Beautiful World Where Are You || Sally Rooney || Book review

0:00 Intro
2:08 Red flag
6:45 My other currently reading books

Okay, so I mentioned on Twitter my issue with this book, and some people responded mentioning other books they liked that didn't use quotation marks either.

The first (and I haven't verified this, but it rings true) was Cormac McCarthy "The Road". I read a chunk of that book and DNF'd it. I'm not quite sure what the final straw for me was, maybe indeed it was the absence of quotation marks, but that book to me felt less like a novel, and almost more like poetry or flash fiction, or a collection of flash fiction stories all themed around this journey. Point is, that book was different, kind of artsy. It wasn't quite for me, but I could see some people liking it, and I mentioned that book specifically to a member of a writing group I was in, because the book to me sounded 100% like it could have been something he would write. He wrote flash fiction, and his tone and pacing, his writing voice, perfectly matched McCarthy's style I felt.

The other book without quotation marks someone mentioned was Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. This needless to say alarmed me, because I recently got a signed copy of Angela's Ashes, it is on the list of 1,000 books to read before you die, and is on my 2022 to-read list.

The one possible saving grace I'll say for that book is at least it's a memoirs. My issue with a lack of quotation marks is I will be reading, thinking it's narration when it's actually dialogue, BUT in a memoirs, the dialogue actually IS a part of the narration. I take issue with no quotation marks in a novel. Novels, even those set in 1st person, need quotation marks I believe. Angela's Ashes is a memoirs, so it could work without them, though I'd still incline to want quotation marks. We'll see if I can tolerate that book because of it. "The Road" by McCarthy, that book was different anyway, less a novel and more poetry, and more artsy than anything. Therefore The Road could get away with being more abstract, to use an art term. Still, I stand by my preference for quotation marks. I will die on this hill.

[Wanderwilderreading]

I totally get not being able to get past the dialogue. For some reason, it didn’t bother me, but now I’m questioning why it didn’t 😂

[shaunholt]

8:29 I like how it looks as if Drizzle (lower right bird) is looking down at the book at this precise moment.

[harrietsbookcorner]

I’m usually the same way with popular modern books, in that they pretty much always seem to be super overhyped, yet I still buy some 😂 for example, I purchased this book. I’ve yet to read it, but I have read her two other books. I quite enjoy Rooney’s character development and how flawed the characters are, but am maybe not 100% sold on the writing style.
Great video ☺️