Quick review for a re-read. I still love this book. It’s still a great character study of Cath, who has anxiety and abandonment issues, and has huddled in on herself like a turtle, afraid to put out feelers to the outside world. She uses reading and writing fanfiction as an outlet for her creativity, and a way to forget herself for a while, but she wants to be a professional writer, and that means a type of writing she isn’t comfortable with yet, a type of writing that is personal and uncomfortable, for which you have to be present at all times.
Her relationship with Levi is still adorable. Rainbow writes such good romance. Their words, and the kissing scenes, and their believable chemistry, as well as believable obstacles make this such a full book. Cath’s relationship to her twin sister, who has very different reactions to the same trauma, is at the center of the book as well, and her relationship to her bipolar father is almost as important, as is the absence of a relationship she has with the mother who abandoned her as a child.
And it’s funny! And sweet. And I re-read it in a day. It was all rainy and cold and I wrapped myself up in a soft blanket, which my called to cat, who thinks all soft blankets are her boyfriend, and spent hours all cozy and happy. (She yells at me when I have to get up for any reason. She is extremely bossy.)
Landline is now the only Rainbow Rowell book I haven’t re-read, but I shall be getting to it soon.