Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

78 reviews

corrina_milito's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Loved it. I am still grieving the load of the characters a week later. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent

mbrenner's review against another edition

4.25

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship

mwfilion's review against another edition

2.5

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

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While there were aspects of the story I connected with - particularly around grief and exploring complicated relationships - I found it veryyyy challenging to connect with the style of writing. It is intentional and well-executed, but just not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

annablanna's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Injury/Injury detail

shellsbookclub's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book took a long time for me to get into, which was really disappointing considering how much I've loved Sally Rooney's other books (except Conversations with Friends, which honestly just annoyed me the whole time). I debated whether to give this book three or four stars, but settled on four stars because the second half got better and more powerful with every page. The writing style in the beginning is distracting, hard to follow, and a little obsessed with itself, but as the novel went on, it settled into prose that made more sense and felt much more emotionally resonant. Neither Peter nor Ivan is particularly sympathetic - Peter thinks he is incredibly morally superior but treats the women in his life truly horribly, while Ivan has said many misogynistic incel things in the past - but their relationship was fairly compelling, and as usual Rooney details grief and complex human emotions with compassion and searing accuracy. The woman in this novel deserve truly so much better (although Ivan and Margaret have a sweet and lovely connection), but that's par for the course I guess.

As you can see from this rambling and contradictory review, I'm not totally sure how I feel about this book - I should probably go with three stars, but I did find the last third or quarter meaningful and touching, so who knows.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness, Violence, Death of parent

lindcherry's review against another edition

4.0

challenging tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent

Minor: Violence

sydapel's review against another edition

3.75

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

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Look, I think you couldn't make me hate Sally Rooney if you tried. Did I love this with feral abandon? No. Did I have to really push myself to get through the first 100 pages? Yes. Is it hard to settle into a book with solid pages of introspective, fragmented inner dialogue? Absolutely. Is this still a fascinating portrait of grief, depression and complex sibling relationships? Hell yes. I have to admire Sally Rooney for tackling all of this through a mainly male lens, but my main criticism of this work is that I felt the loss of not having the perspective of two of the three female characters, which made me feel less connected to their story overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship

Minor: Violence

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I picked this up because I have been a fan of Sally Rooney for years. 

"Intermezzo" is a novel that follows two brothers, Peter and Ivan. Peter is a very successful lawyer who appears to have his life together. That is until his father passed away and he begins self-medicating to try and cope with the loss. Ivan is a competitive chess player who has always seen himself as the complete opposite of his brother. 

I really enjoy novels that explore sibling dynamics because they are often so nuanced and complicated. Peter and Ivan have never really seen eye to eye, and that has made navigating their relationship very difficult. I loved that this novel alternated between both brother's points of view. This really helped to flesh out the story and made me more invested in the story. I could see both brother's wanting more from the other, but they would not talk to each other. 

There was something about this specific novel that I did not mesh with. I really enjoy Sally Rooney's writing style, but there was something extra flat about this one that I was finding it difficult to connect with. This novel felt a lot slower pace than her previous novels, and this made the story drag more than it needed to. 

I do think this novel has its audience, and I encourage anyone who is interested to pick it up! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Alcohol

ashley_turch's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This is her best for sure 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma

Minor: Animal cruelty, Car accident

Note for dog lovers: Animal cruelty is minor - only mentions someone who isn’t a fan of animals taking care of a dog for a period of time. Not doing a very good job but still meeting the dog’s needs. A little infuriating but the doggy ends up very happy ❤️