Constantly Moving the Bookmark

Even in the best, married my best friend/love of my life, marriages there can be hiccups especially if you throw in kids, careers, attractive co-workers and the holiday season. Georgie McCool is finally having some success as a comedy writer with her new (very Friends-like) sitcom. She and Neal have been planning to spend the Christmas holidays with their kids at Neal’s mother’s home in Omaha. At the last minute Georgie cannot go because of problems at work. She stays behind to work with Seth, her long time and slightly infatuated writing partner. Neal and the girls go anyway amidst bad feelings and an argument. Georgie appends the time they are away at her own mother’s home for the company. Wanting to touch base with Neal and the girls Georgie uses her old rotary dial telephone in her teenage room to make the call. When Neal answers Georgie knows right away that something is a little off kilter. She’s right – the Neal she is speaking to is back in 1998. That old rotary phone has a little time loop glitch that allows Georgie to revisit all the reasons she and Neal fell in love in the first place.

Of course this kind of a gift always has its price. Georgie is reminded that in 1998 at Christmas, she and Neal were also at a crossroad deciding whether to stay together and get married or part permanently. One wrong word and their ultimate decision which she (and the reader) knows but Neal doesn’t – that’s right Neal has no idea he is speaking to “future” Georgie – and their whole life together could be undone. Would her children simply fade away if that happened? Georgie knows she must be very careful in what she says. She cannot mention anything about how her job is going now, her cell phone, facebook, or even their children. This could all go wonderfully right or horribly wrong.

Ms. Rowell’s pre-book career was as a reporter, which she feels, gave her an ear for listening to what people say and picking out the pertinent quotes to make an interesting and informative article. As she stated in an interview this gave her a love for writing dialogue. What better way to be able to write dialogue than in a book based on telephone conversations? And Ms. Rowell does do it well. Having recently read a book with a story told completely in correspondence, a format I did not particularly enjoy, I was a little apprehensive about delving into this book, but I needn’t have been concerned. It was not straight dialogue. It contained a lot of entertaining action written in prose. Definitely an enjoyable read.