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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
9,164 global ratings
5 star
26%
4 star
32%
3 star
27%
2 star
11%
1 star
4%
Beautiful World, Where Are You: from the internationally bestselling author of Normal People

Beautiful World, Where Are You: from the internationally bestselling author of Normal People

bySally Rooney
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Top positive review

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Danger Mouse
4.0 out of 5 starsDoesn’t stray far from the author’s other two novels
Reviewed in Australia on 30 September 2021
If you are a fan of Irish millennial author, Sally Rooney, and her other two novels, Conversation with friends, and, Normal people, you are probably in for a treat. That is, unless you felt that these two works said everything you wanted hear on love, friendship and living as an intellectual, hip, 20 something in Ireland in our current times. All in all, the latest novel is an easy read. The style is economical and lean, like a contemporary Hemingway. It probably plays to Rooney’s strength in not straying to far thematically or narratively from Rooney’s other works. Worth a read.
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2 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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MissyT
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
2.0 out of 5 starsDidn't get all the hyper about this one.
Reviewed in Australia on 15 September 2021
My first taste of Sally Rooney and sadly, probably my last. I didn't enjoy this book at all. I found it long winded and aimless (I feel like I was missing the point of it all?) Characters were obnoxious and not even likeable so I struggled to take to any of them. Those long winded emails were a drag to read! Started losing patience halfway in, and it didn't get any better. Ended up skimming the rest just to finish it. Here's a quick summary - Four people: they like each other, don't like each other, are intimate, then not intimate, and somewhat depressed. And that's it. Ending didn't offer any resolve or bring anything new.
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9 people found this helpful

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Neasa MacErlean
5.0 out of 5 stars Flawed but well worth reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2021
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Quite flawed, repeating themes from other Sally Rooney works but also moving and brilliant. The main character, novelist Alice, says at one stage that she only ever had a couple of ideas. If this is autobiographical, then I think Sally Rooney did have some great ideas (close observation of character; great focus on sex) and that she needs to expand on them in order not to repeat herself too much. But there are great themes here — the friends who love and distrust and trust each other; a relationship between a middle class woman (a novelist) and a working class man (who works in a meat processing company), and whether it can overcome the barriers it is built upon; making a relationship out of online dating....
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2021
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This is Rooney's best book by far. The themes are so relevant and the dialogue/interplay between characters is scintillating. Loved the style of the prose and the depth of themes discussed. Don't understand some of the mixed reviews true Sally Rooney fans will adore this
3 people found this helpful
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Nick Alexander
5.0 out of 5 stars Unashamedly intelligent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 December 2021
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After some early hesitation, I finished “Beautiful world where are you?” and I have to say I liked it a lot. It is unashamedly intelligent and describes the lives of clever educated people worrying alternately about their mundane life dramas and the state of the world. It isn’t always an easy read (the format can be challenging at times). So I can see why people might think it’s boring or pretentious but perhaps that’s more a critique of current literary fashions than of Rooney’s writing. Being clever, politically aware, and thoughtful (or woke, even) aren’t fashionable right now. Many bestsellers seem to be formulaic genre stories about good “ordinary” people written in an easily understandable format with a nice little twist at the end. So I suppose ultimately I think Rooney has been brave to just write what she wants in the way she wants. And I’m glad she did.
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Tony Cook
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent insight
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2021
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An extraordinary and honest account of the complexity of relationships. Economic writing that captures every facet of emotional shifts with mature and sometimes disturbing insight. It gets under your skin. A kind of perfection.
3 people found this helpful
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TWAnov1968
5.0 out of 5 stars Flawed people there you are!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 May 2022
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I love SR's writing first and foremost. love the continuity, I love scurrying back over what she's wrote to take it in again. It is an ordinary story about similar people trying to live. I think the Felix character is inspired, another super achiever would have been a disaster balance wise. he adds menace and threat at times because you think this is a story about people destined to struggle for the great achievement in life.

SR is a brave writer with fantastic balance. I think the email passages are possibly what make other readers annoyed, however they are the rest needed in a novel that to me was so charged with emotion from the female characters. I love the wit and seriousness of the conversations and how she describes their movements and laughter when all is not amusing or enjoyable. I am glad I read this book, I was invested in SR's writing first and the rest was a fine bonus. I know readers want it all worked out but that's closed and less stimulating than this surely?
Thank you for writing.
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Jane Napier
5.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 November 2021
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I had been waiting for this book with such excitement and it is a beautiful thing to hold in your hands.

I was disappointed because I felt the ending was trite. Sally Rooney is intellectually so rigorous so I felt that the ending let the book down. I think I may be in a minority though, as I know a lot of people were delighted with the ending. I will read anything she ever writes though!
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Andrew Gillespie
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant although different to previous novels
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 October 2021
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I loved the first two novels and really looked forward to her third.
Really liked this one but for different reasons.
It is different. On the positive the email exchanges between the two female main characters managed to take me to a deeper intellectual and emotionally intense place that I have never experienced in any other novel.

Unfortunately for whatever reason I ended up not caring about the main characters as much as I did in the first two novels but perhaps it was because she had set such a high bar?

I also couldn’t help being distracted on Alice’s possible similarities with the author … I’ve since read an interview (Irish Times) and I think this has happened to quite a few readers.

Anyway - loved it, recommended.
One person found this helpful
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Myfka1984
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 September 2021
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Th reason I love Sally Rooney is because she speaks to me through her work, her books relate with people so much. I love how sometimes her books are confusing and also warm my heart all at once. You can not fall in love with certain characters, each of them you love for so many different reasons. Her books are smart, witty, they make you think. The sentences are long but brilliantly constructed. Definitely a must read!
2 people found this helpful
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John Millard
5.0 out of 5 stars Drench in detail. Brilliant!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2021
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Only read the first 100 pages, and by far one of the best reads for me this year.
The dialogue between character’s is brilliant. The specific yet minute detail is brilliant really draws you into the narrative.
2 people found this helpful
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Lillysouth
5.0 out of 5 stars Another triumph for Rooney
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2021
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If I say this is the “softest” of Rooney’s books, it is not an insult. The absolute heart of this book is love and friendship. The said and the unsaid. It’s here. Lyrically and also logically. I enjoyed every word.
One person found this helpful
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