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Intermezzo
Win a free print copy of this book!
5 days and 12:38:06
5 copies available
U.S. only
An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family, from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.
Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.
Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.
For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.
Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.
Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.
For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 2024
About the author
Sally Rooney
43 books55k followersSally Rooney was born in 1991 and lives in Dublin, where she graduated from Trinity College. Her work has appeared in Granta, The Dublin Review, The White Review, The Stinging Fly, and the Winter Pages anthology.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,920 reviews
September 26, 2024
"what if life is just a collection of essentially unrelated experiences? why does one thing have to follow meaningfully from another?"
rating: ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
i am still processing this book after a month, so please bear with me. i will have a full review up on my substack (https://postcardsbyelle.substack.com/) in a week or so. i am so so grateful i had the privilege of reading this as an advanced copy…the dream of a lifetime.
sally rooney is my favorite author, and one of the reasons why i love her is that she is able to inspect any relationship—romantic or platonic—at a microscopic level. she takes mundane moments, day in and day out, and creates a bigger picture that is worthy of reading; when you are finished, it will imperceptibly but surely change the way you view the world.
intermezzo felt reminiscent of beautiful world where are you, with the way two characters' alternating perspectives diverged and mirrored the way they felt about life and each other.
the heart of intermezzo is about two brothers—peter and ivan. peter, the older brother, is a successful lawyer, and ivan, the younger brother, a competitive chess player. grief for their father pervades them, mourning him looms over them like a shadow, and thus causes them to question both how they have spent their lives and the future. they grieve alone, mostly, unable to be vulnerable to each other for a large portion of the book.
what happens when you finally look in the mirror after something life changing, and the reflection that you see is unrecognizable? how do you come back from that? how do you approach intimacy and vulnerability when those feelings are completely foreign to you? how do you reconcile with and concede to love and human connection?
while peter and ivan both have complicated relationships of their own, much of the book is bereft of the romantic aspect that is often present in her other books. instead, rooney takes the time and care to vigilantly flesh out the two brothers’ personalities, and by extension their strained relationship. both brothers have distinctly unlikeable traits of their own, but she never lets go of the authorial kindness and grace she offers to her characters.
in a book that is, at its core, about love and grief and regrets, i think that is the most wonderful thing she could have done.
thank you so much to fsg for the arc! you truly made my year
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mini review
i put off reading the last ten pages for as long as i could because i knew how absolutely empty i'd feel after i finished it. i took two months reading this—a chapter every few days with emma—and it was the best decision ever. it made me appreciate rooney's words so much more, and this book is one that should be read slowly and analytically.
i'll post another review soon, but all i have to say is: be excited!!!!! this lives up to every expectation ever.
i'm literally buddy reading a sally rooney ARC with my best girl emma??? this is what our dreams are made of
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brothers??? one is a loner??? one is in love with two women??? grief?? despair??
welcome back dostoyevsky
October 4, 2024
this book was the most exciting news of my year and i got engaged the week it was announced.
somehow, it still exceeded my life-altering, world-centering, unrealistic-to-the-point-of-being-annoying expectations.
with every book, sally rooney seems to challenge herself in a new way, showing that in the years since her last release while we've all been pining and watching paul mescal fan edits she's been ever (somehow! still!) building on her craft. in beautiful world, where are you, for example, she displayed a totally new and mesmerizing use of visual language and natural motif that i fell in love with.
here, her use of perspective is stunning. i'm a multi-pov hater, but this manages to feel like something entirely different even as it follows the interiority of three characters. it seamlessly transitions between the three while still being vividly distinct: peter's staccato trains of thought, margaret's quiet self-reflection, ivan's anxious rambling. i've never read anything like it.
decisions like the little we see from within the two female characters in peter's orbit, and are immersed in the world of ivan's, feels so true to their characters and to their stories — and such an interesting facet to the characteristic sociopolitical explorations that are the true gem of rooney's writing.
rooney also challenges herself to create characters who are simultaneously unlikable and real, making decisions that threaten to get you to put the book down and sigh while being mercilessly relatable and easy to understand.
that's what we're working with here. a novel in which every choice is so thoughtful that you can spend a minute reading a page, then pause for five minutes just to consider it. which is basically what i did (read: make myself spend a month reading this because i so dreaded not having any more of it to draw out).
peter and ivan each represent a shade of misogyny, of straight-white-man-ism in modern society, that doesn't forgive itself even while it refuses to let you ignore their own humanity and histories.
peter's perspective, made up of brief ulyssean phrases and stunning descriptions, varies as much from ivan's terminally introspective one as the two brothers do from each other.
rooney's past books have focused on waxing and waning romantic (and semi-romantic) relationships; beautiful world also features a platonic one at its core. this one takes as its subject siblings, at first nearly estranged, as they struggle toward each other.
anyway. i often hate multiple perspectives because it always feels there's one the author is more comfortable with, that the choice to distinguish the two is because they have to be different because they're different characters. rooney's decision is deliberate, each perspective difference thought out, and because of that both are wildly impressive.
i loved this book.
bottom line: all the it girls love intermezzo and all the it girls are right.
(thank you from the bottom of my heart to the publisher for the arc)
(buddy read of a lifetime with my favorite girl elle)
somehow, it still exceeded my life-altering, world-centering, unrealistic-to-the-point-of-being-annoying expectations.
with every book, sally rooney seems to challenge herself in a new way, showing that in the years since her last release while we've all been pining and watching paul mescal fan edits she's been ever (somehow! still!) building on her craft. in beautiful world, where are you, for example, she displayed a totally new and mesmerizing use of visual language and natural motif that i fell in love with.
here, her use of perspective is stunning. i'm a multi-pov hater, but this manages to feel like something entirely different even as it follows the interiority of three characters. it seamlessly transitions between the three while still being vividly distinct: peter's staccato trains of thought, margaret's quiet self-reflection, ivan's anxious rambling. i've never read anything like it.
decisions like the little we see from within the two female characters in peter's orbit, and are immersed in the world of ivan's, feels so true to their characters and to their stories — and such an interesting facet to the characteristic sociopolitical explorations that are the true gem of rooney's writing.
rooney also challenges herself to create characters who are simultaneously unlikable and real, making decisions that threaten to get you to put the book down and sigh while being mercilessly relatable and easy to understand.
that's what we're working with here. a novel in which every choice is so thoughtful that you can spend a minute reading a page, then pause for five minutes just to consider it. which is basically what i did (read: make myself spend a month reading this because i so dreaded not having any more of it to draw out).
peter and ivan each represent a shade of misogyny, of straight-white-man-ism in modern society, that doesn't forgive itself even while it refuses to let you ignore their own humanity and histories.
peter's perspective, made up of brief ulyssean phrases and stunning descriptions, varies as much from ivan's terminally introspective one as the two brothers do from each other.
rooney's past books have focused on waxing and waning romantic (and semi-romantic) relationships; beautiful world also features a platonic one at its core. this one takes as its subject siblings, at first nearly estranged, as they struggle toward each other.
anyway. i often hate multiple perspectives because it always feels there's one the author is more comfortable with, that the choice to distinguish the two is because they have to be different because they're different characters. rooney's decision is deliberate, each perspective difference thought out, and because of that both are wildly impressive.
i loved this book.
bottom line: all the it girls love intermezzo and all the it girls are right.
(thank you from the bottom of my heart to the publisher for the arc)
(buddy read of a lifetime with my favorite girl elle)
September 24, 2024
4.5. WOW. sally rooney has such a talent for writing about interpersonal relationships and human connection, and it’s something i’ll never tire of reading.
intermezzo is the story of two brothers: peter, a successful lawyer in his thirties who is juggling relationships with two different women, and his younger brother ivan, a competitive chess player in his early twenties who begins a relationship with an older woman he meets at one of his tournaments.
it’s hard to talk in depth about this book for fear of spoiling it, but it definitely feels like a step forwards for sally rooney as a literary fiction author. intermezzo contains a much deeper character study into its two protagonists, exploring their family dynamics and how they grapple with navigating their brotherhood in the shadow of their father’s recent death. the scope of the novel feels wider; you really feel like you know these characters and why they are the way they are, why they act the way they do.
intermezzo also has rooney’s trademark political zest: commentary on wage labour, the housing crisis in dublin, monetary power dynamics, religion, existentialism, and discussions of chronic pain (to name a few). another thing i’ve always liked about sally rooney’s novels is how she talks about the internet / social media. it’s present in her books, as it needs to be when writing about young characters navigating the contemporary world, but it’s never too much. her awareness of social media, coupled with her lack of (public) personal accounts, conjures the image of rooney lurking on the periphery of the internet somewhere. she is also a master of dialogue, perfectly weaving in all the intricacies and subtleties of human conversation.
all this to say, it’s another hit from sally rooney & further cements her as my favourite author! (but who’s surprised). thank you SO much @faberbooks for the advanced copy, i’m forever indebted. intermezzo is out on 24 sept 2024!
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update: i got the arc!!! i will be devouring it asap so stay tuned
sally rooney hive we are so back
intermezzo is the story of two brothers: peter, a successful lawyer in his thirties who is juggling relationships with two different women, and his younger brother ivan, a competitive chess player in his early twenties who begins a relationship with an older woman he meets at one of his tournaments.
it’s hard to talk in depth about this book for fear of spoiling it, but it definitely feels like a step forwards for sally rooney as a literary fiction author. intermezzo contains a much deeper character study into its two protagonists, exploring their family dynamics and how they grapple with navigating their brotherhood in the shadow of their father’s recent death. the scope of the novel feels wider; you really feel like you know these characters and why they are the way they are, why they act the way they do.
intermezzo also has rooney’s trademark political zest: commentary on wage labour, the housing crisis in dublin, monetary power dynamics, religion, existentialism, and discussions of chronic pain (to name a few). another thing i’ve always liked about sally rooney’s novels is how she talks about the internet / social media. it’s present in her books, as it needs to be when writing about young characters navigating the contemporary world, but it’s never too much. her awareness of social media, coupled with her lack of (public) personal accounts, conjures the image of rooney lurking on the periphery of the internet somewhere. she is also a master of dialogue, perfectly weaving in all the intricacies and subtleties of human conversation.
all this to say, it’s another hit from sally rooney & further cements her as my favourite author! (but who’s surprised). thank you SO much @faberbooks for the advanced copy, i’m forever indebted. intermezzo is out on 24 sept 2024!
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update: i got the arc!!! i will be devouring it asap so stay tuned
sally rooney hive we are so back
October 9, 2024
i would literally die for ivan. review to come
it's gonna be a sad girl september. thanks sally babes
it's gonna be a sad girl september. thanks sally babes
October 1, 2024
In a deliberately quiet almost hissing voice Ivan says: I actually hate you. I’ve hated you my entire life.
Without stirring, without looking around to see whether the other diners or staff are watching them, Peter just answers: I know.
hate when i dislike a book and go to read negative reviews but none of them hate it for any reason that even remotely resembles my sentiments. “It’s just people talking for four hundred pages” the fuck do you want? explosions? go watch a marvel movie.
rooney stuns with a writing that has never been this distinctive in her works before. the change in writing style between pov chapters brilliant. peter’s short, rapid fired, sometimes incoherent thoughts the best part. (of course most will hate and criticise this stylistic choice cause in the booktok age of reading experimentation is a big no-no)
but quite frankly style is the only thing i liked with this one.
the ivan/margaret chapters (and why on earth were the ivan chapters mostly from margaret’s point of view anyway? i thought this was supposed to be about the brothers?) feel like reading about a twelve year old falling in love with an adult. ivan just does not read like a 22 year old at all. making this age gap relationship more cringe and at times simply unbearable than the actually very mundane thing that it is. i guess ivan is supposed to be on some kind of autistic spectrum but i find his portrayal highly questionable.
peter’s chapters while more emotionally complex simply don’t go anywhere. his inner turmoil doesn’t really reach its climax and instead he gets an out of nowhere saccharine ending where everything gets handed to him on a silver platter and we have to pretend that he’s conflicted about that for the last five pages like yeah, woe is him.
overall, this book might have profited from a harsher editing with the ivan chapters especially being way too long and dragging on unnecessarily. somewhere between 2 and 3 stars.
- - -
usually depressive episodes hit me by surprise but i'm glad to know that i can plan one for september
Without stirring, without looking around to see whether the other diners or staff are watching them, Peter just answers: I know.
hate when i dislike a book and go to read negative reviews but none of them hate it for any reason that even remotely resembles my sentiments. “It’s just people talking for four hundred pages” the fuck do you want? explosions? go watch a marvel movie.
rooney stuns with a writing that has never been this distinctive in her works before. the change in writing style between pov chapters brilliant. peter’s short, rapid fired, sometimes incoherent thoughts the best part. (of course most will hate and criticise this stylistic choice cause in the booktok age of reading experimentation is a big no-no)
but quite frankly style is the only thing i liked with this one.
the ivan/margaret chapters (and why on earth were the ivan chapters mostly from margaret’s point of view anyway? i thought this was supposed to be about the brothers?) feel like reading about a twelve year old falling in love with an adult. ivan just does not read like a 22 year old at all. making this age gap relationship more cringe and at times simply unbearable than the actually very mundane thing that it is. i guess ivan is supposed to be on some kind of autistic spectrum but i find his portrayal highly questionable.
peter’s chapters while more emotionally complex simply don’t go anywhere. his inner turmoil doesn’t really reach its climax and instead he gets an out of nowhere saccharine ending where everything gets handed to him on a silver platter and we have to pretend that he’s conflicted about that for the last five pages like yeah, woe is him.
overall, this book might have profited from a harsher editing with the ivan chapters especially being way too long and dragging on unnecessarily. somewhere between 2 and 3 stars.
- - -
usually depressive episodes hit me by surprise but i'm glad to know that i can plan one for september
October 4, 2024
Despite Rooney’s books being largely about nothing, with the plot consisting of basically sad people being sad, I never before found them slow or boring. I found the characters and situations in Normal People and Beautiful World tragic enough to keep me glued to the pages. I can’t say I enjoyed them, but I was definitely engaged.
Intermezzo, unfortunately, dragged in parts. Rooney’s books are getting longer and longer and I think in this one (448 pages, compared to NP's 273 and BW's 337) I finally reached my limit for melancholy navel-gazing.
That's not to say I didn't get something out of it. I still really enjoyed the character portraits. Rooney is good at taking fucked up relationship dynamics and exploring them up, down and inside out. Here she looks not only at complex romantic entanglements, but also the relationship between two very different brothers who are struggling to connect with each other and manage their grief after their father's death.
I like that she dramatically changes writing style when she moves between Peter and Ivan’s perspectives, reflecting their personalities in Peter’s rapidfire, often meandering, thoughts and Ivan’s more precisely-articulated inner narrative.
However, I never fully enjoyed the inclusion of Margaret’s perspective in Ivan’s chapters and still can't really understand the decision behind it. All it did was give us less page time with Ivan, making Peter, ultimately, the more developed character and the more interesting POV to read.
I also felt like Peter's ending was too easily wrapped up. He's in a very complex situation and spends the whole book moping (some of it justified; some of it less so) but then solutions just seem to start falling into his lap without any growth on his part.
Not my favourite, but let's be honest: I'm going to read whatever she writes next.
Intermezzo, unfortunately, dragged in parts. Rooney’s books are getting longer and longer and I think in this one (448 pages, compared to NP's 273 and BW's 337) I finally reached my limit for melancholy navel-gazing.
That's not to say I didn't get something out of it. I still really enjoyed the character portraits. Rooney is good at taking fucked up relationship dynamics and exploring them up, down and inside out. Here she looks not only at complex romantic entanglements, but also the relationship between two very different brothers who are struggling to connect with each other and manage their grief after their father's death.
I like that she dramatically changes writing style when she moves between Peter and Ivan’s perspectives, reflecting their personalities in Peter’s rapidfire, often meandering, thoughts and Ivan’s more precisely-articulated inner narrative.
However, I never fully enjoyed the inclusion of Margaret’s perspective in Ivan’s chapters and still can't really understand the decision behind it. All it did was give us less page time with Ivan, making Peter, ultimately, the more developed character and the more interesting POV to read.
I also felt like Peter's ending was too easily wrapped up. He's in a very complex situation and spends the whole book moping (some of it justified; some of it less so) but then solutions just seem to start falling into his lap without any growth on his part.
Not my favourite, but let's be honest: I'm going to read whatever she writes next.
Currently reading
September 23, 2024More like Sally Ruin-Me am I right!?!?
*screaming crying feeling alive*
*screaming crying feeling alive*
September 5, 2024
TLDR: This is the first time I've given Sally Rooney 5 stars. I really think this is her best, most complex and compelling book to date. It's mature in themes and writing. She explores a new, more stream of consciousness style, while balancing that with her excellent dialogue (nobody writes dialogue like Sally!) and expertly crafted characters.
The story follows brothers, Peter and Ivan, who have just lost their father to a years-long battle with cancer. Their mother, who had been divorced from their father years prior to his passing, is around but not particularly involved in their lives as she lives with her new husband and stepchildren.
Peter, in his early 30s, is a lawyer with a cool demeanor and juggling two relationships—one with Sylvia, his first love with whom he's stayed close though not physically intimate after an accident years ago left her with chronic pain; and Naomi, a college student with a more carefree attitude who makes money on the side, when not relying on Peter, from her online following.
Ivan, on the other hand, is in his early 20s and a chess 'prodigy' who has plateaued after a few years of dealing with his father's illness and struggling to find success, both personally and professionally. He's socially awkward and seemingly a complete foil of his suave older brother. His unlikely romance with an older woman, Margaret, who is dealing with a divorce and unsure how to proceed with this less-than-conventional romantic fling she finds with Ivan after he competes in a chess exhibition at the events center she manages.
The crux of the story revolves around the two brothers and their respective inner lives, especially their inability to connect with each other after the loss of their father, and the compounding grief that causes. Peter, usually unassailable, overmedicates himself and plays games with the women in his life, while Ivan seeks solace in his old friend, chess, and his newfound love, something with which he's had little experience. Both in over their heads, they misfire and hurt themselves and each other as they attempt to avoid facing the painful space their father's absence leaves in their lives.
Rooney blew me away from the very start with how real these characters felt. Though you don't necessarily get handed their entire backstories, you can feel the full scope of their lives behind them as the story unfolds in front of you. And Rooney masterfully doles out information, as well as shows you *who* these people are, through the conversations and conflicts they face on the page.
Peter's chapters are written in a much more fragmented and stream of consciousness style than I've ever seen Rooney attempt before. At first it was a bit jarring and took a second to get used to; especially when paired with her signature lack of quotation marks which is even more noticeable in his chapters that include large blocks of text weaving together inner monologue and actual character dialogue. But, it's masterfully done. Some of the best I've read in recent years and extremely effective at putting you in his headspace.
In contrast, Ivan's chapters reflect a more structured, methodical mindset. He's not just a chess player, but younger and more concerned with logic and reason, using proofs and points to cover up the insurmountable emotion he's feeling after his dad's death. As the story goes on we get to see how he grows as not just a character but a human being learning to embrace the grey areas in life, and the writing perfectly reflects that.
I loved this book, simply put. It was heart-wrenching, complicated, realistic, and beautiful. I love stories about brothers and was so impressed with Rooney's take on the subject matter, as well as weaving in themes of mortality, belief, conditioning, performance, wants/desires, and more. Absolutely her best book, in my opinion, and one I can see myself revisiting in the future. I can't wait for everyone to read this when it comes out in a few weeks!
The story follows brothers, Peter and Ivan, who have just lost their father to a years-long battle with cancer. Their mother, who had been divorced from their father years prior to his passing, is around but not particularly involved in their lives as she lives with her new husband and stepchildren.
Peter, in his early 30s, is a lawyer with a cool demeanor and juggling two relationships—one with Sylvia, his first love with whom he's stayed close though not physically intimate after an accident years ago left her with chronic pain; and Naomi, a college student with a more carefree attitude who makes money on the side, when not relying on Peter, from her online following.
Ivan, on the other hand, is in his early 20s and a chess 'prodigy' who has plateaued after a few years of dealing with his father's illness and struggling to find success, both personally and professionally. He's socially awkward and seemingly a complete foil of his suave older brother. His unlikely romance with an older woman, Margaret, who is dealing with a divorce and unsure how to proceed with this less-than-conventional romantic fling she finds with Ivan after he competes in a chess exhibition at the events center she manages.
The crux of the story revolves around the two brothers and their respective inner lives, especially their inability to connect with each other after the loss of their father, and the compounding grief that causes. Peter, usually unassailable, overmedicates himself and plays games with the women in his life, while Ivan seeks solace in his old friend, chess, and his newfound love, something with which he's had little experience. Both in over their heads, they misfire and hurt themselves and each other as they attempt to avoid facing the painful space their father's absence leaves in their lives.
Rooney blew me away from the very start with how real these characters felt. Though you don't necessarily get handed their entire backstories, you can feel the full scope of their lives behind them as the story unfolds in front of you. And Rooney masterfully doles out information, as well as shows you *who* these people are, through the conversations and conflicts they face on the page.
Peter's chapters are written in a much more fragmented and stream of consciousness style than I've ever seen Rooney attempt before. At first it was a bit jarring and took a second to get used to; especially when paired with her signature lack of quotation marks which is even more noticeable in his chapters that include large blocks of text weaving together inner monologue and actual character dialogue. But, it's masterfully done. Some of the best I've read in recent years and extremely effective at putting you in his headspace.
In contrast, Ivan's chapters reflect a more structured, methodical mindset. He's not just a chess player, but younger and more concerned with logic and reason, using proofs and points to cover up the insurmountable emotion he's feeling after his dad's death. As the story goes on we get to see how he grows as not just a character but a human being learning to embrace the grey areas in life, and the writing perfectly reflects that.
I loved this book, simply put. It was heart-wrenching, complicated, realistic, and beautiful. I love stories about brothers and was so impressed with Rooney's take on the subject matter, as well as weaving in themes of mortality, belief, conditioning, performance, wants/desires, and more. Absolutely her best book, in my opinion, and one I can see myself revisiting in the future. I can't wait for everyone to read this when it comes out in a few weeks!
September 24, 2024
I felt too many things - and I loved them all. And it was raining all day. Went for a walk to decompress, and then poured over the final 200 pages right before bed because I couldn’t let it sit for another night. It was raining all day and I’m emotional and I’m happy. 5/5
October 6, 2024
link to my Intermezzo Spotify playlist!
The past few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about love in all of its many facets and what we, as humans, owe each other. While this is about two not-so-close brothers navigating the shared grief from their father dying, it is, as all of her books really are, about the importance of human connection and choosing empathy over being right. Life, especially in this day and age, can feel especially isolating, but we tend to work better as a community, filling in the gaps and supporting each other. Intermezzo illustrates how important those connections and reaching out is and how simply viewing people through a lens of empathy instead of judgment can enhance everyone’s lives. In a world so heavily focused on individualism, leaning on each other is one of the most powerful and important things you can choose to do. Rooney’s points really resonated with me in this one, leaving a huge emotional impact. There were so many passages that made me put down the book and just think (or sometimes, just cry) about life and what it means to be alive. While there is a deep, underlying sadness to this one, there is so much beauty and hope in it too. Life isn’t a competition, it’s a collaboration.
“Life itself, he thinks, every moment of life, is as precious and beautiful as any game of chess ever played, if only you know how to live.”
There are three different points of view in this book and all of them foil each other. Peter, the 32 year old eldest brother, a successful lawyer with control issues who is torn between his ex-girlfriend and a college student in her early 20’s, whose grief has caused him to be dissociated from the world, living life in a fragmented state. Ivan, the 22 year old youngest brother, a washed up chess prodigy who begins to pursue a 36 year old woman, and whose grief has caused him to spiral inwardly because of the questions he is fixated on. And Margaret, the 36 year old going through a messy divorce and wondering if what she had was all life had to offer, her situations cause her to fixate on external pressures from societal judgment. These points of view work together to show hypocrisies and biases, internally and societally, (i.e. Peter feels no fear introducing his 23 year old girlfriend to his friends because they will congratulate him, while Margaret can’t tell the people closest to her about Ivan because of how severely they will judge her.) while continuing this central theme of chronic loneliness and the power of being there for each other. Everyone in this story—Peter, Ivan, Margaret, Naomi, Sylvia, the mother, the father—circles each other, and, even though Peter and Ivan’s fraught relationship is at the eye of the storm, it’s Naomi and Sylvia always being kind to Ivan, it’s Peter’s first meeting with Margaret, it’s the mother, who has hurt both of her sons in irreversible ways, continually reaching out and acting as a kind of bridge. There is so much love in this story, and it arrives in so many different ways, not just through unconventional romance, but through these small and kind interactions, lifting each other up along the way.
I really love the writing in this one and found that, while I’ve always loved Rooney’s writing style, it really does enhance the rawness of the story here, especially in Peter’s chapters, which are fragmented, representing just how dissociated he currently is from real life, with the trademark lack of quotation marks keeps the reader in this fragmented mind, living a passive life. While I did love reading all three points of view, Peter was the star of the show for me. On meeting him, my biases were put to the test as I immediately decided that I hated him and then as soon as I was deeper in his brain I understood immediately and also kind of realized he was a little too much like me and a little too relatable and I cannot express how much I absolutely adored his chapters and found something that wasn’t quite comfort, but more like a deep understanding of my soul and humanity in general while reading his point of view. I am a pretty easy crier when it comes to literature, but I don’t think that takes away from the fact that, after the first chapter, I had to put the book down either because I was crying so much or because of how many strong emotions I was feeling multiple times during each of Peter’s chapters. This book is already such a personal and raw look at humanity and what we owe each other that having a character that was internally so painfully relatable enhanced this book so much that I’m not sure I will ever stop thinking about it. I don’t want to get any dynamics, but I will say that, as the older, control-freak, know-it-all sibling, I found Ivan and Peter’s relationship to be extremely relatable. The nature of it brought me back to my Nana telling me that her and her late sister were never close until both of her parents died. When there was no one left from that house except them, they were compelled to come together because there was so much that they had lived through together and the grief forced them to put aside their differences. Until her death, my great-aunt, who lived alone her whole life, came from West Virginia to Georgia to celebrate every holiday with us. All because her and her sister put their differences aside and welcomed each other with open arms.
“And when he looked at her, she seemed to feel herself understood completely, as if everything that had ever happened to her, everything that she had ever done, was accepted quietly into his understanding.”
It’s odd, because I feel as though I should bring up the unconventionality of the relationships, but they just felt so natural in the book that I didn’t really think about the unconventionality of them, which I think is the point. As said in the book, “Well, I think you’re comparing a scenario you made up in your head with a situation that has real people in it.” There is no blueprint for life, and every situation is different. The assumptions we make because of age gap (or other unconventional relationships) are usually made without grace or understanding of the couple itself. I always (usually when criticizing a romance book to my friends) say that to be loved is to be known and each romantic relationship in Intermezzo emulates this. Peter and Sylvia were the pinnacle of this for me, but the companionship and understanding between Peter and Naomi and Ivan and Margaret was also incredibly comforting, highlighting that, even if things don’t work out in the long run, it is enough to, just for a moment, be understood and loved by another, and why do we deny ourselves of that?
Rooney’s beliefs are still strongly intermixed into the story. In Beautiful World, Where Are You, my main complaint was that the emails (which I loved in theory) felt too much like long narrative breaks that were used for Rooney to state her beliefs. This book forgoes emails, more smoothly integrating the political and social points that Rooney is passionate about, creating a smoother flow, which I appreciated. This mixed well with the focus on how we live in a world that tries to fit people in a one-size-fits-all kind of life when one of the most beautiful things about us is how different we all are.
This is easily my favorite book of the year, and it could honestly be my favorite book of all time. Days after finishing it I still will start randomly crying about it. I have no desire to pick up another fiction book right now because I do not have it in me to think about any other story besides this one. I am at the point where I think the only option is to immediately reread it. It is driving me insane. It has altered my brain chemistry. This is a book about grief, but most importantly it is a book about what we owe each other, as well as ourselves.
“Yes, the world makes room for goodness and decency, he thinks: and the task of life is to show goodness to others, not to complain about their failings.”
My full playlist is linked above, but here are some songs I associate everyone with:
Margaret is The Last Man on Earth by Wolf Alice & ICU by Phoebe Bridgers
Ivan is Love is a Laserquest by Arctic Monkeys & Where Do I Go by Lizzy McAlpine
Ivan and Margaret are Just Like Heaven by The Cure & Space Song by Beach House & Yellow by Coldplay
Peter is Please, Please, Please , Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths & Don't Let Go by The Ghost Club & False Confidence by Noah Kahan & circle the drain by Soccer Mommy & Broken Brain by The Frights & Am I Alive by From Indian Lakes & Solitary Confinement by Everybody’s Worried About Owen
Peter and Sylvia are Strawberry Wine by Noah Kahan & j’s lullaby(darlin’ I’d wait for you) by Delaney Bailey & Frances by ROLE MODEL
Peter and Naomi are hello! by ROLE MODEL & Pressure by the 1975 & Jupiter by Flower Face
Peter and Ivan are I Love You I’m Sorry by Gracie Abrams
Intermezzo is Doll House by Del Water Gap & Death With Dignity by Sufjan Stevens
The past few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about love in all of its many facets and what we, as humans, owe each other. While this is about two not-so-close brothers navigating the shared grief from their father dying, it is, as all of her books really are, about the importance of human connection and choosing empathy over being right. Life, especially in this day and age, can feel especially isolating, but we tend to work better as a community, filling in the gaps and supporting each other. Intermezzo illustrates how important those connections and reaching out is and how simply viewing people through a lens of empathy instead of judgment can enhance everyone’s lives. In a world so heavily focused on individualism, leaning on each other is one of the most powerful and important things you can choose to do. Rooney’s points really resonated with me in this one, leaving a huge emotional impact. There were so many passages that made me put down the book and just think (or sometimes, just cry) about life and what it means to be alive. While there is a deep, underlying sadness to this one, there is so much beauty and hope in it too. Life isn’t a competition, it’s a collaboration.
“Life itself, he thinks, every moment of life, is as precious and beautiful as any game of chess ever played, if only you know how to live.”
There are three different points of view in this book and all of them foil each other. Peter, the 32 year old eldest brother, a successful lawyer with control issues who is torn between his ex-girlfriend and a college student in her early 20’s, whose grief has caused him to be dissociated from the world, living life in a fragmented state. Ivan, the 22 year old youngest brother, a washed up chess prodigy who begins to pursue a 36 year old woman, and whose grief has caused him to spiral inwardly because of the questions he is fixated on. And Margaret, the 36 year old going through a messy divorce and wondering if what she had was all life had to offer, her situations cause her to fixate on external pressures from societal judgment. These points of view work together to show hypocrisies and biases, internally and societally, (i.e. Peter feels no fear introducing his 23 year old girlfriend to his friends because they will congratulate him, while Margaret can’t tell the people closest to her about Ivan because of how severely they will judge her.) while continuing this central theme of chronic loneliness and the power of being there for each other. Everyone in this story—Peter, Ivan, Margaret, Naomi, Sylvia, the mother, the father—circles each other, and, even though Peter and Ivan’s fraught relationship is at the eye of the storm, it’s Naomi and Sylvia always being kind to Ivan, it’s Peter’s first meeting with Margaret, it’s the mother, who has hurt both of her sons in irreversible ways, continually reaching out and acting as a kind of bridge. There is so much love in this story, and it arrives in so many different ways, not just through unconventional romance, but through these small and kind interactions, lifting each other up along the way.
I really love the writing in this one and found that, while I’ve always loved Rooney’s writing style, it really does enhance the rawness of the story here, especially in Peter’s chapters, which are fragmented, representing just how dissociated he currently is from real life, with the trademark lack of quotation marks keeps the reader in this fragmented mind, living a passive life. While I did love reading all three points of view, Peter was the star of the show for me. On meeting him, my biases were put to the test as I immediately decided that I hated him and then as soon as I was deeper in his brain I understood immediately and also kind of realized he was a little too much like me and a little too relatable and I cannot express how much I absolutely adored his chapters and found something that wasn’t quite comfort, but more like a deep understanding of my soul and humanity in general while reading his point of view. I am a pretty easy crier when it comes to literature, but I don’t think that takes away from the fact that, after the first chapter, I had to put the book down either because I was crying so much or because of how many strong emotions I was feeling multiple times during each of Peter’s chapters. This book is already such a personal and raw look at humanity and what we owe each other that having a character that was internally so painfully relatable enhanced this book so much that I’m not sure I will ever stop thinking about it. I don’t want to get any dynamics, but I will say that, as the older, control-freak, know-it-all sibling, I found Ivan and Peter’s relationship to be extremely relatable. The nature of it brought me back to my Nana telling me that her and her late sister were never close until both of her parents died. When there was no one left from that house except them, they were compelled to come together because there was so much that they had lived through together and the grief forced them to put aside their differences. Until her death, my great-aunt, who lived alone her whole life, came from West Virginia to Georgia to celebrate every holiday with us. All because her and her sister put their differences aside and welcomed each other with open arms.
“And when he looked at her, she seemed to feel herself understood completely, as if everything that had ever happened to her, everything that she had ever done, was accepted quietly into his understanding.”
It’s odd, because I feel as though I should bring up the unconventionality of the relationships, but they just felt so natural in the book that I didn’t really think about the unconventionality of them, which I think is the point. As said in the book, “Well, I think you’re comparing a scenario you made up in your head with a situation that has real people in it.” There is no blueprint for life, and every situation is different. The assumptions we make because of age gap (or other unconventional relationships) are usually made without grace or understanding of the couple itself. I always (usually when criticizing a romance book to my friends) say that to be loved is to be known and each romantic relationship in Intermezzo emulates this. Peter and Sylvia were the pinnacle of this for me, but the companionship and understanding between Peter and Naomi and Ivan and Margaret was also incredibly comforting, highlighting that, even if things don’t work out in the long run, it is enough to, just for a moment, be understood and loved by another, and why do we deny ourselves of that?
Rooney’s beliefs are still strongly intermixed into the story. In Beautiful World, Where Are You, my main complaint was that the emails (which I loved in theory) felt too much like long narrative breaks that were used for Rooney to state her beliefs. This book forgoes emails, more smoothly integrating the political and social points that Rooney is passionate about, creating a smoother flow, which I appreciated. This mixed well with the focus on how we live in a world that tries to fit people in a one-size-fits-all kind of life when one of the most beautiful things about us is how different we all are.
This is easily my favorite book of the year, and it could honestly be my favorite book of all time. Days after finishing it I still will start randomly crying about it. I have no desire to pick up another fiction book right now because I do not have it in me to think about any other story besides this one. I am at the point where I think the only option is to immediately reread it. It is driving me insane. It has altered my brain chemistry. This is a book about grief, but most importantly it is a book about what we owe each other, as well as ourselves.
“Yes, the world makes room for goodness and decency, he thinks: and the task of life is to show goodness to others, not to complain about their failings.”
My full playlist is linked above, but here are some songs I associate everyone with:
Margaret is The Last Man on Earth by Wolf Alice & ICU by Phoebe Bridgers
Ivan is Love is a Laserquest by Arctic Monkeys & Where Do I Go by Lizzy McAlpine
Ivan and Margaret are Just Like Heaven by The Cure & Space Song by Beach House & Yellow by Coldplay
Peter is Please, Please, Please , Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths & Don't Let Go by The Ghost Club & False Confidence by Noah Kahan & circle the drain by Soccer Mommy & Broken Brain by The Frights & Am I Alive by From Indian Lakes & Solitary Confinement by Everybody’s Worried About Owen
Peter and Sylvia are Strawberry Wine by Noah Kahan & j’s lullaby(darlin’ I’d wait for you) by Delaney Bailey & Frances by ROLE MODEL
Peter and Naomi are hello! by ROLE MODEL & Pressure by the 1975 & Jupiter by Flower Face
Peter and Ivan are I Love You I’m Sorry by Gracie Abrams
Intermezzo is Doll House by Del Water Gap & Death With Dignity by Sufjan Stevens
October 8, 2024
4,25 stars
'i think people aren't always nice to the people they love'
to me this quote sums up the entire book.
I've been waiting for this release for months and it didn't disappointed me. Sally always finds a way to make the ordinary feel profound.
The relationship of the two brothers with each other and with their loved ones wore me out poetically and emotionally. After all the ups and downs the journey was ultimately rewarding. And I was very satisfied about the ending. It was not rushed and well written.
I found myself relating all of the characters at different times
'sometimes you need people to be perfect and they can't be and you hate them forever for not being even though it isn't their fault and it is not yours either.You just needed something they didn't have them to give you'the quote that made me cry 2 times
Overall,I think the book did a great job capturing the fleeting moments of life, love, and introspection.And I will be thinking about it for the next 2 weeks
my playlist : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sF...
https://www.instagram.com/p/DAaKylqIm...
'i think people aren't always nice to the people they love'
to me this quote sums up the entire book.
I've been waiting for this release for months and it didn't disappointed me. Sally always finds a way to make the ordinary feel profound.
The relationship of the two brothers with each other and with their loved ones wore me out poetically and emotionally. After all the ups and downs the journey was ultimately rewarding. And I was very satisfied about the ending. It was not rushed and well written.
I found myself relating all of the characters at different times
'sometimes you need people to be perfect and they can't be and you hate them forever for not being even though it isn't their fault and it is not yours either.You just needed something they didn't have them to give you'
Overall,I think the book did a great job capturing the fleeting moments of life, love, and introspection.And I will be thinking about it for the next 2 weeks
my playlist : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sF...
https://www.instagram.com/p/DAaKylqIm...
August 12, 2024
I've been wondering for quite some time why we aren't seeing more fiction from men questioning and interrogating what masculinity is and what it should be. So much fiction has been grappling with questions of identity, it's strange that male authors--especially the straight white cis ones--have not been doing the same. But if they're not ready to do it, Sally Rooney is.
The men in question are Ivan and Peter, two brothers separated in age by ten years. Ivan is 22, a washed up chess prodigy, socially awkward, a former incel. Peter has a job as a civil rights lawyer and outwardly presents himself as smart, successful, and great with women, and absolutely must be right about everything. Neither of these men is very well acquainted with their own feelings. Not feeling them or expressing them or communicating about them. Certainly not going to therapy for them or making sure their feelings are not everyone else's problem. They are both their own particular shade of asshole, and they have never gotten along.
We find them both in flux. Their father has just died after a long illness. Ivan falls in love with Margaret, an older, not-yet-divorced woman. Peter can't seem to tear himself away from his new, much younger girlfriend Naomi who he insists is not in any way suitable for him. Peter also can't seem to tear himself away from his ex Sylvia, who might as well be Naomi's opposite. These relationships aren't the ones they're supposed to have and neither of them really understands why. Ivan gently opens himself up to the world, finding a sense of direction and a deeper investment in others. Peter shuts down more and more, going confidently one way and then setting it aside completely to confidently do the opposite, unable to define what he wants.
