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emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this is Sally Rooney’s best work yet - not my favourite in terms of plot or characters, but technically the best-written and most interesting. As with all her novels, I didn’t always like the characters and thought their decision-making was questionable at best (whose isn’t in the aftermath of crisis?). However, I was constantly thinking about the characters when not reading, and about my own life in new ways as a result.
I’ll definitely want to reread this one - there’s so much more I feel I could get from it on a second read.
I’ll definitely want to reread this one - there’s so much more I feel I could get from it on a second read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit
Minor: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia
The dog does not die!
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book absolutely blew me away. As a huge Rooney fan, I wasn’t sure what to make of this book at first, but by the end I was so connected to the characters I felt like I knew them personally.
The best part of this book was the style and how it changed when we were focusing on Peter’s point of view vs Ivan’s point of view. It felt like the writing style itself revealed things about their character.
This book may have been harder than the other Rooney books to enter into, but give it enough time and it will blow your mind.
I could not recommend this book highly enough!!!!
The best part of this book was the style and how it changed when we were focusing on Peter’s point of view vs Ivan’s point of view. It felt like the writing style itself revealed things about their character.
This book may have been harder than the other Rooney books to enter into, but give it enough time and it will blow your mind.
I could not recommend this book highly enough!!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Misogyny, Self harm
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Infertility
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Car accident
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Medical trauma
Minor: Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this but I could not fall in love or hate with any of the characters so there’s still this dissection for me with caring about what happens to them.
They are profoundly real feeling characters and the story gives the essence of messy real life intricacies, it is almost like I just listened to two brothers trauma dump to me but they both think too highly of themselves to know if I should believe them. I found the whole thing felt like reading from an unreliable narrator with no one to confirm or deny except the other unreliable narrator.
Aspects of Rooney writing I love, like her authentic to real life themes and ability to weave philosophical ideas through her storytelling, however, I’ve never loved the lack of speech marks. As much as I understand it’s serving a process in her story I found too often I was needing to check in on what was said aloud. Particularly with Peter, his thoughts were so quick and often unfinished.
A lot of this book left me feeling frustrated and as if nothing was happening aside from two brothers centring their entire existence around their respective love interests. The themes of family and loss were too secondary to the chaotic relationship dynamics for me to feel like it impacted me in any way.
They are profoundly real feeling characters and the story gives the essence of messy real life intricacies, it is almost like I just listened to two brothers trauma dump to me but they both think too highly of themselves to know if I should believe them. I found the whole thing felt like reading from an unreliable narrator with no one to confirm or deny except the other unreliable narrator.
Aspects of Rooney writing I love, like her authentic to real life themes and ability to weave philosophical ideas through her storytelling, however, I’ve never loved the lack of speech marks. As much as I understand it’s serving a process in her story I found too often I was needing to check in on what was said aloud. Particularly with Peter, his thoughts were so quick and often unfinished.
A lot of this book left me feeling frustrated and as if nothing was happening aside from two brothers centring their entire existence around their respective love interests. The themes of family and loss were too secondary to the chaotic relationship dynamics for me to feel like it impacted me in any way.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Abandonment
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
My very preliminary thoughts are that Sally is really amazing at stringing together a series of seemingly small and simple experiences that together amount to life itself. Nothing more (although it often feels like the end of the world) and nothing less. She's also unmatched in her ability to crawl inside other people's brains and write them for us in a way that feels incredibly internal and also somehow removed.
My only complaint is with her treatment of Naomi - how can she be as integral supposedly to Peter's story as Sylvia or even Ivan but she's never given the full autonomy of a character? She is never shaded in like Sylvia or Margaret never given worries woes priorities or problems of her own. We see her only through Peter's thoughts making her a misogynistic caricature - a cliche of a young girl unloved penniless falls for an older man with money ew. And their relationship is toxic from the start... yeah Naomi is the weak point here.
My very preliminary thoughts are that Sally is really amazing at stringing together a series of seemingly small and simple experiences that together amount to life itself. Nothing more (although it often feels like the end of the world) and nothing less. She's also unmatched in her ability to crawl inside other people's brains and write them for us in a way that feels incredibly internal and also somehow removed.
My only complaint is with her treatment of Naomi - how can she be as integral supposedly to Peter's story as Sylvia or even Ivan but she's never given the full autonomy of a character? She is never shaded in like Sylvia or Margaret never given worries woes priorities or problems of her own. We see her only through Peter's thoughts making her a misogynistic caricature - a cliche of a young girl unloved penniless falls for an older man with money ew. And their relationship is toxic from the start... yeah Naomi is the weak point here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There is nothing more quintessential Sally Rooney than her book being called “Intermezzo”—an interlude or brief composition—as that’s what Rooney does best: stories about ordinary people during short intervals of their lives.
I have always liked “slice of life” fiction and perhaps that’s what has always drawn me to Rooney’s works. They’re not trying to be some epic tale of woe or romance or adventure. They’re human, they’re impassive at times but still multidimensional, they’re extraordinary in the ordinary. They’re passionate but not in a way that feels overdone. They’re full of love and desire, but that’s not the entire point.
More than ever before, “Intermezzo” brings to the forefront the complexities, intricacies, simplicities and extremities of existence, this time following the reflective but not parallel lives of brothers Peter and Ivan whose father has recently died.
