously) and should be taken as such. I added this book through a recommendation and read a few other very positive reviews when I finally decided to add it so .. take all of that into consideration. For me this book can be described with just one word - 'Pointless'. Also, generally speaking "nothing happened", it was mostly in our MC's head. Which was strange as it wasn't written in 1st person - which felt even stranger on an audio book.

Georgie McCool knows what she wants, for me it feels like she wants to "eat the world" but not always willing to pay the price. Her main focus is her own TV show. She is VERY close to achieving this goal but her family - husband and 2 daughters - are standing in her way. Rather, the family vacation to Neal's mom on Christmas is timed all wrong for her latest deadline. Granted it IS a very important one but it's also seems like the way she lives. She LOVES her husband but he is just there behind the scenes, taking care of the house, the kids, her (as she can't even cook basic food). He career is FAR more important to her than anything else in her life. She might say "Neal, Neal, Neal" a thousand times throughout this book, but spoken truthfully, it's obvious through even move she made throughout the years, she expected Neal (with the kids) to follow and accept the fact she basically lives with her "best friend" (co-writer) in their office. She spends far more time with him. I could see why Neal was jealous even if he didn't really expressed that.

So Neal takes the kids and flies to his mother. Georgie stays and practically falls apart. She can't handle not having him and while she didn't think he was breaking up with her, her mother was CERTAIN about it so she started believing it when she thought about what happened 15 years ago just before they got engaged. This got her calling from her childhood room's landline and getting the version of Neal from back then. Trying to figure out what made him want to be with her, with a lot of reminiscing about the way they met, and everything that happened to them till they get to this point. Frankly, to me, it felt like she took Neal (and her daughters) for granted and when Neal had enough she broke apart. It sounds just as childish as it's actually is.

There is a sort of "magical" component to this book. I honestly thought we were going to get a "normal" explanation near the end, but the story just ended with basically NOTHING. Neal and Georgie got together somehow and they didn't even really TALK about what happened, why he left, why she stayed what's going to change. Also after the heart-to-heart she had with Seth I expect THEY need to have another conversation about how it's going to be from now on - another thing this book was missing. It just ended. The whole book was Georgie having a melt down because Neal wasn't there and when he finally was, all was well in the world (even if they have the worst communication skills). I don't think anything REALLY changed for her (or him, or Seth) so basically the whole experience was in vain.

There were two things that REALLY bothered me in this story that I simply cannot keep to myself. I'll start with the more "bizarre" one. Georgie and her sister's obvious disgust with their mother's dogs. There wasn't anything "cute" about it (there also wasn't anything cute about her "meowing" with her daughter) it was revolting, especially when the dog had puppies. I swear the scene was described as a murder scene it was SO over the top bloody and gory! Putting that aside, what a RESPONSIBLE ADULT does when there is a medical situation they aren't familiar with? They call a professional. In this case a vet. But did they? NO! THEY GOOGLED IT! This is a classical TSTL behavior. I can't believe a grown up (one who almost died giving birth) would actually do. Just HOW stupid could you be? The number wouldn't fit on any graph. Putting all of that aside, for me, it felt as though the whole scene was actually written just so the author can win a few points for "diversity". I didn't buy it. AT ALL.

Another thing I found revolting but also HIGHLY disturbing was Georgie's relationship with her "best friend" Seth. It's not the fact he was doing EVERYTHING to separate her from Neal (or just keep her to himself), it was the fact he is the sort of ABUSIVE / Narcissistic guy NO ONE deserves to have in their lives. I think ALL his actions should be categorized in a book on "The kind of person to avoid at all costs". He manipulates Georgie, makes her feel bad about herself, separates her from the ones she is closest to (and/or has negative things to say about all of them) and pressures her into working / being with him, while she is CLEARLY not able to do that (having an emotional break down).

If this wasn't an audio book I would have DNFed it for sure. But as it was, I had the time to give this book all the chance it could possibly get (while listening at a higher speed, I'll admit..) and frankly I feel like there was no point in the whole experience.

I simply cannot recommend this book to anyone. If you are interested in this book, read other reviews and draw your own conclusions. If you already know you have similar tastes to mine - take my warning and STAY AWAY.