This book feels both very much the same and very different from her other work. She is still grappling with romantic love, how it intertwines with sexual desire and platonic affection. She is deeply interested in the ways people act the way they are supposed to act and what makes them willing to break from expectation and explore the nontraditional. She narrates in a close third person similar to Normal People. There is an optimism and a sweetness that you find in her work and her characters that comes right up to cloying but never quite goes there because she's so willing to dive deep into her characters' flaws.
What's different? Well, to start, this book is about 80% or so focused on Ivan and Peter, it's much more male than her previous work and the relationship between the two men is not the focus but it is the narrative thread that pulls it all together. She certainly seems to be trying new things with prose again, Peter's sections have a choppy narration: short, very clipped sentences, almost the opposite of a Joycean flowing stream of consciousness and yet strangely similar. You always know when you're reading about Peter vs Ivan. It took me a while to get the hang of Peter sections, they don't have that readable quality she often has. And all through the book there can be long paragraphs that go on and on, sentence after sentence. I did not find the prose friendly, exactly, but it is clearly purposeful.
Ultimately I liked it a lot even if it took me a while to get my bearings. I loved Ivan and Margaret's sections, the emotional intimacy she can bring to falling in love, plus a few beautiful sex scenes. Love just happens, and we can see why the two of them make no sense but also why they do. And it's a book about self-awareness, gaining understanding and emotional intelligence. Both of them at some point have to acknowledge, "Oh yes, that is grief that made me like this. Even though I kept saying it wasn't." And sure, Ivan and Peter are not as emotionally intelligent as the women around them, but we do see them make strides. And the longer we go the more we understand why they have such a strong dislike of each other and how the same difficult childhood led to such very different people.
I can't tell if Rooney is correcting a bit from Beautiful World (the things I didn't love there are nowhere to be found here) or if she's just continuing to try things, mixing old and new. Either way, there's a lot of what I like best about her work here. Yes she often returns to similar themes, but they're themes I enjoy. And her observation of her characters remains so precise. She is a pleasure to read.
The men in question are Ivan and Peter, two brothers separated in age by ten years. Ivan is 22, a washed up chess prodigy, socially awkward, a former incel. Peter has a job as a civil rights lawyer and outwardly presents himself as smart, successful, and great with women, and absolutely must be right about everything. Neither of these men is very well acquainted with their own feelings. Not feeling them or expressing them or communicating about them. Certainly not going to therapy for them or making sure their feelings are not everyone else's problem. They are both their own particular shade of asshole, and they have never gotten along.
We find them both in flux. Their father has just died after a long illness. Ivan falls in love with Margaret, an older, not-yet-divorced woman. Peter can't seem to tear himself away from his new, much younger girlfriend Naomi who he insists is not in any way suitable for him. Peter also can't seem to tear himself away from his ex Sylvia, who might as well be Naomi's opposite. These relationships aren't the ones they're supposed to have and neither of them really understands why. Ivan gently opens himself up to the world, finding a sense of direction and a deeper investment in others. Peter shuts down more and more, going confidently one way and then setting it aside completely to confidently do the opposite, unable to define what he wants.
This book feels both very much the same and very different from her other work. She is still grappling with romantic love, how it intertwines with sexual desire and platonic affection. She is deeply interested in the ways people act the way they are supposed to act and what makes them willing to break from expectation and explore the nontraditional. She narrates in a close third person similar to Normal People. There is an optimism and a sweetness that you find in her work and her characters that comes right up to cloying but never quite goes there because she's so willing to dive deep into her characters' flaws.
What's different? Well, to start, this book is about 80% or so focused on Ivan and Peter, it's much more male than her previous work and the relationship between the two men is not the focus but it is the narrative thread that pulls it all together. She certainly seems to be trying new things with prose again, Peter's sections have a choppy narration: short, very clipped sentences, almost the opposite of a Joycean flowing stream of consciousness and yet strangely similar. You always know when you're reading about Peter vs Ivan. It took me a while to get the hang of Peter sections, they don't have that readable quality she often has. And all through the book there can be long paragraphs that go on and on, sentence after sentence. I did not find the prose friendly, exactly, but it is clearly purposeful.
Ultimately I liked it a lot even if it took me a while to get my bearings. I loved Ivan and Margaret's sections, the emotional intimacy she can bring to falling in love, plus a few beautiful sex scenes. Love just happens, and we can see why the two of them make no sense but also why they do. And it's a book about self-awareness, gaining understanding and emotional intelligence. Both of them at some point have to acknowledge, "Oh yes, that is grief that made me like this. Even though I kept saying it wasn't." And sure, Ivan and Peter are not as emotionally intelligent as the women around them, but we do see them make strides. And the longer we go the more we understand why they have such a strong dislike of each other and how the same difficult childhood led to such very different people.
I can't tell if Rooney is correcting a bit from Beautiful World (the things I didn't love there are nowhere to be found here) or if she's just continuing to try things, mixing old and new. Either way, there's a lot of what I like best about her work here. Yes she often returns to similar themes, but they're themes I enjoy. And her observation of her characters remains so precise. She is a pleasure to read.
October 7, 2024
Mining topics as grief, self-doubt, unknowability of others (including family), societal pressure and existential loneliness, Rooney offers us an intelligent novel which didn't really touch me as I had hoped on an emotional level
Difficult feelings, everyone was doing their best. He was a good person, he tried. No one is perfect. Sometimes you need people to be perfect and they can’t be and you hate them forever for not being even though it isn’t their fault and it’s not yours either. You just needed something they didn’t have in them to give you. And then in other people’s lives you do the same thing, you’re the person who lets everyone down, who fails to make anything better, and you hate yourself so much you wish you were dead.
General
In three parts Sally Rooney lets us experience the world of Peter, Ivan, Margaret, Sylvie and Naomi. Starting off with a quote from Ludwig Wittgenstein, the meaning of language (and the myriad ways it can be misinterpreted) is definitely an important theme in Intermezzo. The title of the novel is drawn from chess, wherein Ivan excels, and relates to an unexpected move that poses a severe threat and forces an immediate response.
In the case of the novel the dying of the father of Peter (elder brother, barrister, 32) and Ivan (10 years younger, semi-professional chess player and freelance data analyst) is the catalyst, leading the characters to question their live till now and their relationships. The level of contempt Peter expresses for Ivan in the first two pages of the novel sets the tone for the tumultuous interpersonal relationships between the characters.
The characters, as always with Rooney, are very lifelike, and at various times I was annoyed with almost of them, in how messy, inconsiderate, hypocritical and real they were portrayed.
Below my thoughts are included per section of the book, but I strongly had the feeling that, despite the modernist overtures (with James Joyce being quoted as inspiration in the credits at the end of the book) Intermezzo in a sense is like a 19th century novel, a la Jane Austen. Everyone is afraid what the outside world, their friends, people from work will think about their amorous relationship, and everyone (with the exception perhaps of Margaret, who then again is very therapeutic in her manner of speaking) has trouble expressing themselves and is afraid that everyone hates them. I’m good is being used as a kevlar vest, preventing any intimacy or real human contact. Someone even thinks he'll be the talk of whole Dublin and that he'll experience social death, which had me laughing out loud in terms of self absorption and level of delusion on how important and interesting one is to others.
Maybe, with especially Peter being around my age, I expected to connect more with this book, but due to the above I remained distanced, and felt the narrative was maybe a tad more constructed than in the other books of Rooney.
Part 1
He is alone, she says.
Aren’t we all?
We meet the two brothers. Ivan seems very sincere and innocent, even though he is a good kisser apparently. His social awkwardness doesn’t seem overly excessive, initially I found (and feared) his tone almost like an adult version of Oscar from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but soon we see him in more adult interactions as he meets Margaret, a woman in her thirties who is divorced. Peter meanwhile is a human rights lawyer. It is so interesting to me how Rooney always depicts white collar workers being incredibly rich and well off, while I dare to wager that no-one in his thirties on one income in the centre of Dublin would be overly comfortable without family money. With a youth sweetheart in Sylvie, who had some kind of accidents that makes penetrative sex no longer an option. He is also seeing a younger woman, Naomi, nearly the age of Ivan who has an OnlyFans but seemingly no money?
Here there are interesting dynamics in terms of who exploits who.
Ivan hating Peter for his smoothness (while thinking about himself He has his good qualities, kind of, but none of them have to do with living in the world he lives in, the only world that can be said in a fairly real way to exist), while Peter himself is medicating and has thoughts of wanting to die.
The book moves between the world of the two brothers, and is not innovative in terms of time jumps or structure. The themes Rooney takes on are however more complex and layered than in her other books. Both brothers are used to contexts where they can clearly win, either chess or court cases, while life doesn't offer such an easy script.
Ivan being unmoored not just from his father who died of cancer, but also falling from chess as a professional pursuit, and a recalibration of his own talent in this field.
Peter being unmoored as well, not just in how he lost on the opportunity for a live with Sylvie in his 20s, but also on the intrinsically positive impact of his work, while still enjoying winning court cases.
In this section we have almost transcendence like (but also very sensual) sex scenes, where the interpersonal relations between characters sometimes shift significantly. For instance Naomi, maybe manipulative, moved me with her vulnerability.
Rooney in general does sensual scenes in my opinion very well and effectively.
I miss some kind of background on the brothers relationship growing up in this part of the book, which is almost 200 pages, to more texture their interactions. On the other hand this makes the response of Ivan during a diner with Peter interesting, indicating significant history between them.
I enjoy Ivan, who moves in my perception from precious, touching, to overly sincere, preachy (with Rooney’s typical commentary on capitalism) and back again. An example of how Ivan thinks about himself is included below:
How often in life he has found himself a frustrated observer of apparently impenetrable systems, watching other people participate effortlessly in structures he can find no way to enter or even understand. So often that it’s practically baseline, just normal existence for him. And this is not only due to the irrational nature of other people, and the consequent irrationality of the rules and processes they devise; it’s due to Ivan himself, his fundamental unsuitedness to life. He knows this. He feels himself to have been formed, somehow, with something other than life in mind
Peter in that sense gave me less of a feeling of interiority and complexity, even though he makes overtures to connect with his brother, despite him saying this is all rather Propriety rather than affection.
