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

challenging emotional informative reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think, wishfully, I want to give this 4.5 stars, but I believe 4 is more realistic here.

This was a more mature iteration of Rooney’s typical character studies, and is more grounded in the close, current world of politics, infrastructure, and class that we cannot at this point distance ourselves from when creating art and literature in this next decade. Rooney knows this, and has embraced the world in this book by asking us to love when our engrained systems of belief—be it political, spiritual, socioeconomic, or national—call for division.

Yet while she embraces the world and its complex relationships, she also leaves room for a little wishful thinking, a little more compassion, and a chance to indulge in happiness at a time when society has made such indulgences seem scarce. They’re not. The characters in Beautiful World can prove otherwise.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings