Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Sept. 7) Rooney's much-anticipated third novel lives up to the hype, which is not an easy thing to do for a novelist who has been dubbed the actual voice of her generation . Set in Ireland, her newest novel touches on similar themes as her previous two — friendship, love (unrequited and requited), and class politics — but Rooney's cast of characters have found themselves cresting 30 and facing a new sense of urgency in their lives. After a stint in New York, Alice, a famous novelist, absconds to a seaside Irish town and meets Felix, a warehouse worker, whom she takes on a publicity tour through Rome. Her best friend Eileen, who has had her own entanglements, pines for Simon, a man she's known since childhood and who has always been just a little bit out of reach. Rooney's signature crisp writing depicts these characters as they misread cues, awkwardly try to navigate their relationships, and find their place in the world as aging millennials. What's exciting and fresh here is insight into Alice — a woman who is wrestling with literary fame so seismic that she… Read full this story
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