Unfortunately, the ‘profound’ results of the friends’ convoluted ponderings are often a slog to get through. However, they predominantly consist of intellectual musings, touching on themes as varied as ancient history, Henry James, climate anxiety, biblical tales and late-stage capitalism. These emails in part deal with their personal lives, including Alice’s relationship with warehouse worker Felix, and Eileen’s on and off again relationship with her childhood friend Simon.
Much of the novel is epistolary, consisting of lengthy emails sent between Alice and Eileen. “All too often, the characters in Beautiful World feel like paper thin sketches serving as mouthpieces for certain themes, rather than engrossing human beings in their own right”Īs denoted by its earnest title (taken from a 1788 Friedrich Schiller poem), Beautiful World takes itself far more seriously than either of its predecessors.
Very few, if any, recent novels have been as widely anticipated as the follow-up to the critically lauded Conversations with Friends (2017) and Normal People (2018), from which the hugely popular BBC series was adapted. Walk into any Waterstones in the UK and you’ll be met by a huge blue and yellow poster, and a display table promoting Sally Rooney’s third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You? The book follows two best friends in their late twenties: Alice, a reclusive, famous novelist and Eileen, who works for a pittance at a literary journal.
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