Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

15 reviews

astrangewind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Sally Rooney's storytelling style - rooted deeply in the inane details of every day life - becomes even more compelling in Beautiful World. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are each deeply flawed characters with deeply flawed relationships with themselves and each other; it's this complexity that makes them lovable. 

The "plot" (some might argue there is none) is interrupted with emails between Alice and Eileen, which serve primarily as the author's own philosophical projection. At first, I thought this was a little bit much, but by the end of the book I appreciated these vignettes as additional characterization of Alice and Eileen, and Felix and Simon by proxy. 

I loved these messy characters and their messy lives, and I rooted for them to the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Self harm, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, and Drug use

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A

3.75

I appreciate sally rooney’s commitment to reality in the telling of this story. and I have to acknowledge that she writes characters that I relate to so deeply it’s uncomfortable. but the reality of it, while rendering it very thought-provoking at points, makes it boring at points. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual content, Drug use, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Abortion

zara89's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Suicide

camillarossi's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Chronic illness

Minor: Cancer, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

scruffie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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 felt like I could have done without the very elaborate descriptions of the protagonists' surroundings, but other than that I really liked this book. The characters felt complex and I quite enjoyed reading about their concerns, even if said concerns don't perfectly match my own. A highly quotable book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, and Pregnancy

meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, and Chronic illness

danajoy's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is not my first Sally Rooney. I'm one of the camp who read and loved Normal People (and was a bit too nervous to pick up Conversations with Friends as a result). I really enjoy her dialogue, the way she ignores the conventions so it occurs concurrently to everything else. There isn't much in the way of punctuation and occasionally it can be a but hard to work out who is talking but there is something about it I really like.

BWWAY didn't grab me in the same way that Normal People did. I found the characters pretty pretentious and immature. While the difficulty to communicate emotions felt very understandable for teenagers in this book the cast are almost thirty and feel like they're stuck in the mindset of self-important 20 year olds. The emails they send eachother are very philosophical and felt a bit too long and essay like to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia and Abortion

claragweny's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

A nice, easy to listen to audiobook. I found myself surprised by the significant number of emails in the book but I absolutely loved it. I’m a big fan of epistolary novels so loving this wasn’t a very far stretch for me. The dynamic between Simon and Eileen was a bit strange for me but the way these characters acknowledge the age gap/power dynamic in the story felt genuine. Felix was most definitely my favorite character in the story. His short, funny manner mixed with his indifferent queerness made me want to see more of him. If Sally Rooney wrote a story about Felix I would read it in a heartbeat. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Self harm, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia

storykath's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Abortion, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Drug use

samvansam's review against another edition

reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent, Abortion, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Pregnancy