Reaction to... Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

TO UNCOVER OR BE COVERED:
Like Rainbow’s books themselves, the covers for them are not all gazed at with fondness and appreciation, but I love them to pieces. They’re cute and simple, charming and quirky. And they make you wonder what the book is about. There is always some element about them that makes me want to own them just for the sake of looking at them; they make me happy. Just like her books do from the inside.

SUMMARY: Beth and Jennifer know their company monitors their office e-mail. But the women still spend all day sending each other messages, gossiping about their coworkers at the newspaper and baring their personal lives like an open book. Jennifer tells Beth everything she can't seem to tell her husband about her anxieties over starting a family. And Beth tells Jennifer everything, period.

When Lincoln applied to be an Internet security officer, he hardly imagined he'd be sifting through other people's inboxes like some sort of electronic Peeping Tom. Lincoln is supposed to turn people in for misusing company e-mail, but he can't quite bring himself to crack down on Beth and Jennifer. He can't help but be entertained-and captivated- by their stories.

But by the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late for him to ever introduce himself. What would he say to her? "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you." After a series of close encounters and missed connections, Lincoln decides it's time to muster the courage to follow his heart . . . even if he can't see exactly where it's leading him.

Written with whip-smart precision and charm, Attachments is a strikingly clever and deeply romantic debut about falling in love with the person who makes you feel like the best version of yourself. Even if it's someone you've never met.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS:
Even if you weren’t yet born or were fairly young (as I was) at the time, I’m sure you know about the craziness that exploded during the turn of the millennium and Y2K (the ORIGINAL apocalypse, people!), and that’s when this book takes place. It’s 1999 and Lincoln O’Neill (don’t you just love it when book summaries give you the last name? So many books have stopped doing that and then you forget it…) has jumped off the college scene… again. With two Masters under his belt, a welcome spot in his mother’s home, a lackluster social life, and absolutely no direction for his life in mind, Lincoln doesn’t think it’ll hurt any to be the night watch “internet security officer.” Don’t be fooled though, because if you’re thinking, as Lincoln did, that that means fast-paced virus terminations and building firewalls and anything else that sounds remotely cool for an IT guy to take on, IT’S NOT. Instead his position leaves him with barely anything to do and his job description should’ve really said “glorified e-Peeping Tom.”

Monitoring the use of company email doesn’t seem like much of a biggie. At first. Reading through red-flagged emails seems justifiable. Initially. Until he gets very hilarious personal emails from two women who work at The Courier, Beth and Jennifer, who, though they suspect there’s a Tron-like monitor perusing their emails, fear the mysterious officer very little, assuming that people who get warnings for internet misuse are also the ones who watch porn on break. Lincoln is technically supposed to report them. But he doesn’t. And he keeps reading, even against his better judgment. And then he does something really stupid: he falls in love with Beth.

WHERE WE GO:
Now I’m sure there are MANY many books interspersed with naturally witty and charming modern epistolary. But I’VE never read one, and I’m so happy that Rainbow gave me my first shot at it. ATTACHMENTS is told in two manners, one from Lincoln’s third person perspective and the other through the emails that Beth and Jennifer send to each other. Theirs isn’t an impersonal, intangible section of the book chronicling the lives of two mere women. IT’S THE OPPOSITE. It’s candy for the soul, it’s relatable, funny, and blunt. It’s like if two of your favorite women were best friends and wrote emails to each other only you were privy to. Hell, I kept thinking that if Steph and Kat had a part in a book, this would sorta be them (minus the typos :P).

And after reading those incredible emails, riddled with pop culture references of the time, anecdotes that range from hilariously embarrassing to heartbreaking, peppered with wit and fun, I worried that Lincoln’s parts wouldn’t live up. But they do. Not only because of who he is, but because of his journey as a person. ATTACHEMENTS is about how a person can retreat so far into his shell he forgets what it is to experience the outside world, and then that person steps out—gets woken up—and realizes it’s not so bad out there after all; there’s much more to live for. Pages and pages of dungeons and dragons, a mother’s cooking, crappy boyfriends, and baby dramalamas later, I feel like I learned something.

And loved something. Possibly, most probably all of it.

WHO WE ARE WITH:
This is always my favorite part of talking about my feelings on a book. And sometimes it’s also the hardest, much like this time. Because how does one go about describing Lincoln, Beth, Jennifer, and the remaining parade of people who go through this book?

ATTACHMENTS plays up the fact that the world really is a small place, that there are tons of people who intersect with you on your intergalactic journey through your own personal universe. There are no small characters in this book—sure there are those show up less frequently than others, but they all have something to say, some part in Lincoln’s life or in the shaping of his new one. From Dave and Christine and the rest of his D&D crew, to his sister, Eve, and his nephews, his mother, to his party animal friend Justin. His ancient dinner partner, Doris, his first love, Sam. The people who revolve around Beth and Jennifer’s world, Mitch and Chris. THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE. And what’s more, you don’t have to keep track of them because they’re just there; they’re fixtures or presences you can look forward to in each of the main character’s lives. Like knowing your neighbor or the guy who slices your sandwich meat at the super market.

They just are.

THE LITTLE THINGS:

1. Lincoln
2. Lincoln’s Past
3. Beth
4. Beth’s Being Sarcastic
5. Jennifer
6. Jennifer The Cynic
7. RAINBOW'S WRITING
8. The Mishaps, Misunderstandings, and General Cyber Shenanigans
9. THE Kiss

Some might argue that nothing happens in this book; I’ve seen it said before. But evolution is a slow and subtle process, and one of the most beautiful when it’s of the soul and the very life you lead. Nothing about this book is ordinary even as it brings forward ordinary life, because Rainbow’s gift makes it not only relatable, but almost magical. ATTACHMENTS is about growth, moving on, courage, finding yourself even when you think you’re late in the game. It’s about love and starting over. It’s about life, and it reminds you of how imperfectly simple and perfectly beautiful it really is.

(I read this because of Asheley from Into the Hall of Books, and I THANK YOU, MY FRIEND.)

Paperback / 323 pgs / April 14th 2011 / Dutton Adult / Goodreads / $13.50

I bought a copy like new off of Abe Books.