A new book review from The Movie Snob.
Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney (2021). Rooney is a successful young Irish writer, and this is her third novel. I had a vague idea that she is a Millennial author who writes stories about Millennials coming of age, but I was inspired to buy this book after reading a short magazine article that remarked on (1) the book’s several references to religion and religious yearning and (2) the way the substantial press coverage of the novel ignored that angle. Anyhoo, I saw the paperback on sale at Target and picked it up. It is not wholly successful, in my estimation. It’s about two thirtyish women, who are best friends going back to their college days, and the two guys they get romantically involved with. One of the women is a successful novelist, and she (rather unbelievably) gets involved with an unbookish warehouse worker. The other woman gets involved with a fellow she has known (and been in love with) since childhood. This fellow is a serious Catholic, which is in part where the religion angle comes in. There are several detailed sex scenes, which surprised me a bit but is apparently characteristic of Rooney’s work. Anyhoo, I didn’t think it was a great book, but it held my interest well enough.
The Movie Court 