Landing

by Emma Donoghue, Stephanie Cannon (Reading)

A delightful, old-fashioned love story with a uniquely twenty-first-century twist, 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 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?

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Romance, Queer, Lesbian, Contemporary, Ireland

324 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2007

About the author

Grew up in Ireland, 20s in England doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature, since then in Canada. Best known for my novel, film and play ROOM, also other contemporary and historical novels and short stories, non-fiction, theatre and middle-grade novels.

Reviews

[hubsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about two ladies who meet overseas after a surprising incident on a plane, and how their feelings intertwine through the many miles between them. It was a decent read that I blew through in a day or two, mostly because I found myself skimming many a page. The two MCs were interesting and different than other couples I have read about, one young Quaker archivist in a small town in Ontario (yay!) who is set in her luddite ways and not willing/wanting to move, and one 14 years older, a jet setting extroverted air attendant, never wanting to be idle for long.

I had to reflect on this one for a few days before reviewing, My initial thoughts were that this was somewhat bland. The story was slow moving and definitely could have been shorter. I did not connect with any of the secondary characters, and these were the parts I happily skimmed over. I get that these friendships were there for us to see how difficult it would be to leave one's home and community, but I honestly didn't care for any of them and at times wanted to shout "what have you got to lose???" to both Sile and Jude. Start fresh! Get new friends! *lol*

But I keep thinking about it. It was different. I have often thought of couples from different countries who have to navigate a sea of complications in order to be together, and the author highlighted some of the important ones. It's not so simple as to "just move." This was not a hot and heavy novel by any means, there is barely mention of sex and intimacy, but rather how to join two lives together when they are such different people. 

So I upped my original rating to 3.75. It has its flaws, but I love anything set in Canada, and parts were quirky and quaint. 

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading London, ON-based Irish author Emma Donoghue’s 2007 novel Landing at about eleven o’clock at night thinking I would read a chapter or two and then drop off to sleep. At two o’clock in the morning, eyes barely still open but mind racing, I had to force myself to put the book down. It’s not that there’s anything explicitly extraordinary about Landing; in fact, it’s a realist novel that’s quite ordinary and down-to-earth. It’s a book about the kinds of people you know, in situations you can relate to, in places you recognize (even if you’ve never been there). Landing is essentially (lesbian) comfort food in book form. But it’s perhaps those very qualities, combined with Donoghue’s exceptional talents for dialogue, characterization, and old-fashioned storytelling, that make Landing the kind of book that keeps you up at night.

Landing doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a love story....

See the rest of my review at my website: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wor...

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do yourself a favour. If you see this novel don't pick it up. Don't even bother with the blurb. Trust me. I don't know anyone who would enjoy this.

It reminds me of a clip on the www of a raccoon who has found a piece of candy floss and like the good little raccoon that it is, it goes to wash it in a stream, the way it does with all its food. However as soon as the candy floss touches the water it disintegrates and the mystified raccoon is left scrabbling around in the water wondering what happened to his treat.

This is a story of Canada meets Ireland, town meets country, and girl meets girl. It actually opens promisingly with a mishap with a passenger on board an aircraft but the story disintegrates promptly after this. It is a simplistic romance and tedious.

This is particularly disappointing because Emma Donoghue is capable of so much better as those of you who've read Room will know, and that is a book worth trying. It is clear that she has drawn heavily on her own life story but this is not enough. Indeed if this book was read blind with the author's identity concealed then I really wonder which publishing house would take it on.

At the end I was like that little raccoon scrabbling around wondering what had happened to the book I was looking forward to because there was nothing there at all.

Not even Stephanie Cannon's narration could elevate this beyond 2*

[Lormac · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wrote this a while ago: So... I pick up this book on CD at the library. First of all, it is by the author of "Room" which I enjoyed. Secondly, the jacket blurb is intriguing: "Sile (pronounced Sheila, BTW) is a sophisticated 39 year old Indian-Irish flight attendant living in Dublin, Ireland; Jude is a 25 year old British-Canadian historian from rural Ireland, Ontario who has never flown before. When their paths cross over the Atlantic, their lives are changed in ways they never expected." OK, what would you think? I am thinking maybe terrorist plot, maybe some sort of family relationship; maybe sort sort of criminal activity one of them is engaged in; even maybe that they are both married to the same man (oh wait, that's "The Pilot's Wife"). But it is certainly intriguing, so anyway... I start listening and find what I am listening to is actually a lesbian romance! Did not see that coming! Now what intrigues me is that I am at the beginning of Disk 4 of nine disks and since they have already consummated the relationship, and it is clear that they are a completely mismatched pair, I cannot fathom where the author is planning on taking the book, plot-wise - will I be faced with a break-up and a reunion that lasts 5 1/2 more disks? Arrrghhh! Or will we finally get to the terrorist plot, criminal activity, or family relationship? .............................................

Okay, I finished it. No terrorist plot, no criminal activity, no surprise long-long family relationship. Just an extremely long and detailed narrative of a long distance romance. Sigh. Two things I learned from listening to this book: (1) It does not matter if the couple is gay or straight, a book about a long distance romance between a couple who has nothing in common except ***!!!LOVE!!!*** is excruciating. Pages of longing with short bursts of weekend visits and subsequent arguments about why the lovers cannot be together forever. "I hate cities." "I hate the country." "I like gourmet coffee." "I like Jack Daniels." "I like designer shoes." "I like flannel shirts." Sigh. Really, this could be anyone's miserable LDR it doesn't matter - gay or straight. (2) Evidently, if you are gay, you do not smile or beam, you 'grin.' If I had a dollar for every time the author used the word 'grin' or 'grinned' or 'grinning', I would have enough money to make up for the time spent listening to this book. By the way, I don't believe it is a spoiler to say that the resolution of this book was so obvious, that it is completely amazing that these two supposedly bright women could not think of it sooner.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hit really close to home for me. It wasn't so much the situation - although that was very similar for myself and my wife - but rather the emotions attached to it. The burgeoning feelings through email and telephone calls; the first confession of love; that sudden realisation that you can't spend the rest of your life spending any more time away from the person you love...I always felt that it was really hard to describe how all of that feels to someone who hasn't experienced it. In the future, I'll just give them this novel.

I'm so cross that I got utterly sucked in for an entire day and ended up babbling furiously to my wife as I excitedly finished. One of the best queer romances I've read.

[Jo reece · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found the story line difficult to get into... really didn't like some of the characters either. 2.5

[Chaitra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have known that Emma Donoghue couldn't pretty up a write-by-numbers romance. As someone who has been staying in a country where she didn't have a single friend or relative other than her husband for five years, who hasn't been back to visit her country in two years, it was all I could do to stop myself from throwing my kindle across the room. It's 17 fucking hours in a non-stop flight from NYC to Bangalore, and I have to go a good 10 hours by road after that to reach my family. I'm sorry, but tough titty, you girls. Excuse me if I don't cry a river for you.

Even besides the whining and moaning, I have no idea why these girls would fall for each other. They're diametrically opposite in nature. On top of that, Síle has a far too abrasive personality. Even if someone very close to me started dissing the life I lived the first time they came to visit, I would seriously consider booting out their arse. Síle never stops. Jude is ok at the beginning, but we are slowly introduced to her faults as well. I don't see the positives in any, unless being hopelessly needy and whining is a positive. We never know that they are in love other than their passionate entreaties that don't sound true. They meet, and bam! Love at first sight. I'll call bullshit on that one, please. The friends - good god, who has such friends? Does even one of them has a good thing to say? Does even one of them have a steady love life? Oh wait. One does - Síle's sister Orla. She's made out to be an uptight bitch, and her husband never bothers to show up the entire book. Fun times.

Also, it's hard to believe this is the same person who wrote Astray. Donoghue writes an exquisite love story in 15 pages of the story Counting the Days, so much better than the 320 pages of tripe that is Landing it's not even funny. Thank heavens she has grown as a writer.

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stopped reading when it became clear there was going to be a happy (sappy) ending. The two main characters were each boring, annoying, and drama-prone in their own special way, and I couldn't stand either one of them. They had absolutely nothing in common except their reciprocal disdain for the other's lifestyle. They whined their way through 9 months (and 15 nights) of excruciating long-distance relationship, until I was honestly hoping Ms. Donoghue would do them both (and me) a kindness and have them go their separate ways. Really. Everyone would be much happier, that way.

Beyond that, was there ever a time when people started every paragraph of an email with "re:"? Does a woman with an IQ that allows bipedalism ride on the back of a motorcycle with her long-enough-to-sit-on hair streaming out behind her? (Has she never heard of Isadora Duncan?) There were one or two other screaming bits of stupidity, but I've blocked them out, now, thank goodness.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Landing is a long distance love affair between two women, one a flight attendant from Ireland and the second, a young women living in a fictional town in southwestern Ontario. Landing is a well written book but for me the sections about kissing, hand holding and making love were uncomfortable but needed in the story. For me the best part of this story was the way they met (on an international flight) and the references to various locations in Ontario. ( Coldstream, London, the Pinery, Stratford to name a few. This book, for me, was definitely not as good as Room.
"Life's a bridge but do not build a house on it." 3.5 stars

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

En dat was het allerlaatste boek van 2018, verwacht ik. Helaas ging het niet "out with a bang", want dit boek was serieus veel minder mooi dan ik had verwacht. Het koppel waar dit verhaal om draait, is voor mijn gevoel een nogal onwaarschijnlijk koppel, bij wie ik (ondanks alle mooie woorden) weinig echte liefde en wederzijdse interesse proef. De mooiste anekdotes zijn nota bene de teksten waarin de vrienden en/of familie van beide dames de hoofdrol spelen.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a light, fluffy beach read and that’s what this was, and the writing kept me interested - but I wouldn’t give it any more credit than that.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quiet, meandering love story...sometimes refreshingly divergent from the genre-romance formula and allowing us to spend time with delightful supporting characters, other times too slow and rambly.

It really doesn't feel like the other Donoghue novels I've read - certainly a little odd seeing her name on a straightforward love story with few dramatic or historic twists! (Not to mention, the writing style and plot just plain pale in comparison to Room and Slammerkin and Frog Music.) What's really lovely is seeing a straightforward love story where the majority of the characters are queer or otherwise outside the norm when it comes to love, and the author embraces them all as perfectly normal in her and the main characters' world. She never goes out of her way to make a point about those relationships or make them look exotic; instead, it feels like talking amongst good friends about one's preferences and labels and experiences. It's not always perfectly respectful and comfortable, but it's diversity for the sake of authenticity, not diversity to meet some quota or score points.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma Donoghue writes so well that I can fall right into the book and forget about everything going on around me. Jude gets a call from her aunt telling her that Rachel, Jude's mother, isn't okay and Jude needs to fly over to England to get her. (By the way, the descriptions of Jude's aunt are flawlessly funny. In the hands of another author, it would have been overdone and a cliche.) On the way, Jude meets a flight attendant and things go from there.

The supporting characters were almost all awful people. Gwen is having an affair with a married man, Jael is a negative, grouchy woman that isn't kind to her husband or particularly nice to her friends, and Rizla is just absolutely disgusting. I did like Marcus. Anyway, the supporting friends I think were supposed to be likable, or in the case of Rizla, I think I was supposed to see how Jude could like him. But I didn't. At all. Hate him.

But I do love Emma Donoghue.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as the characters go, Rizla was insufferable and the fact that Jude had feelings for him made her less likable to me as well. Síle on the other hand, is a pure delight. She definitely stands out among a cast of somewhat irritating characters and her feelings for Jude make the latter a more endearing character as well, despite the obnoxious people she surrounds herself with.

Characters aside, the writing and the plot are skillful and well-developed. I loved the theme and setting, as well as the sequencing and pacing of events. There were lots of unexpected plot twists, including the ending, which I loved and which really made the story satisfying. Landing is a sweet, enjoyable romance novel that manages to be romantic without being unnecessarily maudlin or mawkish. If you like charming romances but can't stand sappy, then this story, exciting yet realistic, will probably be pleasing to you. I would also include Landing on my list of really well-written lesbian novels.

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrative in this book is such a chaotic mess that I was totally frustrated at the beginning, and I was sure then that I wasn't going to give it any more than two stars. But then the two main characters totally grew on me, and I got invested. By about halfway through, I couldn't put it down. It's not a perfect book by any means (and by Emma Donoghue's standards it's quite subpar), but my god, did Jude and Síle get under my skin. Also, bonus points for having a happy ending that's not totally unrealistic! Yeah, this is a three-star book after all.

[Jo-anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this but felt distant from the characters...definitely not as good as Room

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* rounded up. It's okay, but it's not nearly as good as some of Donoghue's other work. I loved The Wonder and Room, so I'm disappointed - but then in fairness, I did start this one because I was in the mood for something light, fluffy and entertaining, and that's what I got. I think I like Donoghue more when she's a bit more challenging though.

[meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet and satisfying romantic comedy. Solid B+ lesbian fiction. Would recommend to anyone for whom this year's Hulu movie "The Happiest Season" left them wanting.

[Sheri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't really have anything redeeming to say about this novel. I ended up with it because Room has been on my to-read forever and I saw this was by the same author. It is bad enough to make me want to take Room off my list.

The characters were all flat and boring, the plot was essentially non-existent and there was no growth or change. It is, simply put a story of two people who meet on a plane and then have a long distance relationship for a few months and then one of them moves so they can be together. Nothing profound or interesting really ever happens. Donoghue tries to drum up some drama with ex-lovers and current girlfriends but it just doesn't really play out well or suspenseful.

I think my two biggest complaints were the annoying habit Donoghue has of capitalizing silence. In EVERY INSTANCE that there is silence in this novel it is, Silence. A presence, almost a character itself; or actually an attempt to be profound that fell flat on its face. My second pet peeve was with Donoghue's reference to Sile's "gizmo". This is supposed to take place is 2004-05; they are cell phones or smart phones, not "gizmos". And after missing each other once, it would make sense that Jude would have gotten one.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed Landing, I have to give it a rather low rating for a Emma Donoghue book. In comparison with Kissing the Witch, which is one of the very best collections I've read of contemporary reworkings of fairy tales, or Slammerkin, which is a powerful, devastating, grim and completely absorbing historical novel, Landing seems like a dashed-off, unpolished bit of fluff. I suppose that after writing a book like Slammerkin that so thoroughly plumbs the depths of despair, writing a lightweight romance with a happy ending, in which the protagonists have agency, choices and live relatively free of oppression as both women and as queer women was a useful antidote. I just wish that Donoghue had treated this book with a little more care and attention.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Enjoyable novel telling the story of a trans-continental romance between big-city Irish flight attendant Sile and small-town Canadian museum curator Jude. I had a great time reading this book and couldn't put it down. Emma Donoghue really has an ear for conversation and includes a lot of very funny and realistic banter among friends (something I remember from the first book of hers that I read, Stir-Fry). At the same time, there was something that didn't quite ring true for me in the primary romance. I can't put my finger on it, but I just didn't totally believe in them. The cast of supporting characters, by contrast, were extremely believable (and I loved getting to meet Jael from Stir-Fry again!).

[Peebee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always nice to see a lesbian romance written by an author who has reached the mainstream (Room was Donoghue's breakout book) so it's marketed just like any other book, rather than completely to GLBT audiences. My quibble with this book is that I found the characters really annoying, and so it was hard to root for their romance aside from the overall, general, love will prevail kind of expectation you have for this type of book. One was so unadventurous that she would have bored me silly, while the other was fairly abrasive and narcissistic, so separate or together I probably wouldn't want to hang out with either of them.

[Magdelanye · Rating 3 out of 5]

"We've all got a past...but to cling to the spot where it happened is a bit pathetic" p 216

After I got over my fit of pique that this book did not begin to catch my fancy the way her others had claimed me from the start, I eased up. I had been on the verge of abandoning it halfway through when my interest was finally captured by some of the larger issues introduced and I realized there was more to this book than the steamy romantic plot.
ED does have a grand way with words and I liked the quotes she placed at each chapters head. In the end, the issues she manages to weave into the story are even more timely than when the book was written.

[Ghym · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for a book club (which now I actually will not be going to) and I really did not like it. I love lesbian fiction, but this book moved glacially slow. It was over 300 pages, and could easily have been edited to 200 or less. Basically it's a romance between a flight attendant and museum curator. Curator is bi and 25, flight attendant is les and 40-something. Both are from different cultures. Curator is Canadian, flight attendant is Indian/Irish. They are an appealing couple, but not much happens in this novel.

[Maude Lemelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first third of the novel. I was amazed by its tone and humour and basically by the excellent writing of Emma Donoghue, whom I had not read before. It was a real pleasure getting to know the characters and being immersed in their romance.
Once the angst kicked in, the story-telling lost some of its finesse to me. Some parts felt repetitious, and I became a bit impatient for the story to move forward one way or the other (hoping for the happily-ever-after, of course!).
Despite this, I will most surely try and get a hold of the author's other novels. She's very gifted.

[Thais · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Emma Donoghue book, and it's worth 3 stars because I couldn't put it down. But the story had big flaws, like a lack of a serious plot twist, very predictable ending, the writing was quite confusing and the POV changes were quite odd. I liked the maind characters but they lacked depth, and the side characters were mostly very dislikable.
It is a pure romance story and that's what kept my interest.

[Straw · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say I've had a long distance relationship so this book speaks to me...plus, I've always loved her writing. This is a story about two women who meet on a plane and navigate the distance between Dublin and Ontario. It's good and effortless to read.

[Ulla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it allowed to call a novel "adorable"? It is! I so thoroughly love this novel from the beginning to the end. I love the characters, the plot, everything!! Call me a romantic!
And after the second reading I know I'll read it again, soon!!

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty sweet and predictable lesbian long-distance-relationship story. For anyone who liked Stir-Fry, the happy bonus is finding out what Jael's currently up to.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was perfect for what it was, a light romantic commentary on long distance relationships. hood, on the other hand, was dissertation-worthy.