I have no doubt Sally Rooney has prodigious talent. Parts of her latest novel read as if they could have been written by one of Ireland's greats, such as Colm Tóibín, and, she's only 30. However, much of Beautiful World, Where Are You is also a bit tiresome, almost a recreation of Normal People, but with a slightly older cast of characters. I could not help thinking at times that surely not everyone — and certainly not all of Rooney's literary creations — has (to have) such a complicated love life. Sure, there is a quest for normality, which can be elusive (and Rooney sought somewhat to define in her prior work), but it can be more straightforward than she suggests. Problematic emotional affairs also jar somewhat with the mundanity of life often described by Rooney: (bus journeys, snacks, etc.). Her meditations on beauty — aesthetic versus material, actual versus perceived, and its subjectivity — came across at times as if it were a student discoursing on Benjamin and Adorno. Further, the epistolatory exchanges between two of the characters were rendered duller than they needed to be, given their seeming agreement on most matters, which also served as a platform for Rooney's Marxist agenda. If you, as an author, have talent, don't waste it. Seven and a half out of ten.
By Sally Rooney