Very immersive and reads so smooth, while not much fundamentally happens one could argue.
Part 2
Judgement, disapproval , disappointment, conflict; these are the means with which people remain connected with each other.
After completing this section I was wondering what part 2 adds to the dynamics already set up in part 1. I mean in, part 3 everything and everyone comes together, but this section suffers a bit from a middle book curse in a sense.
We get to see Ivan being all self righteous but visiting his dog for the first time in months, and meet his mother and stepbrother. Ivan is quite judgemental, calling a working from home corporate lawyer not contributing anything to society, funny verdict from the perspective of a jobless person, or someone in the words of Margaret A boy with braces on his teeth, mumbling in her ear Oh fuck.
Small town life is rather hard with everyone knowing everyone and being under surveillance f0r Margaret. She is being all therapeutic in her responses, I would get freaked out if my partner would say such things to me to be fair.
Meanwhile we have Naomi and Peter hurting each other by their feigned indifference for each other, while Peter is in a sense unravelling as he notes himself even: Whole thing getting out of hand. His life, widening black emptiness from which he could only avert his eyes.
This heteronormative fear of polyamory is interesting, in a sense we are not further societal than 19th century novels here with fear for scandal and judgement about age difference:
Discretion, he thinks, can render almost any eccentricity acceptable, at least for a limited time
He has no true friends to really speak and share true feelings with, very existential loneliness even though Peter has enough people to hang out with at Temple Bar.
His imagined reactions on his relationship(s) are hilarious.
We also have the flap text from the back of the book coming back here:
The demands of other people do not dissolve: they only multiply. More and more complex, more difficult. Which is another way, she thinks, of saying: more life and more life.
I like Naomi, she is quite cool even though we don't get to know more about her, with her making a casserole dish for your rich lawyer boyfriend, very trad wife.
Meanwhile he is drinking and having imaginary conversations in his mind: She’s great, says Gary.
Wordlessly Peter contemplates the remark. Great, yes. Also very expensive and probably insane.
Ivan has an epiphany that kind of sums up the whole relationship between the two brothers:
He hates me because he thinks I am an arrogant prick. And I look down on him because I think he is a fucking loser.
And we end with the realisation that drunken decisions are never a good plan.
Part 3
Things annoy him easily. Like, if they’re out of place.
Naomi makes a face then which is like a private smile to herself. So true, she says. People included.
I could tell you stories - Well Naomi, please do so! But no, the focus is very, almost Cain and Abel like on the brothers. Male masculinity preventing them both to go to therapy.
We have a whole “My life is ruined, I don’t want your life to be ruined vibe”, so 19th century like, how does she think for him? And very ableist as well in a sense.
Epic takedowns: And you’re looking back on how things were when you and I were together, how easy everything was, and everyone was jealous of us, and you just want that back again. For life to be easy.
And even:
You can’t use me like that. I am a human being
Peter his coping strategies, I can’t imagine how he survives in corporate life when he responds to mental stress in this manner: Sick with guilt thinking: then don’t think.
The hardness of having real conversations between people who know each other, with the texture in the past relationship between the brothers offering some very painful, 3 AM fridge scenes.
These arguments in chapter 15 would have me running away 5 times already before there is even a climax, definitely more than 10 years ago since I’ve had such extreme confrontations.
Family feuds and resentments are finally coming out.
It is definitely impressive how Sally Rooney sketches both perspectives here, you can understand both brothers here, including even reflective observations like: I see myself very effected by his actions but not the other way around.
We even get to know the parents a bit more: A mother is not an endless thing and Conduct is more important than beliefs.
Why think about the cruelty of time? is mentioned somewhere near the end of the book, which in a sense is a very genuine question with the characters at most being in their mid 30s.
In general they all the time think that everyone hates them and that they are in the centre of attention for other people, including the whole of Dublin.
The conclusion is a bit too hopeful in my view and not as ambiguous as I would have liked maybe, but still the level of interiority and existential angst, that in a sense is very relatable, is impressive.
Difficult feelings, everyone was doing their best. He was a good person, he tried. No one is perfect. Sometimes you need people to be perfect and they can’t be and you hate them forever for not being even though it isn’t their fault and it’s not yours either. You just needed something they didn’t have in them to give you. And then in other people’s lives you do the same thing, you’re the person who lets everyone down, who fails to make anything better, and you hate yourself so much you wish you were dead.
General
In three parts Sally Rooney lets us experience the world of Peter, Ivan, Margaret, Sylvie and Naomi. Starting off with a quote from Ludwig Wittgenstein, the meaning of language (and the myriad ways it can be misinterpreted) is definitely an important theme in Intermezzo. The title of the novel is drawn from chess, wherein Ivan excels, and relates to an unexpected move that poses a severe threat and forces an immediate response.
In the case of the novel the dying of the father of Peter (elder brother, barrister, 32) and Ivan (10 years younger, semi-professional chess player and freelance data analyst) is the catalyst, leading the characters to question their live till now and their relationships. The level of contempt Peter expresses for Ivan in the first two pages of the novel sets the tone for the tumultuous interpersonal relationships between the characters.
The characters, as always with Rooney, are very lifelike, and at various times I was annoyed with almost of them, in how messy, inconsiderate, hypocritical and real they were portrayed.
Below my thoughts are included per section of the book, but I strongly had the feeling that, despite the modernist overtures (with James Joyce being quoted as inspiration in the credits at the end of the book) Intermezzo in a sense is like a 19th century novel, a la Jane Austen. Everyone is afraid what the outside world, their friends, people from work will think about their amorous relationship, and everyone (with the exception perhaps of Margaret, who then again is very therapeutic in her manner of speaking) has trouble expressing themselves and is afraid that everyone hates them. I’m good is being used as a kevlar vest, preventing any intimacy or real human contact. Someone even thinks he'll be the talk of whole Dublin and that he'll experience social death, which had me laughing out loud in terms of self absorption and level of delusion on how important and interesting one is to others.
Maybe, with especially Peter being around my age, I expected to connect more with this book, but due to the above I remained distanced, and felt the narrative was maybe a tad more constructed than in the other books of Rooney.
Part 1
He is alone, she says.
Aren’t we all?
We meet the two brothers. Ivan seems very sincere and innocent, even though he is a good kisser apparently. His social awkwardness doesn’t seem overly excessive, initially I found (and feared) his tone almost like an adult version of Oscar from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but soon we see him in more adult interactions as he meets Margaret, a woman in her thirties who is divorced. Peter meanwhile is a human rights lawyer. It is so interesting to me how Rooney always depicts white collar workers being incredibly rich and well off, while I dare to wager that no-one in his thirties on one income in the centre of Dublin would be overly comfortable without family money. With a youth sweetheart in Sylvie, who had some kind of accidents that makes penetrative sex no longer an option. He is also seeing a younger woman, Naomi, nearly the age of Ivan who has an OnlyFans but seemingly no money?
Here there are interesting dynamics in terms of who exploits who.
Ivan hating Peter for his smoothness (while thinking about himself He has his good qualities, kind of, but none of them have to do with living in the world he lives in, the only world that can be said in a fairly real way to exist), while Peter himself is medicating and has thoughts of wanting to die.
The book moves between the world of the two brothers, and is not innovative in terms of time jumps or structure. The themes Rooney takes on are however more complex and layered than in her other books. Both brothers are used to contexts where they can clearly win, either chess or court cases, while life doesn't offer such an easy script.
Ivan being unmoored not just from his father who died of cancer, but also falling from chess as a professional pursuit, and a recalibration of his own talent in this field.
Peter being unmoored as well, not just in how he lost on the opportunity for a live with Sylvie in his 20s, but also on the intrinsically positive impact of his work, while still enjoying winning court cases.
In this section we have almost transcendence like (but also very sensual) sex scenes, where the interpersonal relations between characters sometimes shift significantly. For instance Naomi, maybe manipulative, moved me with her vulnerability.
Rooney in general does sensual scenes in my opinion very well and effectively.
I miss some kind of background on the brothers relationship growing up in this part of the book, which is almost 200 pages, to more texture their interactions. On the other hand this makes the response of Ivan during a diner with Peter interesting, indicating significant history between them.
I enjoy Ivan, who moves in my perception from precious, touching, to overly sincere, preachy (with Rooney’s typical commentary on capitalism) and back again. An example of how Ivan thinks about himself is included below:
How often in life he has found himself a frustrated observer of apparently impenetrable systems, watching other people participate effortlessly in structures he can find no way to enter or even understand. So often that it’s practically baseline, just normal existence for him. And this is not only due to the irrational nature of other people, and the consequent irrationality of the rules and processes they devise; it’s due to Ivan himself, his fundamental unsuitedness to life. He knows this. He feels himself to have been formed, somehow, with something other than life in mind
Peter in that sense gave me less of a feeling of interiority and complexity, even though he makes overtures to connect with his brother, despite him saying this is all rather Propriety rather than affection.
Very immersive and reads so smooth, while not much fundamentally happens one could argue.
Part 2
Judgement, disapproval , disappointment, conflict; these are the means with which people remain connected with each other.
After completing this section I was wondering what part 2 adds to the dynamics already set up in part 1. I mean in, part 3 everything and everyone comes together, but this section suffers a bit from a middle book curse in a sense.
We get to see Ivan being all self righteous but visiting his dog for the first time in months, and meet his mother and stepbrother. Ivan is quite judgemental, calling a working from home corporate lawyer not contributing anything to society, funny verdict from the perspective of a jobless person, or someone in the words of Margaret A boy with braces on his teeth, mumbling in her ear Oh fuck.
