#25 Rooney, darling, get a grip...

On Sally Rooney's "Beautiful World, Where Are You".

Sep 24, 2021

“I think of the twentieth century as one long question, and in the end we got the answer wrong. Aren't we unfortunate babies to be born when the world ended? After that, there was no chance for the planet, and no chance for us.”

Hello friends,

You’ve been warned about this! You knew this was coming!

After reading possibly the entire’s internet opinion on Sally Rooney’s “Beautiful World, Where Are You” (and, of course, the novel itself), I’m ready to share my humble opinion with you. So, let’s get straight to business, shall we? There’s a lot to unpack.

First of all, it’s worth pointing out I don’t discuss the plot or give spoilers – you’ve got Google for this. Not that this novel would have so much of a plot, but for the sake of the argument. Anyway, suit yourselves. I think it’s more useful to give an overview of Ronney’s literary world and walk you through my own thinking process about the book, rather than just attempting to summarise it.

We know Sally Rooney has captured the literary zeitgeist, and after “Normal People”, her name has become some sort of cultural buzzword. The hype is well-deserved and even necessary. Her writing is modern and fresh, and her focus revolves around contemporary relationships. Rooney is interested in people and character development; the plot is always secondary. And she does it in this very Rooneyesque style of hers: No quotation marks, with paragraphs turning into these “plain” blocks of text. Boring? No. Rather honest. What initially may seem confusing, readers get to be immediately drawn to Rooney’s writing because she has this uncanny ability to make readers care and connect with the characters. How? She’s been labelled as the “great Millenial novelist” for a reason. Well, two reasons actually. Her age, and the fact that she writes about her generation’s struggles and concerns. Sex, power, technology, and politics (even though mainly performative) are all in there. Naturally, these are not new topics, but she gives them a certain twist.

In BWWAY, these themes are echoed by internet porn, ghosting, sexual fluidity, power plays, the end of the world or what actually constitutes (or not) working-class etc. Some critics argue BWWAY is her best novel yet. I’ve read reviews comparing BWWAY to the baby after you put together “Conversation with Friends” and “Normal People”. The characters in BWWAY are unbelievably fragile and irritating at times: They stare in silence, exchange glances, nod, blink, and like in the other novels, there is a lot of miscommunication. Dysfunctional relationships are undoubtedly Rooney’s speciality, but where she’s evolved from “Normal People” is that she’s managed to distract the reader’s attention from the romantic, sensational outcome. In BWWAY, there are four characters (Alice – Felix – Eileen – Simon) and two relationship layers (romantic and platonic) and for the first time, we witness a fixation with the female characters than the typical tension of whether either of the two couples (Alice and Felix, respectively Eileen and Simon) will end up together or will split up by the end of the novel.

The friendship between Alice and Eileen occupies a central part in the overall storyline due to their email correspondence, this also being the only way the reader is allowed to enter their minds:

“Dear Eileen,” Alice writes early on, “You should know that our correspondence is my way of holding onto life, taking notes on it, and thereby preserving something of my – otherwise almost worthless, or even entirely worthless — existence on this rapidly degenerating planet.”

Now, this is where I start to become cynical. Half of this book is comprised of these email essays and, unfortunately, this is where I am tempted to categorise one of Rooney’s characters (Alice) as autofiction. I know, not very feminist of me. Alice is this young, successful author and it seems like she’s meant to play a stand-in for Rooney herself:

“Have I told you I can’t read contemporary novels anymore? I think it’s because I know too many of the people who write them. I see them all the time at festivals, drinking red wine and talking about who’s publishing in New York. […]”
“I can’t believe I have to tolerate these things – having articles written about me, and seeing my photograph on the internet, and reading comments about myself. I keep encountering this person, who is myself, and I hate her with all my energy.”

Rooney, darling, I get it. Life is tough. But you’re also a millionaire, and I’ve just paid £15 to read about one of your characters moaning about writing as a profession. So how about you get a grip?

Of course, this argument is merely for entertainment purposes, but then a more serious question occurs: Why are readers diminishing a book’s value based on characters’ likeability? Surely, if you get so invested in a character’s life and way of behaving, the novel becomes a success, particularly for this reason, right? You tell me.

It’s rare to come across an author who manages to blend fiction with social commentary in such a cohesive and almost seamless manner, but again, Rooney might have been a little too over the top. Okay, I can tolerate some overindulgent conversations on plastic consumption, marxism, and the decline of beauty, but the Late Bronze Age collapse? Give us a break, darling, we can barely keep up with you.

Also, difficult not to roll my eyes when the issue of poverty is inserted trivially in the email exchanges, whilst I’m being reminded that Rooney’s characters are pretty much well off, with mansions, travelling across Europe as often as I take the tube in London. Yes, yes, there’s some balance, and Rooney’s trying to always bring together characters from different social classes, but then again – the concept of working-class is very Westernised and limited to the guy who works in a warehouse.

I’m not the only one to make this case, let’s listen to wiser people:

“In my less charitable moments, it felt as though we’ve reached a point in our culture where the pinnacle of moral rigour in the novel form is an overwhelmed white woman in a major urban centre sighing and having a thought about the warming planet or the existence of refugees. […] Characters acknowledging their privilege and access to capital has somehow come to be seen as actual class critique in one’s art. […] As I was reading this one, I kept asking myself, ‘Is that it? Is that enough?’” – Brandon Taylor in the New York Times.

