I don’t even know where to start with this review. I have so many overwhelmingly gushing opinions on this book. It’s taken my top spot in my Sally Rooney ranking and I can’t see it budging.

I started out reading the physical copy and I could not gel with the writing at all. I was worried that the book just wasn’t going to be for me, but luckily I decided to give the audiobook a try and I think it might be my favourite audiobook experience. I don’t usually give audiobooks five stars as I don’t always fully connect with them but there was absolutely no doubt that I was going to give this one all of the stars. You can really tell that Rooney has upped her game in this book, in terms of the writing and the scope of the story.

The way that grief was depicted throughout hit really close to home for me and it can be so tough to get that right, imo. I loved how the sibling relationship was written. It gave very ‘I love you but I wouldn’t ever tell you bc I don’t really like you but no one else can say anything negative about you’ and yeah, wowza. I picked the book up initially for the romantic plot but Ivan and Peter were enough on their own.

Being the OG Rooney fan that I am, the romantic relationships in this were absolutely chefs kiss. Margaret was probably my favourite character from the whole book, but honestly I just loved them all. They felt SO realistic. They acted like dicks at times, but at other times I was shocked at and admired their emotional maturity and depth.

I already miss the characters and sound of the narrator, and I know I’m going to be thinking about this book for a long time. I can’t wait to read other reviews and discuss it online. Absolute perfection.