Small town life is rather hard with everyone knowing everyone and being under surveillance f0r Margaret. She is being all therapeutic in her responses, I would get freaked out if my partner would say such things to me to be fair.
Meanwhile we have Naomi and Peter hurting each other by their feigned indifference for each other, while Peter is in a sense unravelling as he notes himself even: Whole thing getting out of hand. His life, widening black emptiness from which he could only avert his eyes.
This heteronormative fear of polyamory is interesting, in a sense we are not further societal than 19th century novels here with fear for scandal and judgement about age difference:
Discretion, he thinks, can render almost any eccentricity acceptable, at least for a limited time
He has no true friends to really speak and share true feelings with, very existential loneliness even though Peter has enough people to hang out with at Temple Bar.
His imagined reactions on his relationship(s) are hilarious.
We also have the flap text from the back of the book coming back here:
The demands of other people do not dissolve: they only multiply. More and more complex, more difficult. Which is another way, she thinks, of saying: more life and more life.
I like Naomi, she is quite cool even though we don't get to know more about her, with her making a casserole dish for your rich lawyer boyfriend, very trad wife.
Meanwhile he is drinking and having imaginary conversations in his mind: She’s great, says Gary.
Wordlessly Peter contemplates the remark. Great, yes. Also very expensive and probably insane.
Ivan has an epiphany that kind of sums up the whole relationship between the two brothers:
He hates me because he thinks I am an arrogant prick. And I look down on him because I think he is a fucking loser.
And we end with the realisation that drunken decisions are never a good plan.
Part 3
Things annoy him easily. Like, if they’re out of place.
Naomi makes a face then which is like a private smile to herself. So true, she says. People included.
I could tell you stories - Well Naomi, please do so! But no, the focus is very, almost Cain and Abel like on the brothers. Male masculinity preventing them both to go to therapy.
We have a whole “My life is ruined, I don’t want your life to be ruined vibe”, so 19th century like, how does she think for him? And very ableist as well in a sense.
Epic takedowns: And you’re looking back on how things were when you and I were together, how easy everything was, and everyone was jealous of us, and you just want that back again. For life to be easy.
And even:
You can’t use me like that. I am a human being
Peter his coping strategies, I can’t imagine how he survives in corporate life when he responds to mental stress in this manner: Sick with guilt thinking: then don’t think.
The hardness of having real conversations between people who know each other, with the texture in the past relationship between the brothers offering some very painful, 3 AM fridge scenes.
These arguments in chapter 15 would have me running away 5 times already before there is even a climax, definitely more than 10 years ago since I’ve had such extreme confrontations.
Family feuds and resentments are finally coming out.
It is definitely impressive how Sally Rooney sketches both perspectives here, you can understand both brothers here, including even reflective observations like: I see myself very effected by his actions but not the other way around.
We even get to know the parents a bit more: A mother is not an endless thing and Conduct is more important than beliefs.
Why think about the cruelty of time? is mentioned somewhere near the end of the book, which in a sense is a very genuine question with the characters at most being in their mid 30s.
In general they all the time think that everyone hates them and that they are in the centre of attention for other people, including the whole of Dublin.
The conclusion is a bit too hopeful in my view and not as ambiguous as I would have liked maybe, but still the level of interiority and existential angst, that in a sense is very relatable, is impressive.
Want to read
March 20, 2024I would like to pre-emptively apologize to my friends and followers for how insufferable I will be once this comes out.
Want to read
March 7, 2024NEW SALLY ROONEY BOOK !! this will break me and i’m so ready for it (the blurb looks devastating and i’m happy ? about that)
Want to read
May 23, 2024i was planning on being a Depressed Unemployed Postgrad in september, but now i will be a Depressed Unemployed Postgrad WITH a new Sally Rooney book.
September 24, 2024
life affirming
October 1, 2024
Chapter 1 – What's this awkward stream of consciousness trying to imitate Joyce, just because we're in Dublin? Peter is such a caricature at this point in literature. Also this: “A purring mechanical tone tells him the call is ringing while he sits on the sofa unlacing his shoes.”
Chapter 2 – We meet Ivan and Margaret, and I’m ready to fall in love with this book—their sweet awkwardness touches me.
Chapters 3 through 17 – Repetitive droning, over-rationalizing everything that initially felt magical, with banal musings about grief and relationships. Now, I’m disliking (if not hating) every character the more I get to know them. Ivan slowly loses all the good will he earned in Chapter 2, and Peter never escapes being a walking cliché with poorly executed existential angst.
The End. Finally. Verdict: A tedious, self-indulgent, inept novel about relationships between five very poorly written characters, with one good chapter (Chapter 2).
Chapter 2 – We meet Ivan and Margaret, and I’m ready to fall in love with this book—their sweet awkwardness touches me.
Chapters 3 through 17 – Repetitive droning, over-rationalizing everything that initially felt magical, with banal musings about grief and relationships. Now, I’m disliking (if not hating) every character the more I get to know them. Ivan slowly loses all the good will he earned in Chapter 2, and Peter never escapes being a walking cliché with poorly executed existential angst.
The End. Finally. Verdict: A tedious, self-indulgent, inept novel about relationships between five very poorly written characters, with one good chapter (Chapter 2).
September 28, 2024
j’annonce porter plainte contre sally rooney pour le dommage émotionnel causé par cette lecture
c’était parfait je suis en larmes
c’était parfait je suis en larmes
Want to read
February 29, 2024huuuuuge day for annoying people
Currently reading
October 8, 2024Pre-read thoughts!
Despite being in the middle of so many books right now, I finally got my hands on Intermezzo last night and can't wait to start it! I don't even know what to think going into this, people have been saying that it is better than Normal People (one of my favourite books of all time) so I am excited but scared!
Also, had to mention that the price of this book in Canada was criminal... $38 plus tax!!!!!!!!!!!
Despite being in the middle of so many books right now, I finally got my hands on Intermezzo last night and can't wait to start it! I don't even know what to think going into this, people have been saying that it is better than Normal People (one of my favourite books of all time) so I am excited but scared!
Also, had to mention that the price of this book in Canada was criminal... $38 plus tax!!!!!!!!!!!
Currently reading
October 7, 2024please be a Sally Rooney winner for me 🙏🏼
————
I have read all her books (5 in total) and only gave one book 3 stars (the rest are 1 star) but you bet I'll be reading this when this comes out 😗
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I have read all her books (5 in total) and only gave one book 3 stars (the rest are 1 star) but you bet I'll be reading this when this comes out 😗
September 5, 2024
oh the Fleabag fans are gonna LOVE this one
rtc
rtc
Currently reading
October 7, 2024here we gooo..
October 3, 2024
Sally Rooney tüm yazdıklarını okusam da “Güzel Dünya, Neredesin?” romanı dışında benim içim kocaman bir soru işaretiydi. Soru işareti olmanın sebebi de anlattıklarının da anlatma şeklinin de biraz “düz” olmasıydı. Bu yüzden Intermezzo’ya başlarken de içimde ufak bir korku vardı ancak ilk sayfalarla birlikte o korku yerini hazza bıraktı.
Her şeyden önce, Sally Rooney bu romanında üslubunda bir değişikliğe giderek, dil ve anlatımını farklılaştırmış. Global seviyede bir “çok satan” yazarı olarak aldığı bu riski de tarzını başkalaştırma çabasını da çok kıymetli buluyorum. Peki sadece bu kadar mı? Tabii ki hayır. Rooney, bu romanında yine ilişkileri, insana dair kusurları ve hayatı mercek altına alıyor fakat bakış açısını derinleştiriyor. Bunu da aileyi ve yası işin içine katarak yapıyor. Böylece okuduğumuz “aşk, ilişkiler ve kafa karışıklığının” ötesine geçebiliyor. Hem tanıdık hem de yepyeni gelmesinin sebebi bu. Yine büyük değişimlere, kırılma noktalarına yer vermiyor Rooney. Yine fazlasıyla hayatı anlatıyor ama bu defa farklı bir sesle yapıyor bunu. Aslında bu bir açıdan da çok normal çünkü ilk üç romanını 20’li yaşlarda yazan Rooney artık 30’ların başında. Artık karşımıza çok daha olgun, hayatın iyisini, kötüsünü kabullenmiş bir yazar var. Bunu da karakterlerine de hikayesini de yedirmeyi çok iyi biliyor üstelik. Bunun dışında diğer romanlarda biraz daha arkalarda kalan toplumsal meselelerin öne çıktığını görüyoruz. Naomi karakteri üzerinden ele alınan barınma sorunu ya da Ivan’ın geçim kaygısı, Rooney’nin bir yazar olarak değişiminin güzel örneklerinden.
Özetlemek gerekirse, Intermezzo bence gayet iyi bir roman. Üstelik Sally Rooney’nin de en iyi romanı. Başta dediğim gibi istese on tane daha “Normal İnsanlar” yazabilecekken bir şeyler denemesi ve bence bunun altından başarıyla kalkması çok kıymetli. Popüler olması bazı okuyucuları en başından itebilir ama bence şans verildiği takdirde hemen herkeste bir yerinden karşılık bulacağını da düşünüyorum.
Her şeyden önce, Sally Rooney bu romanında üslubunda bir değişikliğe giderek, dil ve anlatımını farklılaştırmış. Global seviyede bir “çok satan” yazarı olarak aldığı bu riski de tarzını başkalaştırma çabasını da çok kıymetli buluyorum. Peki sadece bu kadar mı? Tabii ki hayır. Rooney, bu romanında yine ilişkileri, insana dair kusurları ve hayatı mercek altına alıyor fakat bakış açısını derinleştiriyor. Bunu da aileyi ve yası işin içine katarak yapıyor. Böylece okuduğumuz “aşk, ilişkiler ve kafa karışıklığının” ötesine geçebiliyor. Hem tanıdık hem de yepyeni gelmesinin sebebi bu. Yine büyük değişimlere, kırılma noktalarına yer vermiyor Rooney. Yine fazlasıyla hayatı anlatıyor ama bu defa farklı bir sesle yapıyor bunu. Aslında bu bir açıdan da çok normal çünkü ilk üç romanını 20’li yaşlarda yazan Rooney artık 30’ların başında. Artık karşımıza çok daha olgun, hayatın iyisini, kötüsünü kabullenmiş bir yazar var. Bunu da karakterlerine de hikayesini de yedirmeyi çok iyi biliyor üstelik. Bunun dışında diğer romanlarda biraz daha arkalarda kalan toplumsal meselelerin öne çıktığını görüyoruz. Naomi karakteri üzerinden ele alınan barınma sorunu ya da Ivan’ın geçim kaygısı, Rooney’nin bir yazar olarak değişiminin güzel örneklerinden.
