Photo-Illustration: The Cut; Photos: Getty Images/Courtesy of the Publisher There are certain things readers can expect from a Sally Rooney novel. There will be lots of hot sex between young, mostly straight Irish characters struggling to commit. Between romps, they will stare longingly at each other from opposite ends of a party, while their friends discuss Marx over cheap red wine. I will feel horny and I will feel devastated.
I’m not the only one who felt this way. While many critics have praised Beautiful World as Rooney’s best yet, its Goodreads reviews are pockmarked with people irked by its conclusion A few colleagues I surveyed offered up similar opinions — “hated it,” “leaves you feeling unfulfilled,” “it undercut the whole thing for me.” Others, I should note, were onboard: “I didn’t expect a happy ending from her,” a friend told me. “So it sort of warmed my heart to see it.
Much of the novel walks a tightrope of ambivalence. Eileen and Simon , are close childhood friends living in Dublin who can’t commit to anything beyond sporadic sex despite their mutual desire to be together. They are constantly hurting each other without meaning to, and the moments between their hookups drip with longing She wants to fall madly in love and to protect herself, a push-and-pull familiar to anyone with a pulse.
And then, in the last 20 pages , it’s all neatly resolved. While staying at Alice’s country home, Simon and Eileen have yet another heart-to-heart, and finally settle down together after decades of pining. Eighteen months later, both sets of characters are in stable relationships, stuck inside together during lockdown. Eileen and Simon are thinking of getting married, and surprise! Eileen’s also pregnant.
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