Readers everywhere will know the author of one of this spring’s fantastic new books, Attachments, even if you don’t recognise the name Jeff Arch offhand. But let’s not spoil the surprise just yet; with a clever plot and captivating characters, this novel requires no name-dropping to draw attention to itself.
The story opens under perplexing circumstances as Henry Griffin, dean of a prestigious boarding school in Pennsylvania, faces an unexpected medical emergency, he inexplicably calls out for two people: Piccolo and Goodman. Better known as Pick and Goody, these men were students at Griffin’s school nearly two decades earlier. So why would Griffin appear to be summoning them now? What could possibly be so important that their names are foremost in his mind amidst a crisis, when he fails to mention even his wife or son?
Attachments follows Pick as he returns to the boarding school campus, soon joined by Goody and a third former classmate, Laura. It is here, at the wish of a dying man, that secrets begin to unravel. Jumping back and forth in both time and perspective, the narrative slowly reveals how the lives of these three friends are forever intertwined, as well as why Griffin is so intent on having them all back together again.
In this debut novel, Arch has created a fine work that is carefully structured with short chapters which propel the story steadily forward. Arch’s choice to have an ever-changing narrator adds an element of intrigue and frames the novel as a series of character studies, with the reader gathering bits and pieces of the underlying story from each voice in turn. Not only does the perspective change, but there are also plenty of flashbacks which serve to flesh out this tale, as each character reflects on their past. It’s almost as if the narrative line is written in full, deliberately dissected, then rearranged and bound back together to form a more complex and altogether gripping tale.
Part mystery, part love story, and wholly human, Attachments examines a number of themes which will resonate in the lives of parents, lovers, and friends. Arch considers both the unbreakable and the irreparable bonds—the attachments—between us all. He deftly probes how a single moment in time, just one choice, may ripple across the years in infinite ways. Individual and collective lessons are learned by the entire cast of characters, mistakes and flaws embraced as an inherent part of the human condition. Covering quite a range of experiences from the highest highs to the lowest lows, Arch digs deeply into the meaning of our lives. His characters face devotion and betrayal, loneliness and loss, guilt and forgiveness across their formative years and into adulthood, ultimately questioning if we really have control over the direction of our lives or if what is meant to be will simply be.
So … if you didn’t know before, have you figured out who Jeff Arch is yet?!
He is the screenwriter of one of the most beloved romantic comedies of all time: Sleepless in Seattle. There’s certainly a common thread of masterful storytelling and rich characters woven through both this new novel and his most iconic screenplay. Attachments even emanates some of the same pure sense of love as Sleepless in Seattle. Regardless of whether or not you are a fan of the film, though, you will certainly want to include Arch’s debut novel in your to-be read list this spring!
Attachments is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of May 11th 2021. Many thanks to SparkPress for providing me with an advance copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
Will you be picking up Attachments? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
At a boarding school in Pennsylvania, a deathbed request from the school’s dean brings three former students back to campus, where secrets and betrayals from the past are brought out into the open―secrets that could have a catastrophic effect on the dean’s eighteen-year-old son.
Told in alternating points of view and time frames, Attachments is the story of best friends Stewart (“Goody”) Goodman, Sandy (“Pick”) Piccolo, and Laura Appleby, the girl they both love. The friends meet in 1972 at a boarding school in coal-country Pennsylvania where they encounter Henry Griffin, the school dean, whose genuine fatherly interest and deep human bond with them is so strong that when he has a severe stroke almost twenty years later, he uses what could be his last words ever to call out their names.
Attachments is a puzzle―and the only one who knows how all the pieces fit is in a coma. In the process, longtime secrets are unearthed, revelations come out into the open, and Young Chip Griffin is about to learn something he may or may not be able to handle.
thank you cindy! i hope you like it.
It sounds like Jeff Arch wrote the book I always dreamed of writing. I am excited to read ATTACHMENTS! What an accomplishment, Jeff. And, thank you!