The only salvation between these overly verbose and philosophical ‘debates’ (that anyway offer little momentum), and the ‘plot’ in general, are the sex scenes. I’ll give you that, Rooney. It’s better than watching porn. In fact, it has nothing to do with porn, because you write about desire and the act of making love in such a beautiful and natural way, I found myself gasping at times. (I’m self-conscious that now people think I’m a hardcore erotic literature fan – I’m not, but I’m open to recommendations)

Lastly, Alice and Eileen have reminded me of the main characters in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, but of course, not as complex and poignant. Rooney, however, makes a reference to Natalia Ginzburg (about whom I also wrote in issue no. #22) through Eileen, who is an editor at a literary magazine and wrote an essay on the Italian novelist.

Overall, I’m not sure where I stand with Rooney’s novel. I laughed, rolled my eyes, got exasperated, occasionally bored, but in the end, I fell for it.

“Humanity on the cusp of extinction [and] here I am writing another email about sex and friendship. What else is there to live for?”

I’m only human. Can you blame me?!

✨ If you’ve read BWWAY (or you’re planning to), let me know your thoughts. Hit the reply button or leave a comment. ✨

🥁 📚 The latest in the literary world

Well, well, well… if only it wasn’t for Richard Osman’s second crime novel, “The Man Who Died Twice,” and Sally Rooney would have kept her crown in the UK’s charts! 🤨 But blimey, 114,202 copies sold within the first three days on sale (okay, pre-orders included, but still!) made Osman’s book “one of the fastest-selling novels since records began” (FYI, that’s the end of the ‘90s when Nielsen BookScan began monitoring sales). 😱 👏 His first novel, “The Thursday Murder Club,” has sold more than one million copies since it was published in September last year, and has spent 45 (!) weeks at the top of the fiction bestseller lists. It looks like readers can’t get enough of Osman’s “cosy” murder mysteries, so good news, book no 3 in the series is coming out in autumn 2022! (Didn’t know TV stopped paying you, Osman, that you started taking side-hustling seriously!) 🙊
Unsolicited advice for all wannabe authors: Sometimes, all you need in order to land a deal with a publisher is to be viral on TikTok. 🤭 Serena Terry, better known as Mammy Banter on TikTok, will have her first novel published by HarperFiction in February 2022. 😱 You’d better start polishing your dance moves. Just sayin’. 👯
“Fight Club” author, Chuck Palahniuk, has become the latest big name to announce a deal with Substack and publish his next novel – “Greener Pastures” – on the platform. 👀 🥊 He joins Salmon Rushdie and a number of other authors who decided to serialise their work online. 🙌
Haruki Murakami just got a library dedicated to his work at Waseda University, the author’s alma mater in Tokyo. The library’s interior was made by the same architect who also designed Tokyo’s National Stadium (used at this year’s Olympics). 🏛️ 🇯🇵
Speaking of libraries, you might want to check out this Zimbabwean artist’s work, “The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember.” Kudzanai Chiurai decided to turn his own personal library and archive into a public art project so he can explore the relationship between cultural production and social movements. ✨
BONUS: I might move to New York only for this short story dispenser. Imagine swapping a KitKat for a short story at a vending machine! That’s what I’d call some proper food for thought! 🧠 Oh. And it’s free! 🙌

🎧 📰 👀 My media diet this week

This interview with the Pulitzer winner, Anthony Doerr. Why read it? Find out more about Doerr’s latest novel, “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” writing about new experiences as part of a learning process, and the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of “All the Light We Cannot See”. 💡
This episode from the “70 Over 70” podcast. Why listen to it? Max Linsky interviews Diana Nyad, the first person to swim – without a safety net – from Cuba to Key West. 🌊 🏊‍♀️ Nyad first tried the swim when she was in her 20s, but she didn’t actually complete it until she was 64. 😮 What I found truly inspiring was not only her inner strength but also her team player attitude: “It won't be me who lets you down. If a shark comes around and threatens my life, we have to give it up. If the box jellyfish threatens my life, which it did, and we have to give it up. If a 60 mile an hour storm comes in and we're blown far off course, if Mother Nature, you know, doesn't allow us [to] cross… Fair enough. But I will not stop my team. I will not stop and say to you, I can't. I'm too tired, I'm hurting. I can't do it anymore because I prepared to make sure that I can look back and say there was nothing more I could do.” 👏
Here’s an article on the series of wild mistakes made at Bauer that led to the decimation of the magazine industry in Australia. 💔 🇦🇺 Why read this? People kept asking themselves for at least 10 years whether print magazines will continue to exist, and if so, for how long. An insightful investigation with plenty of lessons to be learned. 💡

📌 Random news in brief

Do you have a Xiaomi or a Huawei smartphone? Get rid of it and avoid buying a new one, says Lithuania’s Defence Deputy Minister, Margiris Abukevicius. 📱🗑️
On the same note, the Chinese version of TikTok is introducing a “teenage mode” to limit the amount of time children spend on the app to 40 minutes a day. ⏲️
A series of Einstein’s handwritten calculations for the theory of relativity is set to be auctioned for €3m. 📜 💰
The “side-eyeing Chloe” meme will be sold as an NFT, with a bid starting at 5 Ethereum (which is worth roughly about £11,000)! 💰 [Need a refresher? I wrote an explainer about the world of NFTs and all things crypto in a previous issue.]

Before we say goodbye… 🥺

If you liked this issue of the newsletter, please click on the 💜 button, so I know I’m doing a good job. There’s always the option to leave a comment with your feedback. I promise I’ll always reply!

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