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.
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:
Lincoln
Lincoln’s Past
Beth
Beth’s Being Sarcastic
Jennifer
Jennifer The Cynic
RAINBOW'S WRITING
The Mishaps, Misunderstandings, and General Cyber Shenanigans
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.)
TO UNCOVER OR BE COVERED: I know some people had a few problems with the cover of ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell, at least before reading the book, but I don’t see how one could EVER have NOT liked this cover. Loved it, even. It’s simple, yes, but before I even opened the book I had a sweet intuitive idea as to what I was going to be getting myself into. The cover is somehow powerful in its simplicity, because nothing draws your attention away from the fact that this book is about those two people indicated on the cover. AND THE DRAWINGS. I love them too! Making their headsets into something that joins and creates the “&” is brilliant and says so much as well. Basically, I think the cover is effing beautiful. Even more so after finally reading this book.
What can I say that hasn’t been said? Oh, yeah, I HATED THIS BOOK… for being so awesome. Not. While I can say that it may have started out with favorite vibes and finished leaving me uneasy and a little dissatisfied (not wholly, though, which is a plus!), this book, in so many of the parts that make up the sum, is absolutely as beautifully tender and romantic as everyone says it is.
WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS: So, Eleanor, right. She’s the new girl in school, and nobody but nobody is willing to roll out the welcome wagon or their extra seat on the bus, for this girl who’s big, frizzy-haired, and wears all the wrong things. Except for a reluctant Park, who can’t help but be embarrassed for her a tiny bit more than himself (because who wants to be seen sitting with the new Bozo?). Instantly, the two judge each other on sight, one declaring the other “that stupid Asian kid” and the other “a dumb redhead.” But something about Eleanor’s silence, the way she keeps to herself and never asks of anything from him (including a conversation), the way she reads Dickinson, the way she unintrusively follows along as he reads his comics, sparks a tiny bit of SOMETHING. Friends, more than, neither could be sure of what will unfold, but all Eleanor knows is that she’s found one person, even before the first word between them, she wishes she could sit with all day long.
WHERE WE GO: Star-crossed lovers? Well, maybe a little. Because it seems no one approves of even a friendship between Eleanor and Park. Not the kids at school, not Park’s mom (after meeting her once), and God only KNOWS what Eleanor’s mom would’ve said. Because at first glance, it doesn’t seem that Eleanor and Park would have one thing in common, they’re so different. Not just in appearance, but in attitude. But, even with all the disapproval circulating, all the difficulty of developing any sort of connection, Eleanor and Park GET each other almost instantly. The story is about them understanding that, if they’re together, they’re not alone, two kids who dig the weird in the 80s.
There’s this mystery of Eleanor’s life from the past year and how it translates to an even worse time in her terrible home. Her stepfather is a drunken bastard, her mom is broken and too tolerant, and her little siblings don’t see her the way they used to. As for Park, who has a relatively normal household, acceptance is a shortage from Park’s dad, who, though in no way is a bad person, wants something from Park that doesn’t align with who Park really is. On the surface, Eleanor and Park should never have bothered with each other, but from the second they share a headset listening to Park’s Walkman, they realize they speak each other’s language, which they both realize takes precedence over what people think.
WHO WE ARE WITH: From the minute Park gave up his prized solitude on the bus for Eleanor I knew I was going to enjoy the dust jacket off this book! And I knew I loved them both. That love grew from sympathy, understanding, and then awe at everything these two are and are together. Park is a closet weirdo, and asks questions about himself and what he wants that he’s too scared to the find answers to, but just by being in Eleanor’s presence, who’s brave enough to be seen as different or crazy-haired or whatever, he begins to learn a little something about courage. And as confident and cool as Eleanor must seem in the face of all the teasing and bullying coming from the bus demons and their lesser minions, she’s actually really insecure about her body and the way she looks. But she accepts it as it is what it is. She’s still brave—that girl has endured SO MUCH—but not quite enough to love her body. She’s a lonely, openly sarcastic, defiant soul and is more than a little surprised when Park seems to have some unexplained interest in her. But Park isn’t interested in dishonest kind people, but someone who isn’t scared to say what she thinks about anything. Someone he can debate the next issue of Watchmen with, someone he can turn on his Walkman for and swap thoughts on his music, someone who might be a little scared to hold his hand.
THE LITTLE THINGS:
Every Moment of Bus Time
That First Kiss
Park Tells Eleanor She Doesn’t Need a Nickname
That First Phone Conversation
Park Holds Eleanor’s Hand on the Bus
The "Sad Hobo Clown" Scene
Park’s Parents And Their Story
On. The. Couch.
The only part of ELEANOR AND PARK by Rainbow Rowell that I have mixed feelings on is the ending. Honestly, it’s a good thing I didn’t write my review right after and gave it almost a day to stew and process. After letting it digest a little bit more, I’ve decided I don’t necessarily want to stab it with a fork, but it’s not the ending I would’ve preferred. You’re probably giving me that judgey face that says, “What? Did you want an easy happily ever after?” and I’d have to say only a small part of me does. The rest of me just CAN’T DIG THE ENDING completely. I didn’t like what it did to each of them, and it was vaguely open-ended, which I normally hate on sight. But BECAUSE it’s ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell, it went down a little easier. But, you, my fellow reading lovers, can take away from this review the fact that it doesn’t end badly at all, even from in my shoes.
Ultimately, ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell is a special book, with dreamily perfect writing to suit a truly mag story. A sweet and scary and beautiful one all about firsts, and that person who's your first everything... and maybe only. There’s a reason why most people don’t have a bad word for this book, and neither do I.
Hardback / 325 pgs / Feb 26th 2013 / St. Martin's Griffin / Goodreads / $18.99
I received a copy from my library, which is ALWAYS on point.
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.
