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I‘m so sorry. I could not find anything redeeming about the characters in this story. These are four people, three of whom are lackluster, existing in lackluster romances with each other. It‘s obvious that they settled and I just wanted to scream at them to get on with their lives. #goodreadschoiceawardsbookclub

Not sure I like how this is written. I'm having a hard time connecting with the characters. I feel like you are looking at them through a window. Just getting cold observations.
Maybe the book gets better by the end.

Eta: It did not get better. I did get used to the style of writing. It's just not my jam. This book is depressing.
(Also I must add-I do not like Felix. 😬)⭐⭐

I like the writing style more than the story itself. I like the cover as well!

“Just don‘t get stressed!”

I didn‘t really like the characters in this, they felt a bit juvenile for their age, although at the same time they were realistic. Loved the ending - that turned it from a so-so into a pick. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was a fan of Normal People. I love quality fiction that is unique and subversive. So I was keen to read Beautiful World.

However this one didn‘t quite work for me. The four main characters weren‘t developed enough for me to know and invest in them. They felt somewhat whiney and annoying. Maybe I‘m just too old to ‘get‘ them?

The writing was good. There was just something missing here for me 🤷‍♀️🤔.

Ugh.I hate leaving a bad review.I really didnt enjoy this book After reading it,I ask myself “what was the point?”.I feel like I‘ve just read about a bunch of people living very ordinary, uneventful lives.I know I wouldnt have finished this book if I didnt own a hard copy.The chapters were extremely long, and there wasn‘t much dialogue,so it was long paragraph after long paragraph.Im not sure what genre this book is, but it‘s definitely not for me

It was a close call for today‘s match. With 11 to 10 votes our winner is Beautiful World, Where Are You. Again we differ from the judges‘ choice in the real #ToB22! In this case it isn‘t that surprising I think, as they almost never favour the more mainstream novels. What do you think of the judges‘ comments?

Chelsea wants the Rooney to be this year‘s winner so for her it‘s a good thing that the book is one step closer in getting there!

Day 2 of the Morning News Tournament of Books! Today it is Beautiful World, Where Are You vs. In Concrete.

Beautiful World, Where Are You surprised me with its thoughtfulness about female friendship & led me to reflect that I, too, wouldn't know who I was without my best friends.

In Concrete forced me to read an entire chapter about spitting.

I'm rooting for Beautiful World, Where Are You.

I don‘t know if I‘m going to be able to get very far with this book; I already abhor the way it‘s written - no quotation marks, really? Also, the writing in general sounds…off, to me - and I just…don‘t know. Any input on whether or not I should keep going? 😬 #beautifulworldwhereareyou #sallyrooney

I found this novel surprisingly annoying. The characters are self-absorbed and engage in weaponized armchair psychology in their short-lived disagreements. The lockdown is tacked on at the end in order, I think, to make the book seem timely. The whole thing feels melodramatic and adolescent, soft-core intimate encounters interspersed with tantrums. #ToB2022

A book that let me down, because I started it thinking it will go one way, and midway through I thought maybe it would go another way, and because I think Rooney is talented and smart, the ending feels like a capitulation. Explained myself better in my GR review, I hope: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4536317963

A so-so instead of a pan because for large parts of the book I was invested.

Don‘t know why I couldn‘t get into it. I tried really hard for my love of Sally Rooney, especially with Normal People. Her other two books suck you in; the characters hit you right in the gut with aloofness in bizarre situations that ends up being so relatable. I didn‘t get the same depth here. A lot of rambling too (which was also the case in CWF) that got confusing because of how it‘s written. Wish I could‘ve loved it, but not for me.

Controversial opinion I know but for me the best of Rooney‘s novels to date. It was pitch perfect on negotiating sexual relationships when the norm of heterosexual marriage has lost power and on engaging with meta politics when individual young people feel so powerless. Beautifully written eminently quotable and important.

