My Amazon and Goodreads review of Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney (Rated 5) – Ruminative People. In Beautiful World, Where Are You? Sally Rooney introduces readers to four flawed but engaging characters: Eileen, Alice, Simon, and Felix. At times they connect; at others, they glance off one another. Their behavior is kind, but sporadically cruel. They are competent, even talented and successful people, who are nevertheless self-doubting and dissatisfied. Hence the title. Rooney captures the emotions we unleash on ourselves and others, whether calculated or beyond our control. As a novelist myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I’m a big fan of Rooney’s signature style, that is, ruminative characters. Here she portrays them through obsessive interior monologues and most notably in the correspondence between the two women. Beautiful World is a deep study of love and friendship. How we depend on them, how we question their sincerity. The answer to the title’s question isn’t belabored but quietly emerges in the pages of Rooney’s honest and thoughtful book.
Interior monologues and epistolary dialogues answer the book’s title question
Why writers read: “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” – Fran Lebowitz
