Review | Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Attachments

by Rainbow Rowell

My Rating: 

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

This month I read my very first Rainbow Rowell book - I know, where have I been? For some reason Rowell's just one of those authors it's taken me a while to get around to. I don't read an awful lot of contemporary, but I've heard nothing but amazing things about her books.

I have a copy of Fangirl waiting to be read (which I will be reading and reviewing soon!) and I'm very eager to get my hands on a copy of Eleanor & Park, but I have to admit I'm quite glad to have started with Rowell's first novel. I've heard such amazing things about her YA books that I almost didn't want to read them in case I was one of the few readers who ended up not liking them, and I've been interested in Attachments' plot since I first heard about it.

Ultimately this book was a fun, fast read. I read it in a day, and reading it was like watching a rom-com. Let's face it, all of us have at least one rom-com that we love to sit back and watch at the end of a tough day! I really enjoyed the way the story was written; it flits between Beth and Jennifer's email conversations and Lincoln's POV, so it was a very quick read because the chapters flew by.

I loved Beth and Jennifer's friendship. As I'm sure you all know by now positive female relationships in fiction make my inner beast purr, and I think Jennifer might have been my favourite character - I just thought she was adorable!

I definitely enjoyed reading Beth and Jennifer's conversations more than I enjoyed Lincoln's narrative which, given that he's basically the main protagonist, might not be the best reaction. That's not to say I didn't enjoy his story, however, only that I struggled to make my mind up about him, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about him. There were times when I felt sorry for him, and other times when I just wanted to give him a slap and tell him to get his act together - but I guess we all probably know some real people who make us feel that way!

What I really appreciated is that Rowell addressed the creepiness of the situation. As much as I thought the plot was quite sweet - I love the idea of awkwardly having to explain to someone your job is to read their email, and now you're a little bit in love with them - it was a fairly unusual set up, and if we're being completely honest I think most of us would run a mile if we met someone out of the blue who told us they knew all our secrets because they'd been reading our personal messages.

I think Rowell managed to overcome the obstacle of an entirely creepy scenario by making Beth as much of a stalker as Lincoln is. I'm probably making this novel sound like it's about a bunch of mad people, but if you've read the book you'll know what I'm talking about. And if you haven't, I promise it's slightly a lot more socially acceptable than it sounds!

My main criticism of Attachments would have to be that the ending was a little too abrupt for me. When it comes to standalone contemporary novels I don't expect a huge epilogue at the end by any means, but to me it felt as though the story just stopped. And that was it. Considering the majority of the novel is a big build up of 'will they, won't they?' I wanted a bit more 'yes, they will' at the end. Am I making any sense?

Even so I did enjoy this book. It was light and fun and sweet - the perfect summer read for those of you looking for a book to take on holiday or slip into your beach bag! If nothing else I'm glad I can finally say I've read a Rainbow Rowell book, and I'm looking forward to reading some of her YA in future!

J.