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Beautiful World, Where Are You

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Beautiful World, Where Are You
First UK edition
AuthorSally Rooney
LanguageEnglish
PublisherFaber and Faber; Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date
7 September 2021
Preceded byNormal People 

Beautiful World, Where Are You is a novel by Irish author Sally Rooney. It was released on 7 September 2021.[1][2][3] The book was a New York Times and IndieBound bestseller.[4]

Synopsis

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The work tells the story of Alice Kelleher, an Irish novelist, and her best friend Eileen Lydon, an editor at a literary magazine. In alternating chapters are descriptions of their lives and emails they send each other. The two other important characters are Kelleher's new lover Felix Brady, who works at a warehouse, and Lydon's friend Simon Costigan, who works for a refugee agency.[3][5] In The Guardian, Anthony Cummins describes the novel's structure as a "love quadrangle" between Kelleher and Brady, on the one hand; and Lydon and Costigan, on the other.[6]

Beautiful World's themes include romance, friendship, precarity, and social class.[7] The title comes from a poem by Friedrich Schiller which Franz Schubert set to music in 1819.[3][8] The novel includes substantial epistolary elements, such as emails between Kelleher and Lydon.[9]

Publication and release

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Before Beautiful World's release in September 2021, advance copies circulated on the internet; one sold on eBay for over US$200.[10] On the day it was released, Beautiful World was a bestseller on Amazon.[1] In anticipation of its release, Rooney's American publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux distributed branded merchandise, including bucket hats and tote bags, to influencers.[11] The first edition of Beautiful World was illustrated by Manshen Lo, and designed by Jon Gray.[12][13]

Beautiful World was published by Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom,[14] by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the United States,[11] and by Knopf Canada in Canada.[15] Rooney rejected an offer from Modan, an Israeli publisher, to sell Hebrew-language translation rights due to her support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, preferring to sell Hebrew rights in a way that complies with the BDS movement guidelines.[16][17] Steimatzky and Tzomet Sfarim, two Israeli bookstore chains, stopped selling Rooney's work following her decision.[18]

Reception

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Beautiful World, Where Are You was a New York Times and IndieBound bestseller.[4] According to Book Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on eighty critic reviews with twenty-seven being "rave" and twenty-six being "positive" and twenty-five being "mixed" and two being "pan".[19] Bookmarks, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, assigned Beautiful World, Where Are You a rating of three stars out of five with a critical summary reading, "Relatable and philosophical, Rooney's third novel captures the dynamics of relationships".[20][21]

It received positive reviews from Slate,[22] the New York Times,[23][24] The Times,[25] The Irish Times,[26] The Atlantic,[27] NPR,[8][28] Financial Times,[29] the Harvard Review,[30] the Washington Post,[31] the New Yorker,[32] USA Today,[33] Vox,[34] The New Zealand Herald,[35] The Boston Globe, The Sydney Morning Herald,[36] The Guardian,[37][38] and InStyle.[39] The book also received starred reviews from Booklist,[40][41] Library Journal,[42] Publishers Weekly,[43] and Kirkus.[4]

The book received mixed reviews from Columbia Journal,[44] Air Mail,[45] Brooklyn Mail, The New Republic,[46] the Los Angeles Times,[47] The Wall Street Journal,[48] Star Tribune,[49] Entertainment Weekly,[50] The Economist,[51] New Statesman,[52] The Observer, The Independent,[53] The Nation,[54] Vulture,[55] and The i.[56] Open Letters Review and the London Review of Books[57] reviewed it negatively.

Brandon Taylor described Beautiful World as Rooney's "best novel yet" in a review for The New York Times, while expressing some concern that the novel lacks substantive political or moral critique.[24] Reviewing the novel in Jacobin, Amelia Ayrelan Iuvino agreed that Beautiful World does not offer clear solutions to the social problems of late capitalism that it addresses, but argues that it is not the responsibility of fiction to provide such solutions.[58] In a four-star review for Vox, Constance Grady argued that Beautiful World investigates questions with which Rooney's fiction has been consistently preoccupied: "As the world collapses all around us, is it morally defensible to devote your life to love, relationships, and the aesthetic pleasure of books? What if you get rich from it?"[59]

Awards for Beautiful World, Where Are You
Year Award Result Cite
2021 Irish Book Awards: Novel of the Year Winner [60]
Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Fiction Winner [61]
Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2021 Selection [4]
2022 Dalkey Literary Awards: Novel of the Year Winner [62]

