Review: Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
It is not easy to write a review of a publishing sensation like Sally Rooney, who has captured the hearts of readership in Europe and worldwide. Her latest book, however, has triggered me and I feel, in my small way, that I have a word to say about this publication, so today I have decided to dedicate a space to Beautiful World, Where Are You.
"What are your books about?" Felix asks Alice when he finds out she's a writer — I will tell you who these characters are in a snap. "People," she replies, and if it’s not Rooney herself who answers, maybe she would respond likewise. Sally Rooney has a wonderful gift for portraying people's everyday lives, their innermost thoughts, and sensibilities.
I, for one, am a great enthusiast of the power of description and its harmony. Rooney pays a lot of attention to gestures, which give vividness and theatricality to the characters. I usually admire those descriptions that convey the picturesqueness of the setting, that instill the atmosphere of the scene sharply in me. But here again, she succeeds with brief but efficacious pictures. For instance, chapter XV presents a decidedly cinematic introduction to Simon’s flat with sudden changes of scene, shifting the eye now to the plate soaking in the sink, the sweatshirt tossed haphazardly on the sofa, the ever-diminishing light fading and giving way to the darkness, until Simon enters and flicks the switch. The same technique is used repeatedly for the expansion of time, or its shortening. Dialogues, too, are interrupted by abrupt transitions that are nevertheless gracefully constructed. Now enough of my obsession with these technicalities and let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
Beautiful World, Where Are You is about two girls who do not believe in this beautiful world. In the first chapters we get to know them. Eileen, a young girl with a conceited sister, lives on what little she earns as an editor of a literary magazine by renting a room in a flat with another couple. Alice, who had only Eileen's loyal friendship during her childhood, is now a successful novelist. In between meetings across Europe, she takes refuge in a big house in the countryside near Dublin where she is trying to recover from a breakdown she first had in New York. Eileen and Alice are friends, but two friends of that unique intimacy where there is no room for tittle-tattling.
They share an intimacy made up of long e-mails on the most disparate topics: on their aspirations, on their scepticism towards society and religion, on history. It takes a certain intimacy to describe in detail the paintings you see in a museum, but also to tell how it feels, as an atheist, to accompany the person you love to mass. The unfolding of this friendship is told in an extremely orderly way, structurally speaking. Indeed, the novel is made up of alternating chapters: the account of Alice's daily life, Alice's e-mail to Eileen, Eileen's daily life and Eileen's e-mail to Alice, in succession, although there are not many time markers between the episodes. Plus, they are devoted just to some scattered salient moments.
Eileen's life revolves around and depends on Simon, her childhood best friend and a devoted Christian. He is the person she secretly loves, but won’t admit it. It is no wonder that Eileen, dissatisfied with her pseudo self-realisation, often dwells on her memories and will do so until she has resolved Simon's role in her life.
Alice's daily life is mainly related to Felix, a young man she met on Tinder and who seems to interpret her perfectly. Felix is the newest member of the group, he is getting closer to Alice and would eventually discover all three personalities, increasingly unveiling their frustrations. Felix plays a key role in the evolution of the narrative, because, as a new member of the group, he is the one of whom Rooney makes use to dig into the characters’ consciences.
Their relationships are intimate but tormented. However, their heartaches are only caused by themselves: by the ghosts of the past that cause distrust in happiness and fear of not being good enough. This leads to an extremely emotional moment, a breaking point where all the unspoken is brought to the surface, where the fragilities and the hidden sides emerge. And thus, stripped off of their armours, they all feel more fallible, and less lonely, for it is in our human vulnerability that we seek reconciliation. Their truer selves provide a chance for a new beginning and a happier life.
Beautiful World, Where Are You is a book that covers many aspects, but, from my perspective, the most fitting definition is that of a novel about human vulnerability in an overwhelming, imperfect world. The whole narrative is pervaded by a sense of mistrust towards today's society, a feeling of disenchantment shared by the new generations who consider their future in terms of climate change, work, motherhood, religion. There is not a right solution for a prosperous life, thus everyone seeks refuge from suffering and, for all intents and purposes, from their own psyche.
I have just read a nonfiction that deals with the spaces dedicated to women throughout modern history, specifically entitled Lo Spazio delle Donne (The Space of Women) and written by Daniela Brogi, where she writes in reference to Elena Ferrante's book My Brilliant Friend stating that “it is not simply about two friends: it recounts and examines Italy in the second half of the twentieth century through the relation of friendship between two women”. It was while reading this sentence that I realised that Beautiful World, Where Are You is exactly that.
Alice, Eileen, Simon and Felix are the filter through which we read our contemporary society, with discouraging and absolutely uncertain prospects almost distinctive of the Millennials. There must be a reason why I identified with their attitudes, especially in a post-pandemic period when keeping control of your life can be stressful and can make you rethink some principles and redraw some of your life plans. It is arguably her ability to interpret an entire generation that explains Rooney's popularity: people relate themselves to her verisimilar stories and realistic characters, and perhaps look for answers.
If there is a book that successfully encapsulates the mishmash of conflicting emotions, which we might all endure, it is this one. I recommend it to those who — like me —are facing a moment of bewilderment…but to everyone else too, because it is an intriguing journey through the doubts of existence, through emotions, physical enjoyments, and overall, through the vicissitudes of our nature as vulnerable individuals.
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