Ich hatte so gehofft, dass mir das Buch gefällt und es hat meine Erwartungen absolut erfüllt! Es werden zahlreiche spannende Themen diskutiert, von Religionskritik über den Begriff der Arbeiterklasse und die Zukunft der Menschheit. Das alles ist eingebettet in die Geschichte von Alice und Eileen, zwei Freundinnen, die miteinander und vor allem mit sich selbst strugglen. Wie in gefühlt allen Rooney Romanen sind die Protagonisten ziemlich vom Leben gezeichnet, was teilweise etwas eintönig wirkt, aber der Geschichte dennoch nicht geschadet hat.

mir hat das buch gut gefallen und ich habe es gerne gelesen. innerhalb der handlung wurden sehr viele verschiedene themen angesprochen. die charaktere haben sich oft gesellschaftskritisch geäußert, was mir sehr gefallen hat. manchmal fand ich es schwer, den sehr philosophisch klingenden monologen innerhalb der emails zu folgen, fand die ausgeführten gedankengänge zeitgleich aber sehr oft sehr spannend. irgendwie hätte ich mir ein ausführlicheres ausklingen des buches gewünscht, aber finde es auch spannend, wie durch das abruptere ende mehr der eigenen fantasie überlassen wird. mir ist aufgefallen, dass ich sally rooneys schreibstil als durchaus sehr anders wahrnahm im vergleich zu dem davor erschienenen buch, was ich etwas schade fand. aber der schreibstil dieses buches ist nicht schlecht, nur anders.

I absolutely loved Normal People and really liked Conversations with Friends, so I had high hopes with this one. But this time around I just couldn't connect with the characters and I had to push through to finish it. I think Sally Rooney writes beautifully, but here I genuinely felt stupid sometimes and the girls and their mails were tough to get through. We will see what the next book brings! :)

Ein interessantes Buch mit sehr normalen Chrakteren....zumindest wirken sie unglaublich menschlich . Mal mehr oder weniger sympathisch sind sie alle mit ihrem Leben beschäftigt, dem Versuch glücklich zu sein. Die Geschichte ist tiefgründig aber leicht zu lesen. Alltag und besonders. Intelligent...ich bereue nicht es gelesen zu haben, nur fehlte mir etwas um mich wirklich für das Buch zu begeistern ....

Besonders gut gefällt mir, dass neben der eigentlichen Geschichte auch immer wieder philosophische Gedanken zur heutigen Zeit in Form von Emails zwischen den Protagonist:innen eingebaut werden. Das gibt den Figuren mehr Tiefe, weil man etwas über ihre Meinungen und Haltungen erfährt und die Geschichte bekommt gleichzeitig mehr Kontext.

Why did he have to start singing and why did she have to start sobbing crying??I think at almost any point in the book I hated all four of the main characters. Sadly.Something did scratch my brain with how she wrote this book. All the unsaid things, anxieties and desperations were things I think many of us can relate to. But the rage or second hand embarrassment was just too strong. The parts that did touch my heart and those that touched me on that deep deep level were still a minority though.

"Everything in one place. All of life knotted into this house for the night, like a necklace knotted at the bottom of a drawer" I read this for the first time in February of 2023, still 18, and while I liked this I didn't necessarily love it. Reading this now a second time at 20 while in my first year of university makes me feel like it shed an entirely different light on the book, putting it into a new perspective, allowing me to connect to it on deeper emotional level. Perhabs I will revisit this book once I have had my first kiss, once I'm out of university or just in a couple of months time

I am still not sure what to think. It was not as good as other books I've read from Sally Rooney, I would probably give it 3.5 What stood out for me are the conversations the characters have during sex. The fact that they are talking, asking stuff is unusual for me. Also I just love listening (yes, audiobook) to the conversations. It is just like life flies by, the words flow, give you pictures, gossip and then it continues. Like clouds in the sky. I like that. It feels good. Makes me feel less alone, but also alone.

I loooove Rooney's writing style and how she manages to capture relationship problems so extremely well. She really has an eye for people and dynamics. I am in awe of that. This book is mostly a character study about two twenty something best friends and their love interests navigating through live. They all have different upbringings, careers, "status" and issues and its interesting to see how they handle those 'differences'. It's also very juicy and intimate at times. I think I would have needed a bit more openness in how they feel about each other and vulnerability from them. Also the beginning was quite hard to get in and to sympathize and the ending was a bit abrupt and most of them have evolved just a teenytiny bit, which saddened me.

