Book Title: Landline | Author: Rainbow Rowell | Publisher (in Indonesia): Spring | Published Year: First Print, April 2016 | Book Thickness: 372 pages. | ISBN: 978-602-74322-1-5
Love is always complicated...
After being presented with a sweet teenage story, as well as a simple and sweet adult story in Attachment and Fangirl, now I read a household story that is… complicated. Marriage is never easy, including for Neal and Georgie. The marriage, which was at the age of 14, but then everything seemed to be going smoothly.
Neal and Georgie's kids will celebrate Christmas in Omaha, while Georgie must stay in California to do her job as a TV scriptwriter that can't be left alone. Not to mention the existence of Seth—Georgie's longtime friend—who sometimes made Neal jealous, though Georgie had made sure he didn't have to.
It Started with Confusion
The story in Landline contains Georgie's uncertainty about her relationship and married life with Neal. How could she's not, she couldn't leave her job, but she still wanted to be with Neal and her kids for Christmas? Days after Neal and the kids left for Omaha, Georgie returns to her mother's house and finds a yellow phone in her old room.
Yes, the yellow phone on the cover is classy. And I can imagine how classic this phone is but in cute colors. The yellow phone that… magic. A phone that can connect you to the past.
The relationship between Neal and Georgie runs smoothly, although there are flashbacks where Georgie tells her that it was she who always walked closer first. This reminds me of myself. How often do I move forward first and then look at the situation again? Life requires compromise, that's what I got when I read this book. That Neal and Georgie's married life was always filled with announcements that could eventually make things worse.
Neal was gentle and willing to accept Georgie's circumstances, rarely said what she wanted, and tried to understand what Georgie was doing. Georgie herself had her doubts. She loved Neal, but she doubted she could keep Neal by her side.
"I love you," he said, "but I'm not sure that's enough, I'm not sure it will ever be enough." (Page 85)
Magic Yellow Phone
This is the main point of this story, I was a little confused when Georgie used her old yellow phone at her mother's house. From this point on, the story turns into a fantasy genre, as Georgie calls Neal, but it's Neal who picks up the phone at the time it's the warm Neal—as well as Neal's living father, Georgie listens to say “hi” when they call.
During the call using the magic yellow phone, Georgie felt her relationship with Neal improve. But right… what he called was Neal in the past, not in the present, which made Georgie confused about whether to separate or not. But, Georgie still feels happy to be able to remember the old incident with Neal and keep trying to keep her marriage with Neal.
I read this full of hope that they don't need to separate, but on the other hand, I can't relate because I don't know how swaying a marriage can be because one party always wants to make the other party happy. It's also a matter of covering up feelings of doubt and not being open to your partner. Georgie had that kind of character, she didn't want to bother Neal anymore. That's why he didn't tell Neal much, while Neal had tried to compromise and become the "Father of the Household" in their family by taking care of the children.
This magical yellow phone becomes the key point of Landline's book, a crucial element in Neal and Georgie's nearly fractured relationship. But somehow it all goes back to their respective personalities, whether they still want to improve relations or not, want to compromise or not, want to understand each other or not, want to be open to each other or not. All the choices are in the hands of each partner. Even if Georgie chose to remain selfish, their relationship would still fail, no matter how much she loved Neal.
Landline is a household storybook that provides many illustrations that marriage often causes many problems. This book can be a fairly detailed description of how household problems that start from trivial things become something that drains energy and emotion.
Happy reading!