Attachments is my second Rainbow Rowell book and the first one was Fangirl. I didn’t like Fangirl as much as I wanted to, but the hype for this book was totally lost on me. 😦
I had since avoided Rainbow Rowell, but decided to take a chance with this book. I’m glad I did 🙂
Book blurb
“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 . . . ?
This plot is set in 1999 when computers and Internet and Y2K were a new thing when it comes to publishing houses and newspapers. Beth Fremont and her friend Jennifer Scribner-Snyder are working for a newspaper as film critic and copy editor respectively. This is the dawn of internet and email security and their newspaper is the last one to join the world wide web and so they have security concerns about their employees surfing net, playing online or sending personal emails. So they hire someone for internet security and that someone is Lincoln O’Neill who has forever been a student, moved back to his childhood home to live with his mother after a bad breakup. Lincoln gets to read all emails flagged by the security system and Beth and Jen’s emails back to back in a day flag enough alerts that he starts reading them.
Slowly, Lincoln gets to know them through their email and eventually falls for one of them. But he can’t go and talk to her because he is guilty of reading their day to day conversations. He doesn’t even know who the girl is, but falls for her wit and sense and is caught in a compromising situation where he has to reveal his identity if he wants to talk to her.
This is so beautifully written, that i forgive Rowell for Fangirl 😛
I love the emails between Beth and Jennifer. But most of all i loved Lincoln’s mom. She just stole my heart ❤ For someone who is being criticized throughout the book to be insensitive or possessive, she turns out to be more deep and considerate.
“You were this little kitten, and you cried if i set you down even for a second. I dont know how i managed to ever take a shower or make dinner. I dont think i did. I was afraid to hold you too close to the stove..Why do you think I can remember that,” she asked, “when you can’t? Why does nature do that to us? Those were the most important years of my life, and you can’t even remember them. You can’t understand why it is so hard for me to hand you off to someone else.”
There’s so much to talk about Lincoln too..How much he is affected by his breakup and the loneliness he is subjected to. So the breach of privacy is like his personal sunshine to him and he cant just stop himself because he needs it. It sorta becomes a little fun when Beth is crushing on the cute guy in office who is actually Lincoln himself.
There are moments when you can’t believe something wonderful is happening. And there are moments when your entire consciousness is filled with absolutely something wonderful that is happening.
Do give this book a try. My rating is 5/5 because i was not bored, i loved the flow and loved Lincoln’s mom 😉
Little Voids 