Ich habe mein zweites Buch von Sally Rooney beendet und bin erneut geflasht, erschüttert und zutiefst berührt – alles gleichzeitig. Handlungstechnisch passiert nichts Aufsehenerregendes – was typisch für die Autorin ist – aber dennoch geschieht so viel auf einmal. Im Mittelpunkt stehen zwei parallel verlaufende Beziehungen. Ich fand es bemerkenswert, wie gut Rooney es schafft, diese Beziehungen zu beschreiben und in die Geschichte einzubetten. Alice und Eileen sind beste Freundinnen, die sich regelmäßig durch E-Mails austauschen. In gewisser Weise therapieren sie sich dabei gegenseitig. 💌 Während wir außerhalb der Mails die Beschreibungen ihrer Beziehungen verfolgen, offenbaren die beiden Frauen in den E-Mails ihre tiefsten Gefühle, insbesondere im Hinblick auf ihre aktuellen Partnerschaften. Diese E-Mails verleihen der Geschichte eine enorme Tiefe. Mal wird über Alltägliches geschrieben, mal über existenziell wichtige Themen – und ich konnte mich in beiden Bereichen bestens wiederfinden. 📝 Viele Stellen habe ich markiert, weil es oft Gedanken waren, die ich selbst schon einmal hatte. Es fühlte sich an, als würde ich von der Autorin durchschaut werden. Genau das habe ich an dem Buch geliebt: Es stellt alltägliche Dinge so realistisch dar, dass man nicht das Gefühl hat, Fiktion zu lesen, sondern Szenen, die man aus dem eigenen Leben kennt. Beim Lesen habe ich mich in der Geschichte gesehen, durchschaut, verstanden – manchmal aber auch peinlich berührt gefühlt. 🙈 Sally Rooney hat es geschafft, so vieles über „normale“ Menschen offenzulegen, Dinge, die vielleicht besser im Verborgenen geblieben wären. Ich konnte das Buch nicht aus der Hand legen und bin sicher, dass ich immer wieder hineinschauen werde, weil es so real, authentisch und wahrhaftig ist. Wenn ihr berührende und echte Geschichten mögt, ist dieses Buch definitiv etwas für euch. 🫧

I truly can’t believe I’m saying it but yeah, sally did a great job with this one. The pacing was great, the change from plot to the mails being sent between the two female main characters. The struggles, the conversations. It really was a nice read. She does have a way with words fr, and thankfully in this one the words the characters were saying didn’t want to fully make me want to rip my hair out. If I had to summarize this book I’d say slice of life, and I don’t mean it in a condescending way, but as a fact. This feels very slice of life. Even the last couple chapters with the mention of the pandemic. It could have been just.. Meh, but it actually fit??? Surprising. Also LOVE the fact the title is coined from Schiller, I had my inklings but didn’t wanna assume. Love it. Only point to complain about I guess is that sometimes it dragged a bit on, but that’s kinda inevitable with a storyline like this.

Mit Sally Rooneys Schreibstil werde ich wohl nicht mehr warm, denn ich finde es sehr anstrengend zu lesen und teilweise auch etwas verwirrend. Sie schreibt irgendwie keine schönen Geschichten, sondern eher unangenehme Freundschaften und Beziehungen. Und dennoch sind das Leben, die Gedanken und die Freundschaft der Protagonistinnen und Protagonisten nachvollziehbar und man fühlt sich an der ein oder anderen Stelle gesehen. Das Leben Ende 20 und in den Dreißigern ist halt nicht immer leicht und von vielen Selbstzweifeln und Existenzängsten geprägt. Freundschaften aufrecht zu erhalten neben einem Vollzeitjob und in einer Beziehung ist nicht einfach. Neue Beziehungen zu entwickeln ist auch nicht einfach. Und was bringt Sally Rooney in diesem Buch gut rüber.

i feel like this book was written for a specific niche of people that just *get* it and its characters and can relate to every aspect of the book while having one‘s own thoughts about the world‘s beauty mirrored back. it‘s me, this book was written for me. i understand the points made in critical views, but i think it‘s because those readers don‘t *get* it and in a way i‘m jealous that they don‘t but also not really

Der Verlust von Kommunikation und Freunden im alter wird gut dargestellt. Deutlich wird auch die Schwierigkeit des Erwachsen werdenden und was das alles mit sich bringt. Es werden viele interessante Themen behandelt: Wie ist es aus einer Langzeit Beziehung zu kommen und nun auf eigenen und unabhängigen beinen zustehen? Tolle Ideen aber die Umsetzung hat mich leider enttäuscht, ebenfalls war der EMAIL-stil nichts für meine sehr offene, ehrliche und sehr gesprächige Persönlichkeit.

