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malmaster 's review for:
Intermezzo
by Sally Rooney
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
This is a story of two estranged brothers coping with the loss of their father through untraditional romantic entanglements.
Peter, a 32-year-old human rights lawyer, develops an offline connection with a 22-year-old OF model Naomi because his ex-girlfriend (with whom he maintains a not-quite-platonic relationship) Sylvia is celibate after a car accident six years ago inexplicably renders her incapable of penetrative sex. [Warning: I am about to rant about this a little!] We are offered almost no details of the accident or how it affects her day-to-day beyond the mention of chronic pain. There is no allusion to any mobility issues that may explain her sexual limitations. Her accident is weirdly presented as something tragic that happened to Peter, even though she is still alive and seemingly functions completely normally, outside of sex. Many people with disabilities are insecure about their sexual capabilities requiring adaptation and I wish Rooney had bothered consulting a single one of them. Retiring from sex at 25 because you can't have penetrative sex is a strange exercise in martyrdom. As a queer, disabled person myself living in the 2020s, maintaining that penetrative sex is key to having any sex life at all is wildly ignorant. My issue with this particular aspect of the novel could have been remedied if we ever read from her pov, but neither Sylvia nor Naomi get their perspective represented here. They are both just dolls played with to amuse Peter, while he acts heavily conflicted about it because a polyamorous relationship is apparently less acceptable/more shameful than paying a much younger sex worker for a year.
Then there's Peter's brother Ivan, a 22-year-old autistic chess prodigy/underemployed, former incel porn addict whose views on women shift when a 38-year-old divorcee starts sleeping with him. Oddly, we are granted access to her pov, which essentially boils down to feeling embarrassed and creepy for falling in love with someone significantly younger than her.
I enjoyed Rooney's writing, though I think grief should have been focused on more than romance.
Peter, a 32-year-old human rights lawyer, develops an offline connection with a 22-year-old OF model Naomi because his ex-girlfriend (with whom he maintains a not-quite-platonic relationship) Sylvia is celibate after a car accident six years ago inexplicably renders her incapable of penetrative sex. [Warning: I am about to rant about this a little!] We are offered almost no details of the accident or how it affects her day-to-day beyond the mention of chronic pain. There is no allusion to any mobility issues that may explain her sexual limitations. Her accident is weirdly presented as something tragic that happened to Peter, even though she is still alive and seemingly functions completely normally, outside of sex. Many people with disabilities are insecure about their sexual capabilities requiring adaptation and I wish Rooney had bothered consulting a single one of them. Retiring from sex at 25 because you can't have penetrative sex is a strange exercise in martyrdom. As a queer, disabled person myself living in the 2020s, maintaining that penetrative sex is key to having any sex life at all is wildly ignorant. My issue with this particular aspect of the novel could have been remedied if we ever read from her pov, but neither Sylvia nor Naomi get their perspective represented here. They are both just dolls played with to amuse Peter, while he acts heavily conflicted about it because a polyamorous relationship is apparently less acceptable/more shameful than paying a much younger sex worker for a year.
Then there's Peter's brother Ivan, a 22-year-old autistic chess prodigy/underemployed, former incel porn addict whose views on women shift when a 38-year-old divorcee starts sleeping with him. Oddly, we are granted access to her pov, which essentially boils down to feeling embarrassed and creepy for falling in love with someone significantly younger than her.
I enjoyed Rooney's writing, though I think grief should have been focused on more than romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent