REVIEW: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Attachments is an engaging, honest story and just so much fun to read. The characters are realistic, every day kind of people--not perfect but perfectly human. They're so "everyday" that you can easily imagine this story taking place in your office or between people you know. It's refreshingly honest and straightforward and completely enjoyable.

Attachments takes place over the course of several months spanning the Y2K panic. Our protagonist, Lincoln is hired by The Courier newspaper as the new IT guy whose main job objective is to monitor company emails to ensure employees are not using their computers for personal purposes. Beth and Jennifer are close friends who work for the newspaper and constantly exchange personal emails throughout the day. Their emails obviously get flagged, but Lincoln finds them harmless and actually starts to enjoy reading them. He's always been a bit uncomfortable with reading people's emails for his job, but he really starts to struggle with the morality of his job as he gets to know these women through their emails and even more so as starts to fall for Beth. The pull to read how they're doing and have their emails brighten his day, however, proves stronger than the pull to send them a warning about breaking company policy. You know this spells trouble if he thinks he can ever approach Beth.

In the meantime, Lincoln is trying to get his personal life in order and move forward. His life has been stagnant since his first love broke up with him nine years ago and he really needs to get over her and move on. Really. It's been nine years. He lives at home with his mom, he's stuck in a boring job he doesn't like and his social life is not so social. Dungeon and Dragons with the guys, an occasional night out at the local bar and dinner in The Courier break room with the vending machine lady, Doris. He needs to do something.

The story is pleasant to read and rolls along at a quick pace. Chapters alternate between blocks of personal email messages between Beth and Jennifer and glimpses into the plain and predictable bachelor life of Lincoln, the really nice IT guy. The honesty, loyalty and joy of female friendship is accurately portrayed in Beth and Jennifer's emails which give Lincoln a unique insider's view to these two women. And how lovely it is that Lincoln fell in love with a woman for her compassion, humor and her views on life, love and companionship without ever having laid eyes on her! So romantic. Okay, maybe it sounds kind of weird and stalker-ish on paper, but you just have to read the story yourself to see that I'm right! In the end, this story is really about how Lincoln fell hard for a girl through her emails to her best friend and how he finally breaks the predictable pattern of his life and moves forward.

Attachments is a well written, entertaining read. Things started to get really interesting when Lincoln started to really struggle with the consequences of not reporting Beth and Jennifer and how it prompted him to get his life together. And when they started to figure each other out... I just loved how everything sort of fell apart and then fell back into place in a really satisfying way that suited these characters to a 'T.' Don't miss this fun read!

I give Attachments by Rainbow Rowell 4+ out of 5 stars.

GRADE: B+