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jennareadsbooks 's review for:
Beautiful World, Where Are You
by Sally Rooney
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
If you’ve been following me for more than a month, you’ve probably seen how desperate I was to get a copy of Beautiful World, Where Are You as soon as I could. Thanks to @fsgbooks for sending me an early copy, I am eternally grateful! I had high hopes and high expectations for this book, and it delivered. I love all of Sally Rooney’s books, this one maybe even most of all.
The characters in this book are a little older than in Rooney’s past books - early 30s as opposed to early 20s. They’re closer to my age, and maybe that’s why I could relate so much to them, and why it feels like Rooney writes just for me. Their existential dread looks the same as mine. The way they struggle to find meaning amid a world that can feel overwhelmingly hopeless - it feels like Rooney writes my exact experiences into her books. The characters worry about the same things I worry about (so much climate anxiety), and cope in the same ways - Eileen describes learning about the collapse of a past society, and I’ve recently gone down a wikipedia rabbit hole of almost the same thing (my rabbit hole of choice was the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, ha). Is everything pointless, or is the point of everything to make the most of your time now? How can we simultaneously know that humans are destroying the planet yet still care so much about sex, friends, and relationships?
Rooney turns the lens inward, too. One of the characters, Alice, is a writer, and deeply struggles with the spotlight and weight of expectations that have come with her rising fame. I imagine this is how Rooney feels. We expect so much from her now.
So that was a lot of brain-dumping from me about some big overarching questions that the characters are grappling with, but the story in this book is so good, too. It deals with friendships, relationships, mental health, and finding purpose. It’s steamier than I remember Rooney’s past books being. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the whole experience. I quite obviously very highly recommend this book, and I hope if you read it, it sparks the same types of feelings for you.
The characters in this book are a little older than in Rooney’s past books - early 30s as opposed to early 20s. They’re closer to my age, and maybe that’s why I could relate so much to them, and why it feels like Rooney writes just for me. Their existential dread looks the same as mine. The way they struggle to find meaning amid a world that can feel overwhelmingly hopeless - it feels like Rooney writes my exact experiences into her books. The characters worry about the same things I worry about (so much climate anxiety), and cope in the same ways - Eileen describes learning about the collapse of a past society, and I’ve recently gone down a wikipedia rabbit hole of almost the same thing (my rabbit hole of choice was the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, ha). Is everything pointless, or is the point of everything to make the most of your time now? How can we simultaneously know that humans are destroying the planet yet still care so much about sex, friends, and relationships?
Rooney turns the lens inward, too. One of the characters, Alice, is a writer, and deeply struggles with the spotlight and weight of expectations that have come with her rising fame. I imagine this is how Rooney feels. We expect so much from her now.
So that was a lot of brain-dumping from me about some big overarching questions that the characters are grappling with, but the story in this book is so good, too. It deals with friendships, relationships, mental health, and finding purpose. It’s steamier than I remember Rooney’s past books being. I loved the story. I loved the characters. I loved the whole experience. I quite obviously very highly recommend this book, and I hope if you read it, it sparks the same types of feelings for you.