Beautiful World, Where Are You

As Rooney's most famous work, this novel shares the same preoccupation with class dynamics, intellectual intimacy, and the complex evolution of relationships over time. It captures the same tender, observational prose and the feeling of being young and uncertain in a changing world.

Often compared to Rooney for her dry wit and sharp social critique, Dolan explores the lives of expatriates in Hong Kong through a cynical yet vulnerable lens. The novel focuses heavily on the intersection of language, money, and modern romance.

This novel mirrors the protagonist Alice's struggles with the creative process and the pressure of literary success. It is a deeply heartfelt exploration of a woman trying to balance her artistic ambitions with her complicated romantic life.

Much like the email exchanges in Beautiful World, Where Are You, this book is highly intellectual and explores the limitations of language and communication. It follows a linguistics student at Harvard navigating an obsessive, mostly digital or written relationship.

This debut novel captures the same 'vibe' of messy, urban intellectualism and the intense, often self-destructive bonds between friends and lovers. It uses an ensemble cast to explore how individual traumas impact group dynamics.

Leilani's prose is sharp and visceral, echoing Rooney's ability to dissect power imbalances in relationships. It offers a more jagged, cynical look at modern life, art, and the struggle to find one's place in a capitalist society.

Set over a single weekend at a Midwestern university, this novel shares Rooney's interest in the friction between one's internal intellectual life and external social pressures. It is a quiet, devastatingly precise character study.

Rooney's debut establishes the template for her later work, featuring four characters whose lives become inextricably and painfully linked. It explores the same themes of infidelity, intellectual posturing, and the search for authentic connection.

While a memoir, Ditlevsen's spare and brutally honest writing style will appeal to Rooney fans. It tracks a woman's journey through art, addiction, and the search for a 'beautiful world' amidst personal and political chaos.

This novel shares the philosophical questioning found in the emails between Alice and Eileen, particularly regarding motherhood, female agency, and societal expectations. It has a similarly cool, detached, yet emotionally resonant tone.