Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney

Alice and Eileen grapple with the value of making art in a world that’s falling apart; feeling selfish in caring about love and relationships and beauty while the fate of humanity looms large. Their emails to each other are nuanced, clear-headed ruminations on neoliberalism, the limits of Internet political debate, the Irish housing market, the role of art, fame, and God. Real life interactions with their lovers are awkward, insecure, restrained, filled with longing. Alice and Eileen are far more comfortable intellectualizing their fears and desires than expressing what they want. Intermittently, they’ll look down at their phones, and think about how pointless it all is. In other words, they’re very much like people we know, or are.