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Oct 14, 2017llwboston rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
Mostly enjoyable account of the misadventures of Georgie McCool, whose failed attempts to communicate by cellphone with her husband (instead reaching her young daughters for hilarious conversations, or her mother in law for awkward ones) take a strange turn when she discovers the landline phone in her mother's house connects her to her now husband's younger self pre-marriage, when their relationship was at a crisis point. Husband and kids have departed for a holiday visit to his mother, while Georgie has stayed behind to work with her longtime writing partner on a new tv series. Guilt over this action, fear of losing her husband, and doubts about her sanity raised by the landline calls, frame the plot. The only problem is a major one: the landline calls between Georgie and past-Luke are r-e-a-l-l-y b-o-r-i-n-g, and slow the pacing of the novel considerably. Much more entertaining are the narrative flashbacks of Georgie coming of age as a 1990s college student, and present day goings on at Georgie's mothers house, and the climactic ending a spontaneous journey from Southern California to blizzardy Omaha, without adequate clothing or footwear. And, while the ending was satisfying resolution to the point of the landline calls, I finished the book feeling doubtful that Georgie had made the best choice-the alternative scenario she ponders seemed to be a lot more satisfying given who she is and wants to be.