Hello world. I enthusiastically write to you today to admit that I am now a Sally Rooney fan!! The verdict was still out after her first two novels, Normal People (which I read first) and Conversations With Friends. After Normal People left me in a state of mild disappointment (maybe it was the hype from the reading community), I decided to give Rooney another chance by the request of a friend (thanks, Macy). I ended up adoring Conversations With Friends and wondering if my distaste for Normal People was a fluke. All of this is to say that I have been waiting for Beautiful World, Where Are You for ages. I put a lot of pressure on it. Would this book make me fall in love with Rooney or give up on her forever (dun dun dun)? I am happy to share it is the former.
I loved this book. That Rooney magic that I felt in Conversations With Friends prevailed in Beautiful World- she somehow is capable of making me feel melancholy, hopeful, understood, extraordinary, and regular all at once. This effect is unique to Rooney alone. No other author has made me feel so much at once. Rooney turns tales of our mundane lives into a story worth telling. This was yet another novel where nothing particularly big happens, but every moment feels huge due to Rooney’s way with words. I find such comfort in this aspect of her novels. I realize that I am so, so not alone. Everyone is really just trying to make it through. Our quirky friendships and complicated relationships along the way can feel so monumental for us. But in reality, they are just like everyone else’s. Rooney manages to convey this in a way that makes the sentiment “we are all the same” so much deeper and so much more true. Her novels make me feel connected to humankind in a way I don’t feel anywhere else.
This book was about four characters, all connected through friendship and romance, and sometimes both. Alice is a troubled writer who just wants love. Felix is a little bit of a lost soul who isn’t sure he can give Alice what she needs. Eileen is an under-appreciated friend lost in a misunderstanding with her childhood love. Simon doesn’t realize what he wants is right in front of him. At times it was painful to watch these four interact. I just wanted to grab them by the shoulders and tell them to get a grip. But they did in the end, more or less. And that realism is what I appreciate the most about each of Rooney’s novels.
I could ramble on about this forever, and probably will with my bookworm friends and instagram DM companions. I finished this book about thirty minutes ago, and maybe I should have given myself more time to collect my thoughts, but I’m not going to. This is my raw reaction and I wish I could stay in Sally Rooney’s universe a little bit longer. In her books I know I’m going to be okay.
xx, Lauren
Comments