'Beautiful World, Where Are You?' by Sally Rooney- Deep Dive and Review

Hi, I'm Bob, and I caved and read the new Sally Rooney book, and ended up thoroughly enjoying it.

Sally Rooney- Beautiful World, Where Are You?

--

Thank you for watching! You can also support my channel by buying your books through the following links (please note, these are affiliate links, so I will get a small percentage of the cost, but it will not affect the price of the book!)

You can also find me on Twitter at @wordbib and on the below:

[Thebadactress]

I find it hard to collect my thoughts on it. This was great :) I really liked the book. (as someone who raves about Normal People, but didn't like CWF as much...) I still went into it not sure. I liked it more as it got further into the story. I thought some of the tangents were a bit out there / smart for 2 friends talking! And I liked the emails less than I thought. I liked the relationships and the vulnerability between the characters. There was a page that made me cry when the two women are reunited at the train station. It's kind of what you said, complications but importance of adult / female friendship. I haven't known what to pick up since !

[EricKarlAnderson]

I’m glad you decided to read it and you enjoyed so many things about it. Great to hear your reaction to it. The simmering resentment between friends was really well handled and the way Alice secretly takes great pride in her success and looks down on others and that shows her real insecurity and the way money subtly warps relationship and self value.

[cherylynlarking]

I have just purchased the book and was deliberating whether I should start it or read some of myTBR list. Your explanation and descriptions of the characters and their values and relationships has bumped it to the top of my reading list. Thanks.

[naatsalazar]

I really liked your perspective and review from this book! I finished it today, I genuinely really enjoyed it. It is interesting to see the development of adult friendships. Also until watching your video I understood how much social class affected their relationship (Alice and Eileen) obviously money and class is a big theme in the story. But now I can fully grasp the idea that because of the system they are part of and the place each of them belong, it affects how they view the world. And at a certain point they resent each other because they do not see the others perspective. This is why I like watching reviews, thank you!

[incandenzabookclub]

I LOVED all those disclaimers :D And the sunlight :)

[Dottiemi]

I very much devoured Normal People and tell all my friends to read it. You make this sound like a book I would really love, but unfortunately I just didn’t!! I’m still trying to process why that is. It is a book I will think about for some time to come. Thanks for your review, I enjoyed listening to your thoughts.

[josmith]

I’ve only read her short story Mr Salary which I thought was great but am still thinking I won’t be a fan of the novels- with no real basis for this 😊. It’s funny how that doesn’t prevent me from listening and enjoying a really good review of one of her books though 🤔

[jenniferlovesbooks]

I really liked Conversations With Friends and DNF'D Normal People. I will probably get to this one in a few years time 😂

[jacquelinemcmenamin]

I’m currently listening to Beautiful World Where Are You and I’ve got side tracked by Bewilderment ( which is 🤩)

[TK-kfzc]

This feels to me like something unmarried millenials in their 20s and early 30s would completely identify with. Then there is the rest of us. I am fine with that.

[SpringboardThought]

Angelic Bob enters the room.
Haha yeah, for me, war/military fiction is just a no for me. Why read books you can’t accept it on its own terms? Makes no sense. Sentencing yourself to a bad time is a rough way to treat yourself.

I did think the theme here was so exactly what I wanted this year. I found it so hard to talk about, you did a much better job than I did, imo! I agree with you on all points. It was fascinating to get like deep seeded generational anxieties cleverly nested into their identities. I loved how Felix’s vulnerabilities was so small, but so meaningful. Like just the fact that Alice cares when he was all cut up, and nobody else does in his life. And like Simon and Elaine having this taboo thing stemming from childhood and family. Ugh. I just liked so much about it.

I’m a sucker for Irish accents too. Say Nothing 👌🏻

[johncrwarner]

Did you get the "bucket hat"?