Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Intermezzo

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

209 reviews

annemariebarron's review against another edition

4.0

emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There is something about the characters in this book I find so interesting. Couldn’t drag myself away from them.

The way she writes about people is so beautiful

Content Warnings

jolovesbookstbh's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

”Attachment, the cause of all suffering, so the Buddhists say. To cling to what you have, what you have had, the life you have known, the handful of people and places you have ever really loved, to cling and not let go. Never relenting, never accepting, becoming all the time more enmeshed, holding harder, loving and hating more.”

I have this issue with Sally Rooney books where I usually go in expecting to like them okay and then leave feeling like she’s touched my very soul.

I will admit this took me a while to get into, especially Peter’s chapters, but once I was in, I was IN. I think that chapters 12 and 13 particularly are some of the best writing from Rooney that I’ve ever read. Arguably, one should not have to wait 2/3 of a book to get to something really meaningful and powerful, but once all the little dots connect, it just seems so worth it.

Ivan’s and Margaret’s relationship was from the very start what kept me invested and despite my early dislike for Peter, I felt such deep sympathy for him by the end and, unfortunately and uncomfortably, saw parts of myself in him too. His storyline, and that of Sylvia and Naomi, was for me the most truly profound and painful. Oh, Sylvia…

Grief, sibling dynamics, polyamory, age gaps, exploitation, pain and love - oh and of course Alexei, the best - dog - character.

Content Warnings

trinity_tompkins's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional 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

This is by far the best Sally Rooney book I have read. I loved the stream of consciousness writing style combined with beautifully poetic descriptions of the setting. This writing style allowed Rooney to put words to things I previously thought ineffable.

I loved seeing the story through the eyes of both Peter and Ivan. The way they handled their grief, relationships, and hypocrisy was wonderfully complex and interesting. The anxiety and need for approval expressed especially by Peter was well-written. The ending of the book was satisfying unlike the other books I’ve read by Rooney.

Content Warnings

ryanisreviewing's review against another edition

4.5

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think my favourite of Rooney's? I really enjoyed Ivan and Peter's relationship and how it was explored.
My minor criticism that romantic relationships in this book were slightly weaker due to not dealing with queerness despite wanting to explore unconventionality is admittedly biased.

Peter's cishet crisis over wanting an unconventional relationship was slightly eye rolling but also very accurate to how a guy like that would react.

If it hadn't been for how much I liked Ivan and Peter's relationship, this probably would have impacted my rating more, but as it is I found it such a well-portrayed dynamic that the romance subplots were less important to me anyway.

Content Warnings

mattyvreads's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional tense 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

I am not okay....

Heartbreaking and hauntingly beautiful. Infused with so much humanity.

One of the best books I have read in a long time. I adored every moment of it. Sally Rooney is the GOAT.

Content Warnings

peachybee53's review against another edition

1.0

challenging tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I just finished this book and I can't even describe what it was about. This book is written like a stream-of-consciousness from 2 brothers' perspectives after the loss of their father. Ivan is a self-centred, naiive, brutally honest man-child, and Peter is a self-centred, emotionally distant, performative, hypocritical man-child who blames everyone else for his choices & issues and uses people without considering how it affects them. The best part was the ending, because it felt like they were finally experiencing an emotion and recognising some of their own flaws.

Favourite quote:
[Naomi to Peter] "You tell me you love me and then it's alright, goodbye, I never want to see you again. Just so you can delude yourself that you're normal, everything is normal. You're so fucking sick in the head you dont even see what you're doing to yourself. Trying to put everyone in their little box. And if we would all just stay there, then there wouldn't be any problems."

Content Warnings

ryschop's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is my first five star read of 2025. It was also my introduction to Sally Rooney, and I am blown away. I was always skeptical of Rooney’s lack of quotation marks, but I get it now. Her use of prose is incredibly poignant. I felt deeply for every character in this novel, even if I didn’t find them to be a “good person”. The way Rooney portrays internal and interpersonal conflict, turmoil, and resolution is masterful. Truly an incredible piece of literature.

Content Warnings

rowanelisa's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

neyomi_reads's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A really enjoyable read, the ending made me emotional. This book has a pretty different take on how we can grieve and perhaps is a bit on the darker side, but I think that’s what made me enjoy the book as much as I did. So much drama, the interpersonal relationships of every character was so interesting and got me very invested, specifically in the relationship between the brothers since it’s so complex. Two brothers that aren’t close trying to grieve a dad they both had a different relationship is so difficult and this books writes it out so beautifully, you’ll want to root for them but also scream at them at the same time. Would definitely recommend, but will say that there were some points in Peter’s chapters where I was struggling to follow along just because of how similar it’s written to an actual train of thought. Shoutout to the character that has the same name as me too 🤪

Content Warnings

k_lukic's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional 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

This book was more difficult to get into than other Sally Rooney novels. The writing style took a bit of adjustment and I had put down this book quite a few times because of it. Having read other Sally Rooney books, I was aware of her writing and punctuation (more specifically dialogue) style however, the nature of this book required more attention to the words and punctuation than I was used to. All that to say, once I adjusted to the style and learned to recognize the way it was able to dictate mindsets and characters, I enjoyed the story. I am always amazed by how well rounded and complete the characters Rooney writes are. The characters were very flawed and while I found most of them very unlikeable, I still wanted to know what happens. The ending I found very satisfying and I’m glad I stuck through to it!

Content Warnings

More...