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| Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2007 |
TITLE: Landing
YEAR PUBLISHED: May 2007
GENRES: Romance, Lesbian, Fiction
THEMES: Long Distance Relationships, Cultural Differences,
Romance
SUMMARY: The story revolves around two women, Sile
(pronounced as Sheila) is a 39 year old Irish flight attendant from Dublin which
also has an Indian descent and Jude a 25 year old museum historian from the
rural Ontario, Canada. They met on a plane when Jude travelled abroad for the
first time. They formed a unique friendship from phone calls and E-mails. In
spite of distance, they found comfort with each other then fell in love. With
distance, race, cultures and age, the adversity of maintaining a stable and
lasting relationship is the core of the story.
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| Kindle Edition 2013. |
REVIEW:
The Theme: After researching about the best lesbian novels to
read, I have seen that Landing has been consistent on the top of the lists and
seeing the author’s profile, I had this urge to read this novel as soon as possible.
The LGBT theme is good that it does not fully exhibit popular lesbian issues
as the main characters' adversities are about distance and enduring their
differences. The delivery of light romance despite their imperfections is very
effective in the first parts. There is this amusement whenever they were
exchanging E-mails so I can recommend this to those people in Long Distance
Relationships who haven’t met each other or just met in person in just a few
times.
This novel explores the problems of loving someone who is 5 Thousand Kilometers far away from you. It is true that love does not choose people, time and
distance; because of this there will come great struggles in between. Reading
the mini summary on Goodreads made me curious to read it expecting much. I want
to explore how LDRs work because I have friends currently in the same
situation.
The Characters: My view about the two characters is not the
same. I admire how Sile fought the struggles just to find ways to be with Jude,
the way she will do anything for love being a mature modern woman herself.
There is a part where she almost gave up but the way she stood up in the end is
still admirable. On the other hand, I find Jude as careless, less rational and
emotional though she has this very adorable side. I can see that the author
planned their differences carefully to create conflicts that readers could sympathize.
The more they differ, the more also they become closer. Whenever they exchange
E-mails, you can feel this unconscious hunger to know and cling to the other.
Emma Donoghue made them opposite with complexities so that they would find a
virtual home in each other.
The Story: Like I said, the first chapters made me smile due
to the characters’ blooming romance. The humor injected is satisfactory. As the
plot progresses, the spice lessen because of unmoving narratives involving the
other characters like Sile’s friends. A lot of happenings seem stagnant at the middle
part especially when Jude acts up. It is also one of those few novels that took
me longer (two months) to finish due to lack of progress to some important parts
of story. Either you can predict how will it end or be disappointed although it
is not a sad end at all. To be honest, it made me upset that one of the
character’s realization just came in the end.
My Verdict: Overall, this novel is good for those who want
to know the struggles of LDR relationships and the sacrifice one should give. Lessons could be
learned about love but don’t expect to be moved that much. Prepare yourself of
boredom at some parts and disappointment on one of the characters.
My Rating: 2/5
My Favorite Lines/ Quotes:
"You could know a friend all your life and still find it a complete mystery why he or she loved this particular individual, out of all the people in the world."
"In the market I saw a woman in a cafe and thought, why can't I love someone like her instead of you?" - Jude's deleted line in her E-Mail to Sile.
"Love isn't a problem, geography is." -Jude
"... moving in with someone is always a risk, even if you stay in the same city. You're putting your heart in their hands." -Sile
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