DNF at 40%. I really tried giving this another shot and pushing through besides struggling to enjoy anything about this book, story and/or characters. Sadly, it didn’t work for me. It felt like there were a lot of emails being exchanged (which didn’t feel quite real to me) and then some casual sex here and there. Idk, didn’t feel it, didn’t like it. I think it’s safe to say that Sally Rooney won’t become one of my fave authors anytime soon.

I loooved the style of writing, it took some time to get used to it, but it was quite fun to read. At first I didn't really like the characters, they seemed extremely inaccessible and unauthentic. Eileen and Alice, but first and foremost Felix (I didn't get his character, he constantly belittles the people around them I do not support haha) seemed so toxic and disconnected from the world around them. But I understood while reading the last 100 pages why they came across as toxic in their relationships. It would have been nice to have this addressed a bit earlier bc at end I got a understanding about the characters, their actions and thoughts but before I found it quite hard. In my view the storyline was not as interesting as I anticipated but it was fine. What struck me about the book was (as I said before) the clear and kinda inviting (?) writing style and not the storyline.

In 'Beautiful World, Where Are You' we follow the lives of Alice, Eileen, Simon and Felix, four people who are trying to find there place in the world and in each other's stories. It is a novel about friendship, love, sexuality and the times we live in. 'Beautiful World, Where Are You' was my first Sally Rooney novel. I heard good things about it and was really intrigued, so I picked it up. And I don't regret it one second. I found the characters well-rounded and realistic. Their conversation were akward, sometimes weird, like in real life. I was rooting for them to find beauty in the world because Rooney made me like them - despite their sometimes annoying character traits. I loved the philosophical musings Alice and Eileen exchanged over email, so much so that many passages were highlighted. The whole atmosphere of the book won't let me go - I am struggling to work out what I should read next, because I am scared of being disappointed. I definitely recommend this book to people who want to hear about someone's life and engage with a character's thoughts, to people who like atmosphere more than plot and are looking for a story that won't let them go. "What if these things just rise and recede naturally, like tides, while the meaning of life remains the same always - just to live and be with other people?" - Eileen, Chapter 16

Noone does angsty Millenials in an existential crisis so well as Sally Rooney. Her writing is stellar and pulls you in, I was just as engaged in the story as in Normal people . Her characters feel like flawed people with real problems that seem miniscule and self-inflicted (and they are at times) but you just feel a certain connection with them anyway. I do have some gripes with this book though that other people have touched on but first the positives: Parts of this book are extremely quotable. It also feels semi-autobiographical, with Alice being a successful writer and trying to find fulfillment in life already having achieved, in her mind, all that she ever will in her life already. I liked the letters between the two friends where you got an insight into their friendship and thoughts. I was also very invested in Eileen's relationship with Simon. On to the negatives: I do feel like there were some missed chances of character growth in both Alice and Eileen's case. Their issues never really get resolved. Alice struggles with her mental health and both have attachment issues they briefly brush upon but never actually get to the bottom off. Felix was also a pretty horrible person and Alice falling for him didn't make much sense. But then, that's life I guess. Still enjoyed the book and will continue reading more books by Rooney. Add on: quotable quotes: “And we hate people for making mistakes so much more than we love them for doing good that the easiest way to live is to do nothing, say nothing, and love no one.” “At times I think of human relationships as something soft like sand or water, and by pouring them into particular vessels we give them shape.” “People who intentionally become famous - I mean people who, after a little taste of fame, want more and more of it - are, and I honestly believe this, deeply psychologically ill. The fact that we are exposed to these people everywhere in our culture, as if they are not only normal but attractive and enviable, indicates the extent of our disfiguring social disease.”

A lot of thoughts on this, but too lazy to explain them all. In short:It took me a bit of time to get into the book and to actually enjoy it, especially because of some writing choices, namely the super-sophisticated Mails that are often hit or miss for me and the separation between a) the things that actually happen where the narrator only narrates from an outside perspective and b) the inward perspective with thoughts and feelings of the characters displayed in the mails.Also, what a horny book (I love it)

Beautiful World, Where Are You von Sally Rooney ist gut geschrieben, und hat ein paar wirklich inspirierende Quotes, die einen zum Nachdenken bringen, (deswegen habe ich erst überlegt 3 Sterne zu geben) allerdings hat es mich sonst überhaupt nicht überzeugt, was schade ist. Es sollte etwas schönes sein älter zu werden, aber das Buch zeigt nur negative Seiten des Erwachsenseins. Ich weiß gar nicht wie ich es genau ausdrücken soll, aber es war die ganze Zeit so eine blöde Stimmung. Ich dachte das würde besser werden, und, dass die Hauptpersonen die "beautiful world" sozusagen finden, aber das Ende war auch komisch. Es gab keinen Spannungsgrad. Die Personen mochte ich auch nicht, und fand viele Sachen an ihnen sehr merkwürdig. Das Buch ist recht beliebt, aber ich weiß nicht wofür. Ich wollte es echt mögen. Leider nichts für mich.

2 Stars, DNF Bought it at an airport for lack of better alternatives. I got through a good quarter of the book until I lost interest. The narration in many parts just made me laugh in disbelief... and sad that people are calling this "clever, clinical, analytical". There are some 2-star-reviews that illustrate this point much better than I could. I think I wouldn't have been as disappointed as I was if it wasn't so hyped up as it is (I think it's more the artificial hype around Sally Rooney on social media than the hype around the book itself?) But I nevertheless want to understand the appeal, so I might or might not try again in the future

beautiful world, where are you, explores the relationships and dynamics between four people: alice, eileen, simon, and felix. what I love about sally rooney (& this book) is that she writes the romance between characters as more of a psychological exploration into human relationships and their various dimensions. rather than writing her novels in a 'classic romance' sense, with trite ideals and love interests placed on sky-high pedestals, rooney writes a more grounded, realistic depiction of love. this is definitely rooney's most ambitious novel, yet, she not only tackles the complexities of relationships with her usual sophisticated and sharp wit but also ventures into an epistolary series of historical anecdotes and social commentary through alice and eileen's email correspondence. the characters attempt to find the meaning of life through internal self-reflection and introspection, but also various external outlets: relationships, religion, jobs, and family. through the emails, she explores this on a macroscopic scale and how these struggles are visible in society. while felix is obviously the weak link (& most useless characters imo), I loved how human all of these characters were throughout the novel. they simultaneously crave and rejected romantic intimacy and continuously question their own emotions and intentions. it is a reflection of how we behave in life, and I loved how well she articulated these feelings in her novel. ironically, her characters do not believe in happy endings, yet the fleeting moments of possible happily ever afters lead us to believe in them too. momentarily. but is that enough?

hm, das war ziemlich durchwachsen. stellenweise hat es mir sehr gut gefallen und ich konnte gar nicht mehr aufhören zu lesen, aber viel öfter musste ich mich zum weiterlesen quasi zwingen, weil es zu pseudo-philosophisch und langweilig wurde. die charaktere waren teilweise auch ziemlich austauschbar und flach. die wechsel in erzählperspektive, erzählweise und „geschwindigkeit“ waren dann auch ziemlich verwirrend und ich hab den roten faden bis zum ende irgendwie nicht gefunden. die anderen bücher von sally rooney gehören zu meinen lieblingsbüchern, deshalb bin ich etwas enttäuscht von dem roman. 3/5 ⭐️

Ich liebte den Schreibstil und werde mir auf jeden Fall ihre anderen Bücher holen!! Wie sie personales und auktoriales Erzählverhalten mischt, und damit dann Emotionen und Dynamiken erzeugt… unglaublich! Die Dynamik zwischen den Charakteren ist so spannend und vielschichtig - genau wie die Charaktere selbst. Deepe Gedanken wirken durch die Briefe auch gar nicht überzogen oder aus der Luft gegriffen. Kluge Gedanken und traurige und ernste und kuriose und nie unnötig lang gezogen. Für mich war aber die Mitte einfach… seltsam? Like, der Anfang war langsam und perfekt und man hat alle kennengelernt und dann kam ganz ganz lange nichts? Irgendwie waren alle so „Ja. Und jetzt… einfach mal NICHTS“, es gab Sex und Briefe und jede Menge Red Flags auf Seiten von Felix (für mich am eindrücklichsten in der Mitte) Zu sagen die Spannung wäre weg ist falsch, denn die will das Buch ja nicht erzeugen aber diese Tension zwischen den Charakteren, zwischen den Beziehungen, zwischen den Leben, zwischen den Charakteren selbst war irgendwie abgeflaut Die letzten 50 Seiten habe ich dann aber ziemlich durchgesuchtet und plötzlich passiert ganz viel und ich bin gar nicht hinterhergekommen, was gut war und überfordernd und perfekt gepasst hat. Ich bin total gespannt wie mir die anderen Bücher gefallen werden < 3 3,5- 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3,5-4 Sterne I guess. Das Buch gab mir ziemlich Mixed feelings. Ich kann mich teilweise so gut mit den Charakteren identifizieren aber gleichzeitig sind deren Handlungen auch so unpassend und blöd (obwohl ich weiß dass ich vermutlich ähnlich handeln würde), deswegen fällt es mir so schwer es zu bewerten weil es immer so ein hin und her ist. Aber im ganzen finde ich es dann doch iwie gut und fühl mich verstanden auf ne Art.

