Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney

This is the second Sally Rooney book that I have read, the first being Conversations with Friends, the TV series of Normal People having piqued my interest in her.

Bizarrely, I remember being underwhelmed by CWF and yet I have given it 4 stars so it must have been her writing that I liked, rather than the story itself. Sometimes my reviews are based on what I draw out of it rather than what I get out of it, if that makes sense: they are harder work and may not have such strong appeal for me personally as a reader, but I can sense that the writing is good.

However, Beautiful World, Where Are You? I thoroughly enjoyed and this came as somewhat of a surprise as I was expecting it to be a dour, unprepossessing read, it having been recommended to me “as a professional book reviewer (!)” by others to assess as they had found it boring, and they were eager to see what it was they were missing.

It is about four people: Annie, Felix, Eileen and Simon. Eileen and Simon have known each other a long time, Simon being a little older than Eileen and remembering her being born, whereas Annie and Felix meet on a dating app. Eileen and Annie are friends from university but are pursuing different lives. They communicate via email but there is a sense that there is some unresolved tension between them as they don’t seek each other out. Simon is a civil servant, solid, quiet and a man of faith, and Felix works in a warehouse and is a little wayward, although charismatic.

The narrative moves between the four and scenes are shared where the couples interact and usually, a reflective email from either Eileen or Annie is in between these episodes. Annie is a writer and Eileen an editorial assistant on a literary publication and so, the narrative is at times high brow with references to Dostoevsky, Proust and Henry James, to name a couple. I rather liked this; it made me feel educated.

What I got from this book was an intensity and a sense of what drives (or what doesn’t drive) relationships. Rooney is an astute observer of human behaviour and translates that into characters who are flawed and honest and scared and this all transmutes into a read that, for this reader, struck at her core; not because I necessarily identified with the characters but because of the realness of the depiction of them and the situations in which they find themselves with each other. I had a grasp of them from their dialogue and the delves into their past and whilst I may not have warmed to them, I enjoyed looking at what their lives held for them and for those around them that shared that existence.

I also liked the way it ended, which did surprise me too as I was anticipating something less settled and, and this is telling, I was sad when I reached the last page. Satisfied but sad.

I would recommend especially if you like character-driven books with a philosophical and literary leaning; if not, steer clear!

Rachel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars