A review by junji_ito_hoe
Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I picked this book up by chance. I was intrigued by Salley Rooney after hearing about her beloved writing style. Normal people was on my radar, however, when I attended the books store I saw that Beautiful World, Where Are You was on sale and this short but enjoyable experience began. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I stayed up all night one night in an attempt to finish this before my eyes grew drowsy around 3 am. I was invested in the relationships between the characters from chapter 3. In addition to this, I found that at times the character dynamics fell flat and came off as superficial and recycled. Alice was my least favorite character because she was very pretentious and exasperating at times, however, I can see her appeal and how others might relate to her.
SpoilerTowards the end, Alice appeared to be on a high-horse believing that she was superior to our other main characters and their mediocre jobs while also believing that her life is significantly harder than Eileen's when the circumstances are not comparable in that form
. Simon was a confusing character because it was unclear how Rooney was attempting to portray him…Creepy or Caring? I also felt that Felix was an underdeveloped character and he felt more like the dumb character who is just around to say something smart every once in a while. The emails every second chapter were too over-polished to be believable as two friends talking. I found the topics discussed in the emails interesting because they gave us as readers insight into who Eileen and Alice are and their motivations. Overall I did enjoy this book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction and doesn’t mind the sexual content.
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