BEAUTIFUL WORLD, WHERE ARE YOU by Sally Rooney

Whereas Normal People was about one on-again, off-again couple, two such couples inhabit this novel, which is largely epistolary.  Eileen and Simon, who live in Dublin, have known each other since childhood, but Eileen fears that she will lose Simon as a friend if she commits to being his lover.  Alice, Eileen’s best friend, is an author with two successful novels to her credit and is living rent-free in a large house on the coast.  She meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, on a dating app and then spontaneously invites him to Italy with her on a press junket for her latest book.  Alice and Eileen exchange lengthy emails on a number of topics, including the collapse of civilization and the meaning of beauty, until Eileen and Simon finally visit Alice and meet Felix.  While the women are constantly second-guessing themselves, the men seem to know what they want.  In fact, the women do not come across as particularly lovable, and I’m not sure what the men see in them.  Felix is my favorite character. He seems to have excellent insight into the psyches of the other three characters, as his observations usually prove to be accurate.  He may not be book-smart, considering that he has no intention of reading the books Alice has written, but he is able to peel back the layers of everyone else’s insecurities to see what makes them tick.  I love the dialog in this book, and I can hear in my mind the Irish lilt in Felix’s voice.