A review by the_escapist
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I appreciated the characters, along with their backstories. It sucked me in very quickly and was difficult to put down, while being easy to read and not dumbed down either. I appreciated the nuance that was there with pretty much all the characters (even those who could have easily been shallow antagonists but weren’t). There was a self-awareness to the story and the characters, which I wasn’t sure it would pull off with the premise but it did. I liked that it wasn’t actually filled with much romance (mostly pining). There were only two things I disliked/took issue with:

1. The last 10% of the story.
The two love interests don’t even talk face to face until almost the very end. It felt unsatisfying that while he knew her very well due to reading her emails, you never get the journey of her getting to know him well in return, so I felt fairly indifferent about them operating as a couple, even though I still liked both their character arcs.


2. A subplot with a side character.
She had no interest in being pregnant and having children (she explicitly found the idea repulsive) but her husband wanted them and she was scared he’d leave her because of it. I was expected something better than the old story of ‘and then she allowed herself to become impregnated because everyone told her she’d be glad she did it and it suddenly turned out she wanted a baby after all’. Also it really felt like that character would realise her husband only seemed to start appreciating her again because she gave in and agreed to have a child, but that... never happened. She loses the baby in a miscarriage after never having much of a connection with it, then decides she wants a baby after all. I’d love for characters not wanting children to not be told by other characters and/or the narrative that they’re wrong, actually, and they should jump in and become parents even if they don’t want to be parents. Sadly, this never seems to happen and I thought this book would do better since it seemed to have the perfect setup for it, but it ultimately didn’t. I know, I know, some people in real life do change their minds on children. I’m just sick of never getting to hear stories from people who don’t change their minds.
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