That’s one, perhaps surprising, message to take from the Irish novelist Sally Rooney’s latest book, which appeared instantly atop bestseller lists when published earlier this month.

It’s no spoiler to disclose that Rooney gained fame as the voice of a profoundly stressed-out generation — one wrestling with depression, drift and despair. She has been described as “the first great millennial novelist.” Her first two novels, “Normal People” (2018) and “Conversations With Friends” (2017), garnered millions in sales, and “Normal People” became a hit TV series.

Her books pioneer what might be called the not-quite-marriage plot: Disaffected young people with poor communication skills have sex, find themselves hurt and eventually, sort of, work it out. But her new book — “Beautiful World, Where Are You” — takes a subtly different turn, one that tracks a similar evolution in her generation’s mind-set. Rooney’s characters (and her audience) have the same problems they always did — the rent’s too high, the jobs feel meaningless, the elders are useless and the politics a sham — but now they’re contemplating new solutions.

“Beautiful World” follows acclaimed author (and obvious Rooney stand-in) Alice and her best friend, Eileen, an editorial assistant at a Dublin literary journal. The two hash out their concerns, grievances and philosophies via long, meandering emails — a correspondence that has been criticized for its seeming solipsism, but which exemplifies what Rooney does best: capturing her cohort’s voices, bringing their cares to life.

Alice and Eileen can’t buy a sandwich without thinking of “the culmination of all the labour in the world, all the burning of fossil fuels...READ MORE

Can't click through to the full feature? REQUEST A COPY 

3 minute read