Book 16

A book about four 30-somethings-friendship, life, mental health, and relationships. The characters aren't incredibly interesting or likable. The book was fine but could have been better.

⭐⭐⭐

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There is something about the precision and frankness of Rooney‘s writing that draws me in. At times affected, but often remarkably insightful, it‘s such a quotable book. Admittedly, it‘s not really about anything, but it‘s also about the only thing that really matters - finding the beauty and simplicity in the way we love each other in this (at times) depressing world.

I honestly wanted to like Beautiful World, but for me it was pretty bad. #ItHadToBeYou #JanuaryStats @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #tob22

I really enjoyed Rooney‘s first 2 books, but It took me forever to work my way through this one. I‘m not sure why, but I found myself just not caring nearly as much, which didn‘t exactly Lori ate me to finish the book! But finish i finally did. Third person omniscient is not my favorite POV, and parts felt like it was straight out of a script instead of a novel. Yet, there was enough I liked to hang in there till the end. #tob2022 #tobshortlist

Two non-spoilerish thoughts so far:

1. I want to put on my HIV educator hat and give all of these characters a safe sex talk.

2. All this talk of travelling to Rome, London, Paris, etc is frustrating, as we‘ve tried multiple times since 2019 to plan both a European and Middle East trip and Covid keeps interfering. #jealous

#tob #tobshortlist

10 stars

Damn. I really wanted to love this book but it just wasn't meant to be. I found all of the existential chatter exhausting and a bit pretentious. A character driven novel where half of the characters are cringey most of the time. I probably would have enjoyed it more had it been completely about Eileen and Simon, with Alice on the periphery and Felix gone altogether. I loved Normal People but I'm beginning to think that was an anomaly. #BOTM ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can't say that I'm "enjoying" this book per se (I'm not quite sure what to think of it honestly), but this quote caught me off guard because it hits a little too close to home ?

Feeling normal for once. Reading in a Upper West Side coffee shop like pre pandemic 💕. Haven‘t done that in sooo long. Enjoying the existential conversations between the protagonists.

#sallyrooney #intellectual #coffeeshop #nyc

I really enjoyed Normal People because of the relationships Rooney portrayed.

This book was tedious for me to finish and the only redeeming quality of the story was the email exchanges. I felt that had more depth than the rest of the book.

I just kept asking myself why I cared about any of these characters and now that I've finished I can appreciate her writing, but this book just didn't work for me. #ToB2022 #ToB22

absolutely loved this. i understand why people think rooney is pretentious (she is). but i am too, so i really really loved this.

I found the first hundred pages -- when one of the main characters, Alice, who seems to be a Rooney stand-in, was at her most insufferable -- a bit of a slog. But I really loved Eileen, the co-protagonist, and as the book continued I even warmed up to Alice. The most interesting parts of the book are the letters the two women write to each other, with exchanges not just about the men in their lives but about the world around them.

This book didn‘t interest me, but I read for TOB, so factor that in to my response. It‘s clear that Rooney writes well and is compelling, but the shallow, angsty interactions of the characters are so different from the thoughtful, deep, interesting email exchanges between the two friends, that they almost didn‘t feel like the same people. I liked it more than I expected to, but I won‘t be running to pick up her other books.

Maybe it was always going to be that way, and there was never anything we could have done. It makes me think about the first day I ever saw you, and I remember the knitted green cardigan I was wearing, and the hairband you had in your hair. I mean the life we‘ve had since then, together and not together—whether it was already there with us that day.

I'm still not 100% sold on this book but it is awfully quotable. #morningreads

When we should have been reorganising the distribution of the world‘s resources and transitioning collectively to a sustainable economic model, we were worrying about sex and friendship instead. Because we loved each other too much and found each other too interesting. And I love that about humanity, and in fact it‘s the very reason I root for us to survive—because we are so stupid about each other. #morningreads

I'm beginning to believe that contemporary romance isn't for me. The ones I love are few and far between.