References

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  1. ^ a b Campbell, Lucy (6 September 2021). "'Novel of the moment': Sally Rooney's third book hits the shelves". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  2. ^ Williams, John (1 September 2021). "Sally Rooney and Love in the Time of General Systems Collapse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Crain, Caleb (10 August 2021). "Sally Rooney Addresses Her Critics". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Kirkus Reviews. 16 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  5. ^ Goldsbrough, Susannah (2 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's new novel is a Beautiful World – with serious flaws". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  6. ^ Cummins, Anthony (5 September 2021). "Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney review – author of her own discontent". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  7. ^ Hu, Jane (3 September 2021). "Sally Rooney in the Struggle". Vulture. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  8. ^ a b McAlpin, Heller (2 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's New Book Tries To Find Meaning In An Increasingly Troubled World". NPR. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  9. ^ Wilson, Jennifer (2 September 2021). "How Should a Millennial Marxist Novel Be?". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  10. ^ Strzyżyńska, Weronika (20 August 2021). "Advance copies of Sally Rooney's unpublished book sold for hundreds of dollars". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  11. ^ a b Dwyer, Kate (2 September 2021). "Beautiful Merch, Where Are You?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  12. ^ McLaughlin, Aimée (19 April 2021). "Delve into the cover design for Sally Rooney's new book". Creative Review. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  13. ^ "See the cover for Sally Rooney's next novel 'Beautiful World, Where Are You'". EW.com. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  14. ^ Chilton, Martin (2 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's new book is stimulating, but surely not aimed at the olds – review". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  15. ^ "Sally Rooney publishing new novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You to be released in September". CBC Books. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  16. ^ Knight, Lucy (12 October 2021). "Sally Rooney turns down Israeli translation on political grounds". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  17. ^ Rothwell, James (11 October 2021). "Sally Rooney refuses to allow new novel to be published in Hebrew over views on Israeli-Palestinian conflict". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  18. ^ Knight, Lucy (5 November 2021). "Sally Rooney novels pulled from Israeli bookstores after translation boycott". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  19. ^ "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Book Marks. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  20. ^ "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  21. ^ "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Bibliosurf (in French). 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  22. ^ Miller, Laura (1 September 2021). "What Sally Rooney's Detractors Misunderstand About Her Books". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  23. ^ Williams, John (1 September 2021). "Sally Rooney and Love in the Time of General Systems Collapse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  24. ^ a b Taylor, Brandon (7 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's Novel of Letters Puts a Fresh Spin on Familiar Questions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  25. ^ Marriott, James. "Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney review — a tale of beauty and seriousness". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  26. ^ O'Toole, Fintan. "Beautiful World, Where Are You: Fintan O'Toole on Sally Rooney's tense, very risky new novel". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  27. ^ Crain, Caleb (10 August 2021). "Sally Rooney Addresses Her Critics". The Atlantic. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  28. ^ Corrigan, Maureen (9 September 2021). "'Beautiful World' Is Sally Rooney's Toughest, Most Sweeping Novel To Date". NPR. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  29. ^ Evans, Diana (2 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where Are You — conversations with fame". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  30. ^ Weddell, Cecilia (9 September 2021). "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Harvard Review. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  31. ^ Qureshi, Bilal (10 September 2021). "Review | Sally Rooney's latest novel is a lucid, nuanced story about coming of age in a broken world". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  32. ^ Jackson, Lauren Michelle (10 September 2021). "Sally Rooney Gets Outside of People's Heads". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  33. ^ VanDenburgh, Barbara. "'Beautiful World, Where Are You': Sally Rooney finds meaning in sex, friendship as the world burns". USA TODAY. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  34. ^ Grady, Constance (7 September 2021). "In Sally Rooney's new novel, a celebrity author fights her own brand". Vox. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  35. ^ Dass, Kiran (3 September 2021). "Book review: Beautiful World, Where Are You?". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  36. ^ Richards, Allee (3 September 2021). "Whether readers like it or not, Sally Rooney plays to her strengths in new novel". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  37. ^ Enright, Anne (2 September 2021). "Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney review – the problem of success". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  38. ^ Cummins, Anthony (5 September 2021). "Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney review – author of her own discontent". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  39. ^ Jones, Isabel (7 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's New Novel May Be Her Best Yet". InStyle. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  40. ^ Bostrom, Annie (August 2021). "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Booklist. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  41. ^ Smith, Candace (15 October 2021). "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Booklist. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  42. ^ Matthews, John G. (1 September 2021). "Beautiful World, Where Are You". Library Journal. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  43. ^ "Fiction Book Review: Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28 (368p) ISBN 978-0-374-60260-4". PublishersWeekly.com. 17 June 2021. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  44. ^ Philp, Stephanie (8 September 2021). "Review: Beautiful World, Where Are You". Columbia Journal. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  45. ^ David, Cazzie (11 September 2021). "Cazzie David on Sally Rooney's "Twilight" Vibes". Air Mail Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  46. ^ Wilson, Jennifer (2 September 2021). "How Should a Millennial Marxist Novel Be?". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  47. ^ Kelly, Hillary (2 September 2021). "Review: In Sally Rooney's new novel, the millennial darling bursts her own bubble". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  48. ^ Sacks, Sam (3 September 2021). "Fiction: Reviews of 'Beautiful World, Where Are You' and 'The War for Gloria'". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  49. ^ Forbes, Malcom (3 September 2021). "Review: 'Beautiful World, Where Are You,' by Sally Rooney". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  50. ^ Greenblatt, Leah (23 August 2021). "Sally Rooney's 'Beautiful World, Where Are You' asks big questions — and doesn't always have the answers". EW.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  51. ^ "Sally Rooney returns with "Beautiful World, Where Are You"". The Economist. 11 September 2021. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  52. ^ leszkiewicz, Anna (9 September 2021). "In her new novel, Sally Rooney looks her critics in the eye". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 12 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  53. ^ Chilton, Martin (7 September 2021). "What the critics are saying about Sally Rooney's new book". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  54. ^ Tulathimutte, Tony (4 October 2021). "Sally Rooney's Fiction for End Times". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  55. ^ Hu, Jane (3 September 2021). "Sally Rooney in the Struggle". Vulture. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  56. ^ Sudjic, Olivia (2 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where Are You has a guardedness that makes it hard to love". iNews. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  57. ^ Lorentzen, Christian (23 September 2021). "I couldn't live normally". London Review of Books. Vol. 43, no. 18. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  58. ^ Iuvino, Amelia Ayrelan (9 September 2021). "Sally Rooney's New Novel Gives Us All We Should Want From Fiction". Jacobin. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  59. ^ Grady, Constance (7 September 2021). "In Sally Rooney's new novel, a celebrity author fights her own brand". Vox. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  60. ^ "The best of the best! Irish Book Awards 2021 winners revealed". IrishCentral.com. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  61. ^ "Announcing the Winners of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards!". Goodreads. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  62. ^ "Winner of the Novel of the Year 2022". Zurich Ireland. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
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