Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

16 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Midway through the book I realized why I wasn't having a good time.  It's not as though I don't enjoy slice of life stories or the micro analysis of some basic everyday random people living their lives as best they can, but there was nothing that endeared me to the characters at all.
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hanbroloo's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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plumdustsuns's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I HATED Felix so much. Maybe I still do. I actually had to stop reading because his abusive, manipulative, putting down behaviour triggered me so much. And then he sort of did an 180 after the party and I was like… hmm… was he being cruel to avoid his own feelings then? But still does that mean we excuse him? I don’t know. I just think Alice deserves better (much like that fan she mentions by the end, haha). And it seems like he has improved but… 😡
I like Simon, I believe, but Rooney’s choice with the age gap with him and Eileen made me SO UNCOMFORTABLE. Yes, they’re both older now but it was insinuated that he had these feelings since she was young even though he didn’t act on it. 
I’m not sure if I feel the best towards Eileen, though. While I understand her, she also undermined Alice’s work and mental health a lot and I don’t think that was fair or nice of a friend to do. Especially as someone who’s also in the literary field, it’s a little hypocritical.
 
But I’ve liked reading Rooney’s work so far (just read this and Normal People though). I like how she is able to portray the everyday life and the ‘seemingly mundane’ as dramatically and importantly as it feels. The ending of this felt a lot better and less sterile than that of Normal People’s (the book, at least). 
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sleeson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I don’t know how I wanted to rate this. 2.5ish?? I didn’t like the book but I enjoyed the style of the writing. I mean I must have because I finished this novel rather quickly. Rooney is such a strange writer. I never know how to review her books. Moderate profanity. Moderate sexual content. 
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jadziaaudrey's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jasminrain's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I adore Rooney's way with words. This book is so beautifully written and the way in which she describes the world and moments is really extraordinary. I loved the letters and the intellectual discussion between the two main characters through them - they gave me a lot to think about. But as a story and characters, it was nothing out of ordinary. I didn't enjoy the characters or their relationships. There was just so much gaslighting and toxic relationships, and incidents such as sexual coercion that went unaddressed and the book seemed to normalise. On a lighter note, I also couldn't relate to any of the characters. For lots of people this seems to be the reality that we live in, but for me it seemed absurd. 
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mansinnikam's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

*exhales deeply*
Where do I even start? It was a blissful, rainy Sunday when I received an ARC of this book on my e-reader. I was thoroughly underwhelmed and maybe disappointed by Normal People last year, so my expectations were quite low on this one. The title attracted me and something about the mysterious aura around the author makes me want to pick her stuff up or follow up the tags, pages about her.

Beautiful World, Where are you is simply Beautiful in its messiness. It is beautiful in its severely stripped down characters proudly displaying their insecurities, fears, feelings and spite on display. Sally Rooney's characters feel spiteful at the world and its making and everything that we live for. They search for the why's and ponders around the airy, brushed upon topics. 

This book is a monochromatic celebration of the silent, blurred and often glanced over moments of life. The everyday nitty-gritty of religion and belief, of need turning to satiable, irreversible hunger, of privilege and mental illness at its worst. Its about people who remain even when they aren't available always. 

Its been a while since I finished this books, the words and characters have started to blur in my mind, although the disoriented satisfaction of reading this book has imprinted itself on my heart.
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jasmijn's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Meh. I just didn't really vibe with this one. The good part about it was that it was quite short, and that the email correspondence chapters in between was actually nice to read. I'd love to have a friend who'd just go on intellectual rants in emails to me, that'd be awesome. 

I wasn't expecting a lot of plot from this one, but there were so little events of actual relevance to the characters that I wasn't sure why I was reading about them in the first place. 
If you want to read about the bleakness of modern life, this is perfect though. Plenty of characters in jobs they hate and who are desperately on tinder in order to feel something again. A little to bleak for my taste, though. 
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georgiagrace's review against another edition

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5.0

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sambashua's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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