Attachments is about a twenty-something guy who has a few degrees to his name but no real direction in his life. Lincoln. He has moved back in with his mother, which his sister finds sad. His mother loves it; his sister pushes him to figure out what he wants out of life and start living it. But Lincoln is still recovering from the loss of his first love...which happened eight or nine years previously. He loved her too much, she dumped him, and he's still trying to get over it. Lincoln takes a night job as a local newspaper's internet/computer security guy. Basically it's his job to read everyone's email and send them warnings if they're breaking company policy. Jennifer's and Beth's emails are constantly flagged by the filters, so Lincoln has to read them. He finds himself liking the two women, and never ends up sending them warnings. Reading Jennifer and Beth's email exchanges become important to him, and he finds himself looking forward to reading them every day. He gets to know the two women for who they are, though he has no idea what they look like and doesn't realize it when he actually encounters them in the office. Things develop from there; you just have to read it.
Remember the big Y2K scare at the end of 1999? What are we gonna do if the computers freak out? The world is gonna end, ahhhh! Well that is a small part of the backdrop in this story, which is kind of fun and nostalgic. The whole negotiation from analog to the digital world is an important piece too. It doesn't really seem like 1999 was that long ago, but so much has changed in the world since then. Because I vividly remember those years, and because I was the same age as the main characters during that time, I really connected with this book.
Is this considered Chick Lit? I don't know. If it is, it's the first Chick Lit I've read where the main protagonist is a guy. Rowell has a knack for getting into a character's head - even a male character - and really showing the emotion. Like her other books, this one is character-driven and completely engrossing. I found myself laughing out loud, loving all the characters, and thinking to myself, "I could hang out with this person." And of course, I did cry a little too. It's just great writing. Five stars from me!
