Attachments Review

Attachments
Rainbow Rowell
Dutton Adult
April 2011
4/5
Quotes: 
“I believe that worrying about a bad thing prepares you for it when it comes. If you worry, the bad thing doesn't hit you as hard. You can roll with the punch if you see it coming.” 
“There are moments when you can't believe something wonderful is happening. And there are moments when your entire consciousness is filled with knowing absolutely that something wonderful is happening.” 
“I didn't know love could leave the lights on all the time.” 

Rainbow Rowell is one of my favorite authors. I've read and reviewed two of her Young Adult books, Eleanor and Park and Fangirl. Although you're probably living under the rock if you haven't heard of those. However, I was a little slow on the uptake when it comes to her adult titles. I didn't know anything about this book until recently, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's a really creative concept and I enjoyed Rowell's brilliant writing.

Attachments is about Lincoln who is less than thrilled when he discovers that the job as a "Internet security officer" consists of writing up reports on inappropriate company emails. The company is The Courier, a newspaper where Jennifer and Beth work and send personal emails through the company address. These emails are constantly flagged but Lincoln can't bring himself to write either of them up. Instead, he's fascinated with their humor and wit, especially Beth's. Once he discovers that the "cute guy" Beth is referring to in her emails is really him, he starts to believe that maybe they could have a future together. But how could that ever happen when she has a serious boyfriend?

Lincoln is the main character that Rainbow follows. I love how we get to see his infatuation with her gradually grow. We also get to see how sensitive and romantic he is. Beth and Jennifer are also incredibly witty and hysterical characters. I love all of the pop culture references that are in pretty much every email they ever send.

The romance part of Attachments is a little bit weird but unique to say the least. It's hard to be completely invested in the relationship between Beth and Lincoln when they have very few interactions throughout the majority of the book. However, I did like the fact that they both were immediately drawn to the other for two different reasons. Lincoln was drawn to Beth's personality before he even saw what she looked like. On the other hand, Beth was drawn to him based on his looks. She told Jennifer that he looked like Jason Bateman, which I found funny and adorable.

This isn't my favorite Rainbow Rowell book by any means. I found that I definitely prefer her Young Adult books, but she still managed to create a dreamy and swoon-worthy leading male, which I really liked. I gave the book this rating because her writing is so beautiful and descriptive, plus the characters were all instantly likable. While I liked that it was a unique idea, I felt like some of the writing was impersonal and that it was hard to truly get inside the heads of these characters. It was a decent read as a whole and I'm glad I finally read it.