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

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Four late 20s/early 30s adults travel to Rome together where they spend time getting together sexually and on a friendship level. Will they drown in existentialism or transcend into something more?

I hate to say this but this was such a drag to me. So much that even my summary of the synopsis up there wasn’t that eye catching. Rooney’s Normal People was such a favourite for me and then Conversations With Friends bored me. I knew her third would be a tell for me whether or not I liked her books or if Normal People was just a One Hit Wonder to me (please tell me someone gets this Much Music reference).

While I felt pulled into the depressive state of the characters in Normal People, I just felt annoyed with the ones in this title. All I could do was cringe at the purposefully awkward conversations and tangled situations. I know that is the whole point of the book and the message behind it but I just found it one long drawn out ramble in the characters heads. This weird melancholy wasn’t where I wanted to be so perhaps it was a bit of timing on my part and when I read it?

Ugh, sad! 2.5✨ and now I’m going to go weep because I really wanted to like this.