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

emotional reflective 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

3.25

I'm not quite sure how exactly I felt about this book. I found the characters hard to like and annoying and the relationships and plot to be very predictable and boring. The quasi-intellectualism in the emails between Alice and Eileen was a bit annoying and I found myself zoning out during some of the more obnoxious moments. But, it felt true to character.
The relationship between Felix and Alice was not only more compelling but more charged than whatever happened between Simon and Eileen. The subtle dynamics of power and control were very interesting, but I did find myself more interested in Felix than Alice for many of those moments. Simon, I found to be grating and annoying and I disliked nearly everything about his character. Maybe if we had had some moments with his interiority I would have felt differently but I really wanted to shake Eileen so hard and say she can do better than this weirdo loser creep. 
I HATED the fact that the epilogue is about COVID. Maybe if I had read this book during the height of the pandemic I would have felt connected to the characters' feelings but so soon after I was just annoyed and tired of it.
 
Some things I would have wanted to see more of was Alice's mental health struggles which are constantly mentioned by other characters but not obvious within her internal dialogue.
The moment where she says she wants to kill herself felt a bit out of nowhere and the fact that she has been on anti-depressants apparently the whole time without Felix or the reader or anyone knowing was just... I was confused by where any of this was coming from. Actually, that whole final fight between Alice and Eileen was a bit much for me. I would have been more interested in having that moment earlier in the novel and then seeing how they actually work through that instead of the jump to so SO far later. and once again I was just annoyed by Simon the whole time.
I also would have loved to see some more actual rumination on class differences, with the whole Alice being a millionaire and Felix working at a package facility. It gets close but Alice, Eileen, and Simon never recognize the differences between themselves and the working class. (Besides a moment of Eileen arguing that technically she is working class because she has a job... which... is certainly A Take...) 
So ok maybe I actually didn't like it. Maybe that is what I am realizing right now. But it was still a GOOD book with some really amazing lines about desire and love and depression and relationships and despite the pretentiousness of Alice and Eileen's emails, there were many moments of really impactful reflections on life and the human experience that I enjoyed. Rooney is really a great writer in terms of actual quality this was fantastic. But just not for me. 
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