Merry October everyone. (Shhh… I know its November, but it’s still October in my heart.)
I love Rainbow Rowell, and I love the characters she creates. I also love how much she loves my favorite month of the year.
This is my second time through Attachments and while looking back I can see all the ways in which Rowell has grown as an author but my affection for this story has only grown. I rated this one 4 stars when I last read it for CBR5, but I’ve gone ahead and rated it five stars this time.
The first time through what sold me on this book and Rowell as an author was the characterization. I could not help but fall in love with each of our leads as they navigated their various life struggles. Rowell delivers honest character reactions and flaws in everything she writes. This time I noticed the pacing. In the beginning of the book things move slowly, reflecting the status of the lives of Beth, Jennifer, and Lincoln. As each character’s arc progresses the pace picks up in concert with it. The end of the novel appears to come to a halt, but instead it is fast-forwarding towards the earned resolution.
I love Beth and Jennifer’s emails, I love Doris, I love Lincoln’s sister rebelling against their mother by being “normal”, I love Lincoln’s loyalty and bravery as well as his inertia. I love Mitch who falls in love with a Jennifer who still all these years later doesn’t know how she got so lucky, I love Chris being so stuck in what it takes to be an artist that he loses how to be a person. I love it all so very, very much.
And I’m incredibly thankful that Hasen Klub tracked down a hardcover copy of this book for me to round out my Rainbow Rowell collection.