Review: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Publication Date: April 14^th 2011
Publisher: Dutton
Length: 323 pages

"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 . . . ?

Whilst I didn’t get along as well as I’d hoped with ‘Eleanor & Park’ I found myself falling head over heels in love with ‘Landline’ a couple of months ago so I’ve been itching to read the rest of Rainbow Rowell’s books ever since and find 

out which way I fall with them.

I did really enjoy ‘Attachments’ but unfortunately not quite as much as I’d hoped. It was a good read, enjoyable and engaging and incredibly funny in places, but at the same time I didn’t connect with the characters as I’d hoped and the plot becomes really stagnant at several points and a whole lot of nothing actually happens.

Everything starts out brilliantly with a hilarious exchange between Beth and Jennifer, one that sets the tone for their friendship wonderfully and gets the novel off to a great start. But then we meet Lincoln, who I didn’t really connect with in the same way and the story kinda stumbles out. Lincoln’s story is much slower, in fact it barely moves for the majority of the novel and it really drags everything back. I found myself putting the book down repeatedly because I’d become invested each time with Beth and Jennifer, and then lose interest with Lincoln.

I also really didn’t feel satisfied with the resolution. It felt like the plot meandered along for most of the novel and then things start to happen but not really and then suddenly poof, done. I felt like I missed the build-up, I missed the excitement and as a result I missed the pay off.

None of this means I didn’t enjoy it though. Beth and Jennifer’s friendship was the heart of this and I adored them. I loved their emails, the little snippets of their lives and backstory coming together. It was a gorgeous friendship, and my favourite part of the entire story. I did eventually start to enjoy Lincoln’s parts but never in the same way, and I never felt entirely comfortable with both Lincoln and Beth’s methods when it came to finding the other.

So whilst I did enjoy it, and I did find it funny and sweet, it also didn’t hit me in the same way as ‘Landline’ which was a shame because I know so many people who loves this one. Maybe I need to come back to it at another point, but this time around ‘Attachments’ sadly wasn’t quite my cup of tea.