1st Book Review: Attachments

Attachments

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Publication Date: Apr. 14, 2011

Pages: 323

Setting: Nebraska, 1999 (United States)

Price: £7.99

ISBN: 0525951989

Readers Rating: 3.97/5

My Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Link

Synopsis: 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 realises he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

Characters: Beth Fremont

Jennifer Scribner-Snyder

Lincoln O'Neill

Review

Contains a lot of spoliers!

Main Points:

At first, you think it is just about a guy having a one-sided crush on a girl by stalking her and her friends messages, but it's not just that. Attachments has so many elements and side stories within in that it makes it almost a completely different book to the synopsis - in a good way. There is Beth's attractive, loner boyfriend who spends all of his time with his band; Jennifer's unwilliness to have a baby despite her husband's wishes; a miscarriage; a wedding breakup; Lincoln's unhealthy attachment to both his ex girlfriend - Sam - and his new found crush; and just imagining Lincoln's hotness and masculinity are just some of the amazing twists and turns you have to read.

Rainbow Rowell is an amazing author, she makes each and every one of her characters credible and realistic, as evident by all of her books, and the main characters of Attachments. Lincoln is an Internet security officer who's job is to read emails and send warnings to flagged senders - this is how his 'love before first sight' for Beth began. Beth is a movie critic for the local newspaper who wants to marry a non-committal 8-year-long boyfriend. And Jennifer is a copy editor who doesn't want a child but ends up getting pregnant anyhow. When I pick out my favourite character, I always go for the one who I feel like is most like myself, who relates to me the most, and that is most definitely Beth. Not only does she like doing reviews (as she does it for her job), she also aspires to have someone who is like the perfect guy from out of a book. I want to have a boyfriend who is kind, smart, funny and who can be very romantic, and Beth wishes for Chris (her boyfriend) to be like again, from when they first met through their college classes. Not only that, Beth is also very articulate, sarcastic, and a good friend to few. And we both loving having bitch sessions to our best friends.

Personal Experiences:

As I have mentioned in the previous paragraph, Beth's character and personality are very similar to mine. She is a critic of movies, while I both review and critic Korean dramas (and now books). We both have habits of pointing out cute guys and talking about them to our friends. We even give them nicknames - Beth is the classic "cute guy," while I call mine "strawberries." And based on description in the book, we look quite similar as well. We both have brown, quite wavy hair and aren't totally skinny (Beth probably weighs less than me though). Rainbow Rowell has awesome writing skills to make both fascinating and relatable characters. In all the books I've read of hers (which is every single one besides Landline and Carry On (which hasn't come out yet, so of course I haven't read it)), I have always related to one of the characters. In Attachments, it's Beth. In Eleanor & Park, it was Park. In Fangirl, it was Cath. However, since the story is set in the 1990s and all the characters are in their late twenties, I can relate to their problems or experiences because I'm still in my late teens and I wasn't born until the last year of the 90s.

Opinion:

Attachments is definitely a new favourite for me. Not many writers have the potential to 'wow' me, but Rainbow Rowell definitely has it. Each book I've read of hers is an excellent 5 star rating. My favourite part of the book was definitely reading through Beth and Jennifer's emails, just like Lincoln did. I loved their meaningless little chats and their deep stories, I was so entranced by reading Beth's story when she was at her sisters wedding and when she broke up with Chris. I've never felt so sorry about a character before, I teared up when I saw the words "I'll always love you, but I never want to marry you." I was dumbstruck, pretty much like Beth was. I do believe my least favourite part of the book was Lincoln's conversations with Doris. They felt quite useless and unneeded, and I just kinda wanted Doris' part of be over so I could get on with the rest of the story. If I could change anything in Attachments, it would be to extend the ending. I wanted to know more about how Beth and Lincoln's relationship grew after they got together. One chapter he was telling Beth how much she meant to him, and in the next, there was a time skip to when Beth meet Lincoln's mother after a year or so. I love hearing about relationships, so I would have definitely enjoyed reading about theirs.

Recommendation:

I would most definitely recommend this to anyone. I have already even recommended it to my mother, it is that brilliant. I think strong romance readers would enjoy this, but also those who enjoy a good laugh and/or reading about small things that brings a smile to your face. For Rainbow Rowell's first published book, it was fantastic.

Jennifer, Beth + Lincoln.