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A review by mirandadarrow
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
4.0
3 1/2 stars, rounding up to four because I love Rainbow Rowell. I think that this book's biggest fault right now is partly attributable to it being more than a decade old now and has some dated "humor" that falls very flat with me in 2018.
It's an adorkable romantic comedy, with adults working for a newspaper - a newspaper, do you remember those, during 1999 in the stressfully comedic run-up to the dreaded Y2K. Kids these days do not remember Y2K, when all of the computers in the world were supposed to turn against us because we'd stupidly only allowed two digits instead of four for the year field, and databases everywhere would think that instead of January 1, 2000, it would be January 1, 1000, and all heck would break loose as a result.
The book itself came out ten years later, but I love that Rowell sets her books in "recent history" time periods that I can remember and get nostalgic about the tech and trends of the time. Like this newspaper, first introducing email and the internet to its workforce. Clutch the pearls.
What nearly turned me off in this book came very early, first chapter in fact, and it was two of the three main characters glibly joking about one of them possibly being pregnant, and then joking about her child having fetal alcohol syndrome. I don't think a book today would go as far as this did, albeit through the characters, not the author, but mocking the facial features of people with FAS. I almost deleted the book off my Kindle. And . . . I'd used a full audible credit. I wanted to read this book. But I was that put off by it.
I went on Goodreads and read reviews by people I follow, and decided to power through. I'm glad that I did. And, I think if it were being written today, that wouldn't have been 'comedy' fodder for these two protagonists who were supposed to be likeable and funny and one of them is the heroine.
I waited a day, finished a different book, and gave it another try. I'm glad that I did, as I loved the universe, the characters, the plot, the central conflict. I just really didn't like that line of 'jokes'. So, this is not in the same league for me as Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, or Landline, all of which I adored. But, still very good and worth the read. I give you permission to skip the first chapter and read the blurb instead, as that will set you up plenty.
It's an adorkable romantic comedy, with adults working for a newspaper - a newspaper, do you remember those, during 1999 in the stressfully comedic run-up to the dreaded Y2K. Kids these days do not remember Y2K, when all of the computers in the world were supposed to turn against us because we'd stupidly only allowed two digits instead of four for the year field, and databases everywhere would think that instead of January 1, 2000, it would be January 1, 1000, and all heck would break loose as a result.
The book itself came out ten years later, but I love that Rowell sets her books in "recent history" time periods that I can remember and get nostalgic about the tech and trends of the time. Like this newspaper, first introducing email and the internet to its workforce. Clutch the pearls.
What nearly turned me off in this book came very early, first chapter in fact, and it was two of the three main characters glibly joking about one of them possibly being pregnant, and then joking about her child having fetal alcohol syndrome. I don't think a book today would go as far as this did, albeit through the characters, not the author, but mocking the facial features of people with FAS. I almost deleted the book off my Kindle. And . . . I'd used a full audible credit. I wanted to read this book. But I was that put off by it.
I went on Goodreads and read reviews by people I follow, and decided to power through. I'm glad that I did. And, I think if it were being written today, that wouldn't have been 'comedy' fodder for these two protagonists who were supposed to be likeable and funny and one of them is the heroine.
I waited a day, finished a different book, and gave it another try. I'm glad that I did, as I loved the universe, the characters, the plot, the central conflict. I just really didn't like that line of 'jokes'. So, this is not in the same league for me as Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, or Landline, all of which I adored. But, still very good and worth the read. I give you permission to skip the first chapter and read the blurb instead, as that will set you up plenty.