Two uncertain couples move towards commitment in this compelling anatomy of love. Alice is a successful novelist, with two best sellers under her belt. She wearily does the literary circuits and fronts up for photo shoots, but finds herself unhappy despite her success. She lives alone. One night she goes on a date with a stranger she met on Tinder. Felix works in a warehouse and doesn't read books, in many ways the polar opposite of Alice. The date, it seems, is a flop at first. But the two run into each other later and start an uncertain relationship. Eileen is Alice's best friend. She works as an editor at a niche literary magazine, earning a pittance. She's struggling to articulate her feelings for her childhood friend, Simon, who she grew up with. Simon is a decent fellow and a practising Catholic. His only flaw is that he can be emotionally withdrawn. Not cold, but slightly reserved and unable to fully declare himself. He is already in a non-committal relationship with another woman, but is also hooking up with Eileen. The two women, Alice and Eileen, carry on a correspondence via email that often becomes philosophical, discussing religion, economics, politics, science, global warming, friendship and sex. There is a physical reserve between the friends as they do not see each other very often, even though they live in the same city. Nonetheless the friendship is intensely close, even if this intimacy manifests itself more in words than a human presence. As with so many preternaturally gifted writers, it's hard to put one's finger on why Sally Rooney's writing is so addictive and appealing. She has a clean, almost clinical prose, describing in fine detail her characters' movements, motives and manoeuvres. Jane Austen kept coming to mind as the small world of this novel was fleshed out, the quiet struggles of four people trying to overcome themselves – their vulnerabilities and anxieties – to find lasting love. Again, one thinks of the convoluted misunderstandings and sensitive egos that make up the plot of Pride and Prejudice, until all is resolved with marriage. In Rooney's novel, the characters peel back the layers to reveal their flaws and blind spots, allowing them to examine more clearly where they have injured others, and as a consequence, injured themselves. Like all truthful revelations, this is a painful process, and as with all classic novels, everyone comes out the other end a slightly different, if not better person. A novel that concentrates on the myriad emotional difficulties of opening up to others and forming close relationships. Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney. Published by Faber. $29.99 Comments are closed.
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