Emma Donoghue

[a novel]

Landing

Malgorzata Olszewska

** spoiler alert **
           I think this book is so underrated! I absolutely loved it. As others have said.. there isn’t anything truly remarkable about the story or the characters but.. something about the way it’s written.. we’ve all been in their situation- one way or another.
Emma D. really gets down to the nitty gritty of lesbian romances and emotions as well... reading this felt like I was reading about some of my past relationships. It was funny, it was sad, it was everything in between and I really enjoyed reading it. I’m also thrilled she gave them a happy ending... so rare for that to happen, especially since this book was from 2007. I don’t want to spoil the ending but..girl gets girl. I was rooting for them and I’m so glad it worked out. Siné moves to Canada to be with Jude and by the end of it I was sobbing... I think most lesbians/ and everyone else has felt these emotions and knows what it’s like.

A delightful, old-fashioned love story with a uniquely twenty-first-century twist, Emma Donoghue's Landing is a romantic comedy that explores the pleasures and sorrows of long-distance relationships-the kind millions of us now maintain mostly by plane, phone, and Internet. Síle is a stylish citizen of the new Dublin, a veteran flight attendant who's traveled the world. Jude is a twenty-five-year-old archivist, stubbornly attached to the tiny town of Ireland, Ontario, in which she was born and raised. On her first plane trip, Jude's and Síle's worlds touch and snag at Heathrow Airport. In the course of the next year, their lives, and those of their friends and families, will be drawn into a new, shaky orbit. This sparkling, lively story from the author of Room, explores age-old questions: Does where you live matter more than who you live with? What would you give up for love, and would you be a fool to do so?

Amy Maddess

I kept pushing with this novel, mainly because part of it is set in my hometown of Stratford, ON. It was a little bit boring and predictable...and after having read this as well as 'Stir-fry' (also by Emma Donoghue), I've decided that I don't really like the way that this authour approaches the topic of sexuality. Or sex. Or gender. Or anything like that, really. She's kind of anti- feminist movement with her words and phrases - to the point where it makes me wonder if there is some sort of ironic point to her doing so. 

Also, both main characters carried on hurting someone else without much remorse or guilt in their pursuit of this oh so true love. I didn't mind this too much, because it made the characters seem human, but it was also a little shitty that they didn't care at all. 

Meh. I will continue to read Donoghue because it is some unspoken inner goal that I have had ever since I tried four times to pick up 'Frog Music' before falling in love with it.....but I'm gonna take a break for a long time.

Landing [a novel]

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