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Overview
"Attachments is so perfectly engaging, so sly, and so funny I read it all in one sitting, then went back and read my favorite scenes a second time...I hope Rowell never stops writing."
-Haven Kimmel
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.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Discover Great New WritersA lonely IT guy discovers that you can fall in love with some one by email even if you’re not part of the dialogue.
*****
Can you fall in love by e-mail? Ask Lincoln, a lonely guy who lands an Internet security job monitoring the communications of his fellow employees at a local newspaper. Lincoln chances upon ongoing online chats of newsroom workers Jennifer and Beth; before long, he's caught up in their juicy personal revelations. Jennifer is happily married, yet deeply conflicted about becoming a parent; Beth just can't seem to meet the right man. Lincoln, too, has been luckless in love; shy and still licking his wounds from a breakup, he falls fervently for Beth, who, he's never met. But does she really want to meet, much less date the company Peeping Tom?
Attachments is a warm, witty romantic comedy that zips along as fast as a text message, offering a fresh take on love in the digital age.
"Crackling, laugh-out-loud dialogue, characters that feel painfully real, and a sweet premise about love in the information age. If Attachments were an e-mail, I'd be forwarding it to my entire list of contacts." — Jodi Picoult
Chicago Tribune
"Perfectly mixing sweet romance with deliciously tart wit, Rowell's literary debut is a complete charmer."Claire Cook
"Fresh, fun, and charmingly quirky."Publishers Weekly
In sweet, silly, and incredibly long digital missives, best newsroom pals Beth and Jennifer trade gossip over their romances—Beth with her marriage-phobic boyfriend, Chris, and Jennifer with her baby-mania-stricken husband, Mitch. What they don't know is that the newly hired computer guy, Lincoln, an Internet security officer charged with weeding out all things unnecessary or pornographic, is reading their messages. But lonely Lincoln lets the gals slide on their inappropriate office mail and gets hooked on their soapy dalliances, falling head over heels for the unlucky-in-love Beth. Debut novelist and real-life newspaper columnist Rowell has the smarts for this You've Got Mail–like tale of missed connections, but what doesn't work so well is the firewall between the traditional narrative reserved for Lincoln's emergence from shy guy to Beth's guy, and heroines who are confined to the e-epistolary format. Despite the structural problems, there's enough heart and humor to save these likable characters from the recycle bin. (Apr.)Library Journal
As an Internet security officer at a newspaper, Lincoln reads emails sent among his coworkers and administers warnings about proper content. Although he hates this part of his job, Lincoln is instantly captivated by the exchanges between best friends Beth and Jennifer; instead of giving them a warning, he continues to read Jennifer's news about her husband and Beth's revelations about her boyfriend. Lincoln soon finds himself falling in love with Beth, even though they have never met. But the deeper he falls, the more keenly aware Lincoln becomes of his precarious position. He begins to realize that he may not have a chance with the woman whose privacy he has so grossly invaded. VERDICT Set at the turn of the 21st century, this debut novel by a newspaper columnist includes convincing details about the attitude toward computer use in the workplace and brushes over anxieties associated with Y2K. Chick-lit fans may enjoy the engaging dialog and likable characters, but this reviewer was disappointed at the slow unfolding of the romantic elements; the few brief encounters were not enough to result in the full-blown relationship that develops in the span of a few pages at the novel's end.—Natasha Grant, New YorkKirkus Reviews
Can love survive in the information age? It can when a newspaper's IT guy begins reading the e-mails of the film critic.
Set long ago in 1999, when people still cared about privacy, Beth, a film critic at a Nebraska paper and Jennifer, a copy editor across the room, trade daily e-mails when boredom strikes at work. What they don't suspect is that Lincoln, working the graveyard shift, reads their highly personal missives as part of his job, monitoring flagged e-mails for inappropriate material. He could stop (they're neither gambling, browsing porn nor harassing co-workers), but he doesn't want to—Beth and Jennifer are funny and friendly and have a life—something Lincoln desperately wants for himself. Handsome and addicted to college—he just finished his second master's degree—Lincoln is also awkward, heartbroken from his cheating girlfriend, happy to count D&D as a social life, and has just moved back in with his counter-culture mother. Somehow, reading Beth and Jennifer's e-mails make him feel normal. And he gets an eyeful of their normal: Jennifer is obsessed with pregnancy and how to avoid it, even though good guy husband Mitch wants nothing more than to start a family. Beth wishes she was as secure in her relationship with musician Chris, but he's hardly the type to settle down. As the two trade emails, Lincoln feels increasingly like a cyber-stalker, but then something funny happens: Beth begins confessing a crush on a mystery man at work. Her cute guy eats dinner in the break room with old Doris, helps Jennifer change a flat and sounds an awful lot like Lincoln to Lincoln. He thinks he may be falling in love (even though he's never seen Beth), but what about Chris? All's well that ends well in this romance that switches from the women's e-mails to Lincoln's narrative of his slow rise from sad sack to confident boyfriend material.
A certain light charm pervades the novel—a Spring Break kind of book.