Book Review: "Beautiful World, Where Are You?" by Sally Rooney

I read Normal People and I hated it. I almost didn't finish the book and this was some time ago. Surprisingly, Beautiful World, Where Are You? was much much better. I found it more refreshing, Rooney's prose was more lyrical and didn't feel like I was reading something that felt unfinished, or at the least, untied like you stepped on your own shoelaces. At the time of writing this review, my bed is covered in other books and I'm listening the the 1980s radio station on my phone which is playing the Pet Shop Boys' version of Always on My Mind. But I'm still thinking about Sally Rooney's book that, at this point, I finished a few days ago. That's probably something. There's a lot to unpack here...

The parallels between Alice, the main character and the author are probably on purpose but I'm just throwing it out there to shine a light on it. In the midst of everything that is happening in the world, there is the existential question that floats about of how one could possibly lead a meaningful and artistic life whilst this is happening. Of course, our protagonist is also a novelist and when she meets Felix for a date, there is definitely a trepidation she takes to answering his questions fully. This is something I quite like about her, she is coversational only when she needs to be. It's different, it's new and it's maybe developing another side to the character that will return later, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Can intimacy survive the global collapse? Can it be genuine? Can it be 'authentic'? Who knows. Alice definitely does not but she's going to test the waters so we don't have to. Relationship experiments are common as the clocks running backwards is impossible but the fact remains that Alice is doing it for realistic reasons - not those we see thrown around social media. She is more refined. Which to me, only makes it more satirical. I'm not sure whether the author has done that on purpose but it's definitely funny.

There's a big difference between Alice and our other 'hook' character, Eileen who, instead of focusing on these existential crises of the middle class, actually worries more about her self-image more than anything else. Simon is a man who is older than Eileen, and once upon a time there was something of a possible love maybe kind of romance thing going on between them and there seems to be quiet chances to half-rekindle it which sets off all kinds of alarm bells in the reader, as it should. Eileen's view of this is constantly under distress and we get a whole dynamic of misalignment happening. I love how the author is clearly aligning these women together but with differences in themselves. The power of self-image in a world that no longer values the creatives can be a powerful one. I have always thought about it like this: when you were locked down in your home, who did you turn to for entertainment, to get you through it? Doctors? Lawyers? Nope, you turned to the creatives and begged us to entertain you.

I can't believe I said 'us'. I'm not a creative.

There are these long letters/emails between the two characters that argue about things like: capitalism, art, inequality, religion, aesthetics, and ecological collapse. The title is referenced over and over again, the reader is meant to understand whether it is possible to retain this idea of a beautiful world in a world that is clearly falling apart everywhere we look. It's the near-perfect book for the year of 2024/5 because it has been a horrific year to say the least for almost everyone. As Alice invites Felix on a trip to Rome, there seems to be even more of a disconnection as Felix feels alienated by her world. Felix is clearly uncomfortable, which makes the relationship not only feel rocky, but also makes us feel something about the fact that there is a clear ideological divide between these two people - they are not compatible. It's written brilliantly though, so I can't fault it.

It's all made even worse by Alice's sense of self-loathing, which sends her into spirals. I can say I've honestly experienced this level of self-loathing and it is horrific for everyone who happens to be around at the time. I can only feel for them, which only makes you feel worse for being a 'burden' as well. It's nothing good at all. Eventually, Eileen and Alice grow apart. There's something about adult relations that we all understand in this and when you read it, you'll understand too.

As you come to the end of the novel, you will notice all these little literary symbols that have littered the text. There's the pathetic fallacy, the emails representing communication in the modern world and how detached it truly is as we all stare at screens, Alice's house as a safe-haven for nobody but her - somewhere where she can hide from the world and remove her public face and the fact that even though Simon is the only outwardly religious character - there is definitely an anchor pulling each of these characters into an ideology they basically make their whole personality - whether it makes them compatible with others or more distant from them.