a man with the name brady regaling you with your flaws.. too real for me

i appreciated the email chapters for the insight into Alice and Eileen's friendship, but not for the philosophical commentary—it came off as lazy writing to explicate the novel's themes. at least it was in conversation, allowing for input and disagreement from another character.

This novel follows the friendship between Alice and Eileen and their relationships with, respectively, Felix and Simon. The writing style is very accessible, although I have seen many critique it for the lack of formatted dialogue. I actually did not find this a problem, and found it very easy to follow who was speaking and found the dialogue itself very believable. I also commend the author's ability to create images, especially when describing her characters gestures and the sounds they hear.

The novel is very character focused and that is another reason I found it enjoyable. Rooney's characters are flawed and realistic, although at times they were quite pretentious. I did not really mind reading, and related to the contents of, the girls email exchanges regarding more philosophical questions (that said, some of them really did not hit for me), but the many interactions between Felix and Alice were difficult to read. I found myself rooting a lot more for Eileen and Simon.

I believe 20-somethings would enjoy this book, as it addresses a lot of the existential questions that are associated with truly coming into adulthood. It made me feel a bit better to hear some of the impotence the characters felt when considering global capitalism and when recognising their privilege. For that, and some other comments made on other topics, I did feel like I could be friends with them. I liked the overall sentiment that what matters most is human connection, and being concerned with those around us, and I am glad that this encompassed what I understand to be the three main types of relationships; family, friends and lovers.

There were some really funny and some really insightful moments, so I would recommend this as a fairly light read and it really is a nice delve into someone else's understanding of the modern world! I do not think this is the greatest literary production of our time, but I don't think it is aiming to be. It does not require much thought or analysis to appreciate in its entirety. Everything is laid out for the reader to easily consume, which is a merit to Rooney's writing and its clarity!

Trigger Warning
The novel contains a lot of sexual content, which borders on being pornographic. Although this is not in itself negative, some chapters could cause discomfort to readers trigger by sexual descriptions - especially when dealing with the problematic daddy/princess kink.