A review by emilychu23
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

4.0

I fear I’ve fallen into the trap of Rooney. I cannot help but love Beautiful World despite its transgressions.

My main two gripes were the half-baked queerness, how obviously Alice is Rooney’s mouthpiece - maybe it’s the contrarian in me but her oversaturation as a ‘literary celebrity’ maybe turned me off of her a bit. It felt very preachy to have Alice say things like, “They never tire of giving me awards, do they?” complains Alice. “It’s a shame I’ve tired so quickly of receiving them…”

You really think I hated this book from what I’ve written but I did like it. I enjoyed the epistolary apocalyptic musings, Rooney’s sharp observational prose and signature realistic yet slightly unlikeable characters. It asks some pertinent questions like the meaning of life and are novels about relationships not worth the time? Still gathering thoughts about this one.