Wednesday, May 30, 2012

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+

8 comments:

  1. Sounds like a really great book!
    Recently I found the audiobook and I'm been meaning to try it, you just got it bumped up to the top of my TBR pile.

    Thanks for the lovely review.

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  2. Ohh, I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Christine! It was a great book right? I really like how real this book felt. And the fact that Lincoln wasn't an alpha hero. I feel you can really relate with everything that happens in this book :)

    I thought it was very cute that Beth referred to Lincoln as the cute guy in her emails :P and I liked the friendship between the two girls.

    Sigh, just a great book :)

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  3. Such a great read! I agree that seeing Lincoln fall in love with Beth without even knowing who she was romantic. Rowell did such a good job, though, of making him not stalker-ish. Instead, he was completely adorable. You've made me want to reread this one, now!

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  4. This was so fun and different from the typical romance. So happy to hear you enjoyed it. :)

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  5. I really need to find time to read this! Heard lots of good things about it.

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  6. One of the best things about this book was the amazing friendship that Jennifer and Beth had, their relationship was so touching and their emails hilarious, I could have read a book of just their emails. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! She has a new book out later this year and I can't wait to read it.

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  7. Alex ...Oh you have to get to this one. It's great! Be sure to let us know what you think of it when you do.

    nath.. I really loved it. It's not overly spectacular, you know? But the situation and the characters are so ordinary in a way.. but the author really makes the whole situation really special.

    Yes, I loved when Beth referred to Lincoln as 'Cute Guy' in her emails.. and I loved it even more when it took Lincoln awhile to realize she was referring to him! So sweet.

    Sarah... When writing my review, I realized that Lincoln sounded very stalker-ish, but he's so not. And yeah.. he was really adorable. Such a nice guy. That sounds so cliché, but he really was.

    Marg... Bump it up to the top of your list! It's a quick read, too. You're basically reading Beth & Jennifer's emails and short chapters about what else is going on in Lincoln's life.

    Brie... The friendship between Jennifer and Beth was really great--so genuine. Would you consider this book as 'dude-lit' per your genre criteria? I think it is.

    So glad to hear Rowell is writing another book! Yay!

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  8. Christine,

    Yes, it was actually one of my picks for examples of dude-lit!

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