Reviews

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

reginaa_csoti's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

buniwuuu's review

5.0

I think I really became a fan of Sally Rooney after reading this book. I love Normal People too, but the character dynamics in this book is even more vivid than Normal People (and less frustrating to some extent since the time span isn’t 5 years or something).
All in all this book just makes me feel happy and hopeful.

I love books with ordinary and imperfect protagonists.

pseudoliterature's review against another edition

informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.25

annetteskye's review against another edition

slow-paced

1.0

This book felt like it was sucking my brains out. Nothing really happened other than emails of conversations I would prefer to have with my own friends. The sentences are so choppy it felt like my brain was tripping over them. 

mollyhuie's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

ruthlessly's review

4.75

sally rooney, i'm sorry for who i was in the past. i think i was mostly turned off by something i didn't mention below but that i really didn't think the people in this treated each other overly well and i was like MY WEE HEART. but my wee heart is moved. i do think the world is beautiful. i did think this was much better, for me, on a re-read. i let the past slough away and i ignored what i remembered of the Criticism Of The Era. maybe this wasn't the book for me in november 2021, but i loved it a lot this time. 

i found this so slyly humorous and filled with so much heart. i think what sets sally rooney apart, to me, is that you can meet her on her terms or not at all. and i think once you accept it, she's so hopeful. there is such a great love here: for other people, for the beautiful world, for history and the future, for trying your best to claw a space out on earth that you find fulfilling. the characters in this, i think, are perhaps nastiest to each other but with a bit of distance, a bit of age, i think i understood it more. 

really, really enjoyed it. i'm bumping it up a bunch. i think it goes to show what a difference a re-read can make. i enjoyed this so much more. i hope i remember this more clearly. i think the last 30 pages of this book cracked my chest open and i felt such a rush of emotion. i loved the chapter, which flowed in one continuous paragraph over many pages, at eileen's sisters wedding. what i imagine sally rooney was doing there was using form to evoke that rush of emotion and it kind of spiralled for me from then onwards. i appreciated this so much! lmao it MOVED ME. it IS a beautiful world!!!!!!! #softbitch

tayloryoung91's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Sally Rooney is one of my favorite authors of all time. I read every book she publishes. That said, her books aren’t for everyone. She is a master at writing deeply pretentious and obnoxious millennial characters, and she does it so well that sometimes you might wonder if she’s not one herself. This book follows Alice, Eileen, Felix and Simon as they navigate their 30s. They explore career, love, religion and politics and what it means to be truly happy. Rooney writes so beautifully that I can pretty much always look past her unlovable characters and instead appreciate her philosophical prose. 

lucysnowy's review against another edition

5.0

and completing my sally rooney trilogy...

another excellent book. these characters are just incredible. all of rooney's characters are - noone is completely good. they are all flawed and complex and amazing. love the scenes where all four are together and the way they interact.

the emails were at times a little bit rambly (obvs the point, but makes for a rather disjointed reading experience). but overall great and sad and happy and brilliant.

basils_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

bluereen's review against another edition

5.0

"my problem is that I'm annoyed at everyone else for not having all the answers, when I also have none. And who am I to ask for humility and openness from other people? What have I ever given the world to ask so much in return?"

"If God wanted me to give you up, he wouldn't have made
me who I am." (!!!)

***

Her BEST novel yet imo. Toward the end, I had been set on rating this 4 stars... but the last part changed my mind. She definitely poured her heart into writing this bc Alice and Felix; Eileen and Simon >>>> all her other characters.

Sally Rooney just gets me—realistically speaking, I’ve never related more to a fictional character than I do with all 4 of them