Finally finished after starting in September! This is well written but literary romance is just not my thing I‘ve realized. Rooney herself seems to understand there is more to life than romantic angst but she can‘t seem convince herself. She‘s an interesting writer and I will be curious to see what she has to say with maturity. I do like this more than Conversations w Friends bc of Rooneys evolving self awareness #tob2022

About a quarter of the way into this and I am not really sold on it yet. The writing is good but I think I wasn't ready to pick up a book with so many unlikable characters immediately after All's Well. #morningreads

Rooney manages to once again capture the aimlessness of everyday life and heartbreak, this time making the argument that both are worth celebrating. Beautiful World, Where Are You? seems to have no plot, but that might be the point. Set during the present day, this is a story about four friends navigating love, depression, and musing over what makes life worth living.

In some ways this felt like a combination of her two previous novels, focusing simultaneously on the complications of friendships and romantic relationships. It felt like she was experimenting more with description and setting. It also felt more ambitious in position, if not scope, like she's defending her art and why, as a serious person, as civilization is ending, she writes about relationships. I bought it, but I am also an ardent fan.

The view from this morning's reading spot. Wish I was reading something spooky and atmospheric to go along with the thick fog. Relaxing on my family's ranch in deep South Texas for the weekend.

Saturday morning vibes. 😺
(Finally reading tagged book and my Sally Rooney crush is still going strong.)

Yeah, I liked it.❤️ But yea, there is something about Rooney‘s writing that is uncomfortable, or inspires cynical annoyance? Not really, but I tried to read this for why she seems to really provoke strong (negative) reactions. 😂 #tob2022 #IrishLit #relationships (also, VERY interesting to read this at the same time as The Mermaid Chair due to thoughts on Catholic religion.) And?! “She looked around at him.” Huh?

I don‘t know how to review this book….I love Sally Rooney‘s writing but I can‘t explain what this book is about. Saying it is about relationships between four people sounds simplistic. But that‘s really it. And her writing is simple and. sublime at the same. I liked her descriptions of authors literary lives. Being praised for writing about normal everyday lives but no longer living in that world at all. Interesting.

“I offer no defence of coercive heterosexual monogamy, except that it was at least a way of doing things, a way of seeing life through. What do we have now? Instead? Nothing.”

I'm definitely a Sally Rooney's fan

I really enjoyed this new Sally Rooney. She gets modern love and friendships and the way she presents them seems so real like you are part of the friend group. I hope she will be writing more.

Getting my #BookSpinBingo game ON! I didn‘t do great with December‘s 😞 (nor November, for that matter 😨) But it‘s fun and does help me gather all my challenges into each month‘s possibilities. Now that I think about it, I need to fill one of the filler spots for a #readict challenge book… 🤔

Mixed reviews but my fangirl adoration of Rooney continues! Complicated friendships, the minutiae of every complex thought about romantic entanglements, all the messy, confusing relationship stuff, is just totally my jam.
Alice, Felix, Eileen & Simon, navigate millennial life, express every thought yet somehow miscommunicate, and struggle to completely connect. I loved the third person POV, paired with the emails between best friends. Loved it.

I choose my favourite read from each month to come up with my best reads of the year #12bestof2021

I choose my favourite read from each month to come up with my best reads of the year #12bestof2021

Beautifully written descriptions of modern relationships that are not so easy to define. Lots of sex scenes that are somewhat detailed so If that isn‘t for you maybe skip this one.

Not my favorite of Sally Rooney‘s books, but still good. The epistolary sections did not really work for me, but overall the prose is as brilliant as always.

This is the first Sally Rooney book I‘ve read and I really enjoyed it. The dialogue in emails between the friends were my favourite part. I like how they put on paper their wonderings about life. It felt like it ended abruptly, but she still wrapped it up nicely for me because it was another email correspondence. I liked that the book wasn‘t overly optimistic, which surprised me. I‘m a fan of a happy ending. It did have one, just not as bright.