Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
A writer named Alice asks Felix, who works in a warehouse if he would like to go to Rome with her. Eileen, her best friend, is grieving over a breakup in Dublin when she resumes flirting with Simon, a boy she has known since she was a young child.
Though they are still in their youth, life is catching up with Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon. They want each other, trick each other, come together, and then separate. They worry about their friendships, their world, and having sex. They also worry about having sex. Are they giving witness to something as they stand in the final lit space before the darkness? Will they manage to maintain their faith in a lovely world?
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
117 used from $1.29
Amazon.com
Beautiful World explores issues of attractiveness, fame, social media, mental health, friendship, and the line between love and friendship. As usual, I sense a strong connection between the author and the reader as she writes. I get the impression that Rooney’s characters are constantly changing and moving forward, even when the tone is wry, tense, or accusatory between characters. Rooney is decisive without being rigid. Her characters have an inferred history of discomfort or great ideals that they themselves struggle to live up to. They are looking for identification, love, and a cultural group they can flaunt or even skulk behind.
In this new book, Alice and Eileen, two of their closest friends, are centred around the men who were at that moment most significant in their life. Like in every work by Rooney, a character is a writer. After publishing two novels, Alice became well-known in literature, and she later experienced a mental collapse. She selects a man who is significantly less clever than her and doesn’t even read books, therefore it is clear that she is not that egotistical about her popularity. Email is the usual method of communication between her and her best friend Eileen. They provide the reader with a bridge between eras while also advancing character and plot. They also feature some fascinating content and background information. Since Alice lives by the water and Eileen lives in Dublin, you just know that the two will ultimately cross paths again. There is tension present.
