A review by christinemark
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

 

It took me forever to finish this book and I actually really struggled not to dnf it. I was hoping that somehow, somewhere it´s gonna pick up, but it didn´t. This book felt so flat and boring to me. Basically it is about toxic relationships all around, and honestly it felt like it was written by a man.

I suppose this book is supposed to be a character study, since there is no plot whatsover - the whole 436 pages!! But in that sense it falls short as well.

The whole focus of this book, I guess, is the relationship between the brothers, but other than that also their respective romantic relationships.

Ivan - who apparently is supposed to be one of Rooney´s most likeable characters - is very fucking misogynistic, to the point he had a major issue with giving pregnant women your seat on a public transport, suddenly completely changes his mind after a woman starts paying attention to him and having sex with him.

Peter - Savior complex. Hides his identity of a "foreigner" cause he feels like it´s demeaning. Fucks around, cause one woman broke his heart so he has a personal vendeta against all women, until he falls in love with a woman called Naomi, 10 years his junior, who he nevertheless, keeps using for whatever he needs at that moment. Not to mention Sylvia, whom he claims is the love of his life, although he left her because after the accident she couldn´ t have sex anymore????? (Like what is that about????) Yet, in the scene where she is literally in SO MUCH PAIN on the floor that she cannot get up, she pops a painkiller and 10 minutes later gives Peter a handjobs, after which he proceeds to fantasize about their life together, now that he knows that sex is no longer issue or idk what the actual fuck was he thinking.

Through all this, the book is VERY surface level - the women mentioned in the book are completely one dimentional, we know next to nothing about them and it feels like they are only there so the brothers have someone to fuck. Too many sex scenes, not enough context as to why things are the way they are other than men´s egoes.

Kinda hated this, the ending felt like a Hallmark movie.