Though separated by a decade and differing personalities, they both look for the same things in a partner. They don’t get along, they don’t see eye to eye and yet—they care for people in similar ways. Ivan, a stellar chess player and the younger of the two, wants to make Margaret happy and to feel safe despite her being older than his brother. Peter wants to take care of both Sylvia and Naomi, one the love of his life and the other his current girlfriend. Ivan is an overthinker, humble in his overly capable abilities, funny in simple ways, if a little socially awkward. While Peter is an addict but often the more adept and sensical of the two. They clash in their feelings toward each other and each other’s romantic relationships as they make their way through their grief, not always acknowledging it in healthy ways. It’s messy and real. You’ll root for one brother over the other, and the next moment desperately wish for resolve. Family is complicated, and even more so when you bring outside romantic interests into the equation. Such is life.
While long winded in its paragraphs and the lengthiest of Rooney’s books to date, “Intermezzo” is essential reading if you are looking for a novel about the interpersonal complexities of the average millennial amidst the backdrop of modern day Ireland. Or really if you’re looking for any book that takes a deep dive into sibling relationships and how they change and take shape over time.
I feel like I have a lot more to say about this one but I’m unsure how to express it in a way that makes sense, so I’ll just leave you with some favorite lines:
“Peter naturally unable to be thirsty on main, he has a career to think about.” (Rooney is so funny and I think people forget that since her books are supposed to be serious and melancholic)
“But say if you take the example of a teacher, they go into work every day and like, teach children to read. The school isn't making any profit, obviously, because it's free to go there. But I think we all agree, the children should learn to read, so we better pay someone to teach them. Since that person needs to eat, and so on. If we organise everything in view of profit, we get things happening in the economy that make no sense. Like in this example, no one has a direct profit motive for teaching children, but the whole economy will collapse if people can't read. You get the same problem with infrastructure, and all kinds of things.”
“You know, life can be sad. It’s no good pretending to be happy all the time.”
“They were both embarrassed, he thinks, but happy at the same time, and there was a pleasant feeling of foolishness between them that made them want to laugh even though nothing was funny.”
“And what if life is just a collection of essentially unrelated experiences? Why does one thing have to follow meaningfully from another?”
“… mutual attraction - which even makes sense from the evolutionary perspective - is simply the strongest reason to do anything, overriding all the contrary principles and making them fall away into nothing.”
“—life, which is now the most painful ordeal conceivable—“
“Go on in any case living.”
God, I love Sally Rooney!!!
I have always liked “slice of life” fiction and perhaps that’s what has always drawn me to Rooney’s works. They’re not trying to be some epic tale of woe or romance or adventure. They’re human, they’re impassive at times but still multidimensional, they’re extraordinary in the ordinary. They’re passionate but not in a way that feels overdone. They’re full of love and desire, but that’s not the entire point.
More than ever before, “Intermezzo” brings to the forefront the complexities, intricacies, simplicities and extremities of existence, this time following the reflective but not parallel lives of brothers Peter and Ivan whose father has recently died.
Though separated by a decade and differing personalities, they both look for the same things in a partner. They don’t get along, they don’t see eye to eye and yet—they care for people in similar ways. Ivan, a stellar chess player and the younger of the two, wants to make Margaret happy and to feel safe despite her being older than his brother. Peter wants to take care of both Sylvia and Naomi, one the love of his life and the other his current girlfriend. Ivan is an overthinker, humble in his overly capable abilities, funny in simple ways, if a little socially awkward. While Peter is an addict but often the more adept and sensical of the two. They clash in their feelings toward each other and each other’s romantic relationships as they make their way through their grief, not always acknowledging it in healthy ways. It’s messy and real. You’ll root for one brother over the other, and the next moment desperately wish for resolve. Family is complicated, and even more so when you bring outside romantic interests into the equation. Such is life.
While long winded in its paragraphs and the lengthiest of Rooney’s books to date, “Intermezzo” is essential reading if you are looking for a novel about the interpersonal complexities of the average millennial amidst the backdrop of modern day Ireland. Or really if you’re looking for any book that takes a deep dive into sibling relationships and how they change and take shape over time.
I feel like I have a lot more to say about this one but I’m unsure how to express it in a way that makes sense, so I’ll just leave you with some favorite lines:
“Peter naturally unable to be thirsty on main, he has a career to think about.” (Rooney is so funny and I think people forget that since her books are supposed to be serious and melancholic)
“But say if you take the example of a teacher, they go into work every day and like, teach children to read. The school isn't making any profit, obviously, because it's free to go there. But I think we all agree, the children should learn to read, so we better pay someone to teach them. Since that person needs to eat, and so on. If we organise everything in view of profit, we get things happening in the economy that make no sense. Like in this example, no one has a direct profit motive for teaching children, but the whole economy will collapse if people can't read. You get the same problem with infrastructure, and all kinds of things.”
“You know, life can be sad. It’s no good pretending to be happy all the time.”
“They were both embarrassed, he thinks, but happy at the same time, and there was a pleasant feeling of foolishness between them that made them want to laugh even though nothing was funny.”
“And what if life is just a collection of essentially unrelated experiences? Why does one thing have to follow meaningfully from another?”
“… mutual attraction - which even makes sense from the evolutionary perspective - is simply the strongest reason to do anything, overriding all the contrary principles and making them fall away into nothing.”
“—life, which is now the most painful ordeal conceivable—“
“Go on in any case living.”
God, I love Sally Rooney!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rooney never misses.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness
Minor: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Alcohol
Minor: Violence