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A review by shansometimes
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
slow-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
4.25
I was scratching my head at the end of BWWAY...but I was intrigued and inspired. I don't know what it is with Sally Rooney and her painfully real (and often insufferably unlikable) characters. She is one of my litfic faves with her meandering but magnificent stories.
Just like the other two books I read by her, there was a lot of miscommunication, pining, and confusion in these pages. I rolled my eyes, smiled, and found myself enamored with the lives of Eileen, Alice, Simon, and Felix—their relationships and friendships, their depressed and pitiful states.
BWWAY is quintessential Sally Rooney, filled with subtle musings on privilege and place, relationships and sex, womanhood and family, career and worldview. The point of this book is as indirect as ever, and still, I loved it in so many ways. My favorite part was the emails between Alice and Eileen, two friends with a deep history and a lot unspoken between them. Truly, this entire book felt like I was eavesdropping or witnessing the characters' pillow talk. Will these relationships ever mature? Will these characters ever move past their feelings of being stuck and unhappy?
It took me a long time to get through this novel, and I can understand it being a snooze-fest for many readers. But what can I say? It's a millennial relationship novel for the girls who get it (those who like this sort of thing). Yes, the characters are annoying, self-absorbed, and can make you want to drink. Yes, there's a lot of pondering. No, there's not a lot of plot. And the character development, especially for the male characters, wasn't the strongest.
But this book sparked something in me overall. After every reading session, I wanted to get up and write. Like the budding romances between its characters, it is beautiful and dysfunctional. Like the existential anecdotes it shares, it is insightful and sincere. It is Rooney and her typical tortured souls, taking readers on a journey through the contradictions and complexities of love and life.
Just like the other two books I read by her, there was a lot of miscommunication, pining, and confusion in these pages. I rolled my eyes, smiled, and found myself enamored with the lives of Eileen, Alice, Simon, and Felix—their relationships and friendships, their depressed and pitiful states.
BWWAY is quintessential Sally Rooney, filled with subtle musings on privilege and place, relationships and sex, womanhood and family, career and worldview. The point of this book is as indirect as ever, and still, I loved it in so many ways. My favorite part was the emails between Alice and Eileen, two friends with a deep history and a lot unspoken between them. Truly, this entire book felt like I was eavesdropping or witnessing the characters' pillow talk. Will these relationships ever mature? Will these characters ever move past their feelings of being stuck and unhappy?
It took me a long time to get through this novel, and I can understand it being a snooze-fest for many readers. But what can I say? It's a millennial relationship novel for the girls who get it (those who like this sort of thing). Yes, the characters are annoying, self-absorbed, and can make you want to drink. Yes, there's a lot of pondering. No, there's not a lot of plot. And the character development, especially for the male characters, wasn't the strongest.
But this book sparked something in me overall. After every reading session, I wanted to get up and write. Like the budding romances between its characters, it is beautiful and dysfunctional. Like the existential anecdotes it shares, it is insightful and sincere. It is Rooney and her typical tortured souls, taking readers on a journey through the contradictions and complexities of love and life.