BEAUTIFUL WORLD, WHERE ARE YOU.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: NOVEL

Sally Rooney's new novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, is a follow-up to her internationally bestselling Normal People and Conversations With Friends. All three books mix moderately annoying Marxism with moderately depressing sex and produce results much better than you'd expect from those ingredients. This is thanks in part to Rooney's accomplished prose, which is as translucent as the skin of a Dublin gal who has been good about applying sunscreen.

The semi-auto-fictional protagonists' muddled yet deeply held views on politics, religion, and relationships sat better...