Beautiful World, Where Are You

On a Saturday evening, Eileen is out doing errands, wearing a cotton dress and leather jacket. Her presentation catches men’s eyes, to which she “smile[s] vaguely and avert[s] her gaze” (98). Her mother, Mary, phones to request that Eileen ask Lola a question about wedding invites, anticipating a future argument. Lola texts Eileen, calling her “immature” and “stuck in a shitty job making no money and living in a kip at age 30” (100) in response to Eileen’s prodding questions. Eileen takes the bus to a bar where she meets people for a friend’s birthday. Her friends talk about communism and share horror stories about the rental market, even though few of them are from working-class backgrounds. She feels angry that people assume she is bourgeois because she works at a literary magazine when her salary barely competes with a living wage. The group then talks in circles about political identities until the party fizzles out.

On the way home, Eileen sees a picture of her ex, Aidan, on social media with a woman. She changes direction and ends up at Simon’s apartment two minutes before midnight. She asks to sleep in his bed, and Simon agrees, only a little confused.