Book Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Plume
Paperback Release Date: March 27, 2012
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
“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 . . . ?
I picked up this book right after I finished Landline because I am seriously in love with Rainbow Rowell. I almost moved on to Fangirl right after I finished Attachments but decided to wait so I can spread my Rainbow love out over a longer time period.
I found Attachments to be a unique story of unrequited love. (By the way, this story takes place in 1999 so long emails exchanged between friends instead of texting or instant messaging is realistic.) Lincoln’s job is to read emails that are marked with specific words that are no-nos, like sex, porn, etc. When Beth and Jennifer’s emails get red-flagged, he finds that enjoys reading their funny banter and decides not to send them a warning. Before he knows it, he’s reading all of their emails to each other. And without having ever seen her face, he’s falling in love with Beth. Unfortunately, she has a boyfriend. And it would be creepy if he introduced himself, “Hi, I’ve been reading your email.”
The banter between Beth and Jennifer IS laugh-out-loud funny. But, it’s balanced by the fact that they both have a serious side as well. Not everything in their lives is going the way they planned and sometimes humor is what gets them through their problems. Lincoln is sad and kind of pathetic but not in an annoying way. I wanted to give him a big hug and tell him that everything was going to be okay. And then ask him to be MY boyfriend. Rainbow writes such awesome male characters, it’s a shame they aren’t actual people.
All throughout reading this book, I kept thinking, how is this going to end? There can’t possibly be a way for this book to have a happy ending. It was a bit like reading a mystery novel that way that way and kept me riveted. Does it have a happy ending? You’ll have to read it to find out!
Other books I’ve reviewed by Rainbow Rowell:
Landline
Eleanor and Park