2 stars. Liked her other two books more than this one. With this one I got the feeling that the whole story was kind of pointless. I was disappointed by the developments of the characters and felt like nothing changed or was challenged throughout the story which didn't make sense with the ending in my personal opinion. Also HATED the e-mail chapters. It felt like the author only used them to bring up some important topics - which is a good intent - but then only told the reader about her own opinion through the opinions of the characters. It didn't feel nuanced enough or smoothly integrated into the story. Also: so dry! I literally skipped over them at the times because I couldn't do it. But overall I enjoyed reading the book and never thought about DNFing. The writing (except for the e-mail chapters) was the usual Sally-Rooney-style, which I like. There was a lot to discuss once again about the characters, their relationships and motives. Their actions and conversations made me feel something - not always in a positive way but that doesn't matter. I felt things, I thought about them, I cared about where the story would go and how the relationships would develop. I don't know what kind of ending I expected but this one left me very unsatisfied.

Anfangs fand ich die fehlenden Anführungszeichen irritieren, jedoch merkte ich mit der Zeit, das diese mich zum konzentrierenden Lesen „zwangen“. Die Geschichte erfasst den Zeitgeist der Millenials perfekt und mich regte die Geschichte zum Nachdenken an. Ach und ich hatte Heimweh nach Irland.

I had such high hopes for this novel, but it ended up beeing a big disappointment. At first: Can you please tell me why Sally Rooney is not using quotation marks?? Its not a cool, edgy way to write a novel. Its fucking irritating. Especially when four people are mainly talking on 356 pages. But this seems not to be enough: lets put some e-mail traffic on top in the same writing style. GREAT!! Alice, Eileen, Simon and Felix are part of generation Y - like me. Acutally the novel should catch me from page one. But this didn't happened. It didn't happened at page 100 either. Also not at page 200 or 300. Not worth the hype! 2/5

i really enjoyed it (and i'm glad i did, because i have [b:Normal People|41057294|Normal People|Sally Rooney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571423190l/41057294._SY75_.jpg|59141209] and [b:Conversations with Friends|32187419|Conversations with Friends|Sally Rooney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638729263l/32187419._SY75_.jpg|52827120] on my bookshelf as well and they're still patiently waiting to be read). [a:Sally Rooney|15860970|Sally Rooney|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1534007127p2/15860970.jpg] made me feel like i know the characters on a personal level and like i was sitting in alice's kitchen listening to their conversations. especially the emails between alice and eileen were a great way to get to know personal insights of both of them. in the end i still only give it 4 stars, as i enjoyed it but i probably won't call this book life-changing or one that has great impact on me. anyways, i'll still hold it very dear to me, as i bought it in shakespeare and company in paris during my recent interrail trip and also read most of it on the train to nice and at its beach, on the train to milan, and at the shore of lake zurich.

Sally Rooney‘s writing is extraordinarily beautiful, and how the characters discussed topics like, sex(-uality), belief and aging/growing up was so fascinating to read. I feel that I am not the target audience here and that this would be perfects for people that actually are in their twenties but I enjoyed this nonetheless. The book didn’t really have a plot but everything happened and I felt for the characters, and I sobbed and I laughed. The last two chapters were so interesting to me, as the lockdown was discussed and it was such an awakening, just reading about these characters experiencing the same thing that we all did, but differently.

"Endlich bin ich damit fertig." Das waren meine ersten Gedanken nachdem ich den letzten Satz gelesen habe. Meine Güte das war ein Krampf. Anfangs war ich noch sehr überzeugt von dem Schreibstil, dass der Leser keine Gedanken der Protagonistinnen lesen kann, sondern nur sieht, was sie gerade machen. In den E-Mails zueinander, erfährt man dann erst ihre Gefühlslage. Aber die E-Mails sind auch das, was mir das Buch madig gemacht hat. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass irgendjemand SO E-Mails schreibt. Diese gehobene und komplizierte Sprache, dieses philosophische Hinterfragen von Allem und Jedem ist so anstrengend und macht die Charaktere für mich einfach nur unsympathisch. Ich hab's geschafft. Nie wieder.