Beautiful World, Where Are You: A Novel

I often find my feelings about Sally Rooney to be hard to put in to words. I don't exactly 'enjoy' her literature, but I seriously cannot put it down either. Something about her captivates me, and I feel drawn to her characters, but i couldn't really explain the plot of any of her novels well. Nevertheless, I will continue to purchase her novels. I stole this review from a much more well spoken goodreads member - the following is not my own.

"I found them weirdly fascinating. "Like" is not the word I would use for this book, but I was very interested in it. I wallowed in the characters' extremely depressing personalities, cringed at every awkward conversation (and there were, indeed, many), and cared whether the two love stories would work out."

F*CK, Salley Rooney is a great writer. Her language is straightforward, but does a lot more showing than telling, which is exactly what I love about it. Her characters are so real it's as if you're sitting in the room with them; it almost feels voyeuristic to study them so intimately (also love). And then of course there's the content itself: two female best friends living and writing during the final years of their "adolescence" (late 20's, but that is pretty much what age people start becoming adults these days). So much fun to read, I couldn't put it down.

I appreciate Sally Rooney as an author and artist of developing realistic character and generational angst. This book, however, was depressing. The character of Felix really disgusted me, probably because he was so relatable - in the way he shamed Alice's personality and strength and she adapted because of her insecurities and loneliness. Was anyone else outraged by the way he continually picked at her and shamed her for being herself? He was clearly not at the same intellectual level as Alice and they had little in common but sex drive and mental pain. Perhaps I am that ignorant book fan who thinks I know more about her than I could IRL and am abhorrent for pointing out the obvious. If anything is redeeming from the depression and cringe, I'm thankful after reading this that I have matured past the need for anyone like Felix in my life.

Was tempted to dnf this book about a quarter of the way through, but kept going because I liked Normal People so much I was willing to give it a chance + wanted to meet a monthly reading goal. Circling a lot of similar themes as her other works but this one is missing some of the magic. oddly boring and hard to become invested in any characters. I don't understand them at all. Can I say that I'm very tired of this trope of women who call themselves feminists and talk intellectually about women's rights and then fall madly in love with uninteresting mediocre men who treat them (and everyone else) badly? The characters were all so disaffected, so cool and distant, no emotional depth. I don't understand them or their motives, a single choice they make or why.

3.5 Stars — I enjoyed this book, but it was very ordinary — and maybe that’s why I liked it? The characters were so raw, real, and flawed — maybe that’s why I liked it too? All in all, not my favorite book, but I can’t say it was bad.