Özetlemek gerekirse, Intermezzo bence gayet iyi bir roman. Üstelik Sally Rooney’nin de en iyi romanı. Başta dediğim gibi istese on tane daha “Normal İnsanlar” yazabilecekken bir şeyler denemesi ve bence bunun altından başarıyla kalkması çok kıymetli. Popüler olması bazı okuyucuları en başından itebilir ama bence şans verildiği takdirde hemen herkeste bir yerinden karşılık bulacağını da düşünüyorum.
October 5, 2024
4.5 ⭐️
and i’m just expected to move on after this? right…
and i’m just expected to move on after this? right…
Want to read
March 22, 2024it’s really interesting how sally just announces a book not knowing that i'd give my kidney and firstborn daughter in order to have a copy.
September 26, 2024
Intermezzo tells the tale of two brothers, Ivan and Peter, in the months following their father’s funeral. Ivan, 22, is a chess player whose ranking has been dropping steadily since his dad's cancer diagnosis. We follow his tentative steps into a relationship with Margaret, 36, a married arts director he meets at a local chess exhibition. Peter, ten years Ivan's senior, is a human rights lawyer caught between his unconventional affair with college student Naomi and his enduring love for Sylvia, his best friend and former partner who left him years ago after a life-altering car accident.
Intermezzo is ultimately a story of forgiveness. At our lowest, why do we hurt most deeply the people we love most? How do we forgive each other? And how do we go on loving one another anyways?
Over the past few months, these characters have nestled their way into the empty crevices in my heart and set up permanent residence. Ivan's awkward earnestness is immediately endearing and will inevitably capture the hearts of many readers. Peter, however, is a tougher nut to crack.
When I think about reading as an exercise in empathy, I can think of no better example than Intermezzo, and my mind goes immediately to Peter Koubek. Rooney has written this character in such a way that even when he is at his cruelest, you can’t hate him. Or at least I couldn’t. Intermezzo finds Peter in the darkest period of his life so far, but even—or perhaps especially—at his lowest point, Rooney gives us no choice but to recognize and empathize with his deepest flaws and barest humanity. Peter is our reminder to check in on the people in our lives who seemingly have it all together.
Rooney's prose in Peter’s chapters mirrors his fractured psyche—omitting words, breaking sentences. Gives his thoughts a distinct character. Took a while for me to come around. The effect it has on how we view his mental state. Everything in fragments. Broken sentences for a broken man. It's jarring at first, but as you sink into his chapters, it allows you to feel the weight of his broken world.
The novel's structure is beautifully composed, with more of an arc than Rooney’s other books. Divided into three parts, Intermezzo builds tension exquisitely, reaching its climax in the third part as characters and storylines from the two halves begin to bleed together. But then, the tension breaks and settles, leaving you with a profound sense of empathy for these flawed, deeply human characters.
Like always, Rooney invites us to grapple with questions about how we carry our material and economic realities into our interpersonal relationships. We see this with every relationship in the story, but particularly with Peter and Naomi, as well as Peter and Ivan. In a world that is so quick to label a relationship or person as toxic or problematic, Rooney calls us into nuanced conversations on the way that class, gender, and age play into our relationships.
Rooney is at her best in Intermezzo, blending her signature elements (age gap relationships, hints of Marxism, communication struggles) with new territory (male protagonists, focus on family, grief) into a beautiful story about love, family, and grief. She takes universal truths about human existence—the complexity of loving imperfect people, the struggle to be our best selves with those closest to us—and makes you feel them anew.
The biggest thank you to @fsgbooks for the ARC—my most prized possession.
Intermezzo is ultimately a story of forgiveness. At our lowest, why do we hurt most deeply the people we love most? How do we forgive each other? And how do we go on loving one another anyways?
Over the past few months, these characters have nestled their way into the empty crevices in my heart and set up permanent residence. Ivan's awkward earnestness is immediately endearing and will inevitably capture the hearts of many readers. Peter, however, is a tougher nut to crack.
When I think about reading as an exercise in empathy, I can think of no better example than Intermezzo, and my mind goes immediately to Peter Koubek. Rooney has written this character in such a way that even when he is at his cruelest, you can’t hate him. Or at least I couldn’t. Intermezzo finds Peter in the darkest period of his life so far, but even—or perhaps especially—at his lowest point, Rooney gives us no choice but to recognize and empathize with his deepest flaws and barest humanity. Peter is our reminder to check in on the people in our lives who seemingly have it all together.
Rooney's prose in Peter’s chapters mirrors his fractured psyche—omitting words, breaking sentences. Gives his thoughts a distinct character. Took a while for me to come around. The effect it has on how we view his mental state. Everything in fragments. Broken sentences for a broken man. It's jarring at first, but as you sink into his chapters, it allows you to feel the weight of his broken world.
The novel's structure is beautifully composed, with more of an arc than Rooney’s other books. Divided into three parts, Intermezzo builds tension exquisitely, reaching its climax in the third part as characters and storylines from the two halves begin to bleed together. But then, the tension breaks and settles, leaving you with a profound sense of empathy for these flawed, deeply human characters.
Like always, Rooney invites us to grapple with questions about how we carry our material and economic realities into our interpersonal relationships. We see this with every relationship in the story, but particularly with Peter and Naomi, as well as Peter and Ivan. In a world that is so quick to label a relationship or person as toxic or problematic, Rooney calls us into nuanced conversations on the way that class, gender, and age play into our relationships.
Rooney is at her best in Intermezzo, blending her signature elements (age gap relationships, hints of Marxism, communication struggles) with new territory (male protagonists, focus on family, grief) into a beautiful story about love, family, and grief. She takes universal truths about human existence—the complexity of loving imperfect people, the struggle to be our best selves with those closest to us—and makes you feel them anew.
The biggest thank you to @fsgbooks for the ARC—my most prized possession.
June 24, 2024
absolute perfection.
dare i say sally rooney at her best???? feeling quite positive about life in general after this - thanks sally for inadvertently providing therapy in the form of this book
dare i say sally rooney at her best???? feeling quite positive about life in general after this - thanks sally for inadvertently providing therapy in the form of this book
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July 2, 2024There’s rarely a time when I am more comforted and riveted by a novel than when in the hands of Rooney; INTERMEZZO is no exception. She explores new themes of brotherhood and grief with fresh stylistic choices. INTERMEZZO is an excellent addition to her oeuvre; I think it could have trumped BWWAY as my favorite of her works had it leaned further into the unique dynamic she presents.
INTERMEZZO follows two brothers, Peter and Ivan, grieving their father. Each has romantic entanglements forming the plot’s core. While the brothers’ dynamic was the most psychologically rich aspect, the novel’s 448 pages focus primarily on romance.
The novel uses close-third narration. Peter’s fragmented prose style reflects his splintered mind, while Ivan’s chapters retain Rooney’s traditional, lucid prose. Though Peter’s sections are formally ambitious, I preferred Ivan’s narrative. The fragmented prose effectively mirrors Peter’s mind and evolves, yet Ivan’s sections shine, making him one of her most compelling characters.
It reminded me of Crossroads by Franzen, in its exploration of brotherhood and use of style to reflect psychological states (shoutout to Perry!). However, Rooney avoids a family saga, rooting the narrative in the present; the recently deceased father remains almost entirely absent in characterization, adding an unconventional approach to the grief narrative, more focused on moment-to-moment character movements.
Despite my quibbles, I really enjoyed this novel. It’s a treat of ideas, at its best when exploring topics like chess, game theory, and law. When philosophy and moral inquiry take center stage, the novel soars, especially in passages about finding meaning in despair and the power of love.
BWWAY remains my favorite of her work for its self-awareness and boldness. INTERMEZZO challenged me the most, making it a rewarding read that I can’t stop thinking about. I can’t wait to discuss it with you all once it’s published in September.
INTERMEZZO follows two brothers, Peter and Ivan, grieving their father. Each has romantic entanglements forming the plot’s core. While the brothers’ dynamic was the most psychologically rich aspect, the novel’s 448 pages focus primarily on romance.
The novel uses close-third narration. Peter’s fragmented prose style reflects his splintered mind, while Ivan’s chapters retain Rooney’s traditional, lucid prose. Though Peter’s sections are formally ambitious, I preferred Ivan’s narrative. The fragmented prose effectively mirrors Peter’s mind and evolves, yet Ivan’s sections shine, making him one of her most compelling characters.
It reminded me of Crossroads by Franzen, in its exploration of brotherhood and use of style to reflect psychological states (shoutout to Perry!). However, Rooney avoids a family saga, rooting the narrative in the present; the recently deceased father remains almost entirely absent in characterization, adding an unconventional approach to the grief narrative, more focused on moment-to-moment character movements.
Despite my quibbles, I really enjoyed this novel. It’s a treat of ideas, at its best when exploring topics like chess, game theory, and law. When philosophy and moral inquiry take center stage, the novel soars, especially in passages about finding meaning in despair and the power of love.
BWWAY remains my favorite of her work for its self-awareness and boldness. INTERMEZZO challenged me the most, making it a rewarding read that I can’t stop thinking about. I can’t wait to discuss it with you all once it’s published in September.
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