Wednesday, April 11, 2012

He said he preferred Armageddon to Sam's Club

I just read Attachments by Rainbow Rowell and you guys, I loved it. There's going to be a lot of gushing. Be prepared.

Lincoln is the security tech guy in charge of making sure no one is using the company email for personal conversations or cursing or anything remotely fun. Emails from two employees, Jennifer and Beth, keep getting tagged. But their conversations are incredible and Lincoln can't even bring himself to send them a warning. Yet he keeps reading their emails and develops feelings for Beth. It's a romantic comedy, which is not my normal cup of tea. I think the last one I read was Pride and Prejudice. Lamb was kind of bromance-y. Anyway, what I'm saying is normally romantic comedies aren't for me. But this snuck by normal cynical defenses and I didn't even realize I was reading a romantic comedy until I was already in love with all the characters.

Lincoln's the main character and you spend a lot of time as his failed relationship and his job that he hates. And of course reading Beth and Jennifer's emails. Don't get me wrong, I liked Lincoln and I liked seeing him break his normal routine. And I sort of loved his mom and her cooking. But every time a chapter started with an email from Jennifer and Beth I got all excited. You only see these guys through their emails that get flagged so the fact that they establish themselves as so amazing so quickly is a skill. My favorite moments are all contained in their conversations. It's hard to find lines to share because the joy in these two is really their back and forth but here are a couple examples:

Jennifer to Beth: Maybe I do like Tom Cruise. But I hate feeling pressured to find him attractive. I don't.
Beth to Jennifer: Nobody does. It's a lie perpetuated by the American media. Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts.
Jennifer to Beth: Men don't like Julia Roberts?
Beth to Jennifer: Nope. Her teeth scare them*

Beth to Jennifer: I don't know if I ever believe in that anymore. The right guy. The perfect guy. The one. I've lost faith in "the".
Jennifer to Beth: How do you feel about "a" and "an"?
Beth to Jennifer: Indifferent.
Jennifer to Beth: So you're considering a life without articles?

Beth to Jennifer: Why are you lying awake, thinking that you're a terrible person?
Jennifer to Beth: To keep my mind occupied when I can't sleep. Some people count sheep. I self-loathe.

Don't you love them already?!?!?!

You should read this book! Right now. Right now! Although it was hard to find. Or rather, I went to my local indie bookstore and I couldn't find it (but I didn't ask so it may have been there) so I ended up getting an e-copy. So it's not that it was hard to find, it just didn't fall into my outstretched hands.

Also you should read Alice from Reading Rambo's and Rayna from Libereading's because they're amazing and their reviews are great and the reason I picked this up.

*Rayna shared this quote too but it's just. that. good I had to share it here too. I also liked Alice's larking comment but I only wanted to repeat one quote.

Title quote from location 3610, page 209

Rowell, Rainbow. Attachments. Plume, 2011. Kindle edition.

Comments (17)

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WELCOME TO THE ATTACHMENTS CLUB. WE HAVE SHINY BUTTONS.

Omg and the scene with Jennifer in the rain? Which I won't be more explicit about because SPOILERS but omg I love this book. Now I want to re-read it but NO TIME WOMAN IN WHITE MUST BE READ.

Agh so great. I'm glad you're one of us now.
3 replies · active 681 weeks ago
Yes! I loved that scene. I loved all the scenes. I tried to leave spoilery things out but yes, loved that!

also, I want shiny button!!
*hangs head* Me no have button.
I'm going to make buttons. Or at least a picture of buttons. Or I'll get distracted and do nothing of the sort.
Okay, I think you and Alie have double-handedly (is that a word?) convinced me that this will be a book that goes with me on vacation. Yay!

And who wouldn't prefer Armageddon to Sam's Club? Just sayin'.
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
Yay! You will love it! Well I hope so because it is fantastic and hilarious.
Er, make "Alie" into "Alice" in the above comment and all will be right with the world.
This book sound hilarious.
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
It is. There were many moments of awkwardly laughing to myself while on the train.
Wow you and Alice both raved about this one. Now you've got my attention.
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
You wont' be disappointed. It's also a very quick read, probably because I hated to put it down.
Even the quotes tickled me so I must need to read this :)
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
The quotes are what got me in Alice's & Rayna's posts. I had so many highlights it was hard to pick which quotes to include.
Wow: I am completely smitten with the idea of reading this. Not only epistolary, but a workplace novel (they fascinate me: we spend so much time working, but it rarely features in novels), and it's funny. How could I resist?!?!
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
That's a good point. I guess people want to leave the office behind them when reading and writing but you'd think there'd be more out there. Anyway, how can you resist this? It's hilarious.
Fine. FINE. I will read this. (if I can find it) Peer pressure wins again!
1 reply · active 681 weeks ago
Yes, peer pressure!! Then you can be part of the cool kids club*

*cool kids is very loosely defined for the club

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