Review by ioananana - Intermezzo

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ioananana 's review for:

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

4.25

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

a book about grief, flaws, emotionally incapacitated characters, sibling relationships, and so much more. Rooney explores the complexity of human connections with an unmatched gracefulness. Throughout the novel, we are thrown into the messy sibling relationship of Peter and Ivan Koubek after their father’s death, who both grieve in their own unique ways, falling in love, hurting each other (and the ones around them) to the point of despair. With the parallel POVs, the reader is allowed a whole 180 of the story, becoming a fly on the wall watching a tennis match where the ball is passed left and right. It’s a reminder that things are never as they seem, how egocentric people are to the point of never considering others’ experiences or needs.

Rooney has a talent with dialogue (both inner and conversational), making it so natural, raw with a casual awkwardness at times that feels palpable.

the shift in the point of view makes us root for one character and then the other; Rooney, a mastermind with this technique immerses the reader in the mindset of each character, sympathising for them, and feeling their emotions so closely it’s sometimes tough to be impartial of the characters. we end up getting so wound up in their inner dialogue, it feels that we become one with them, fully comprehending what and why they feel those thoughts. i must admit, i’m a sucker for crafted unique writing, and Intermezzo delivers in this aspect.

i feel like the characters were so well fleshed out; they were tangible, realistic. nobody perfect, or anywhere near it. we’ve all done awful things we are not proud of, that we hide in a corner, away from anyone’s gaze. and we change, develop, evolve, away from those characteristics that no longer define us. but we cannot negate that they are not part of our past, or that they impacted and scarred those around us.

the betrayal Peter must’ve felt when he was suffering after Sylvia’s accident, when everyone had put him in a certain box (the pillar of the family, the charismatic one, who made everyone laugh and carry conversations flawlessly) which he didn’t fit in anymore after falling into a deep depression. how nobody, including his own little beloved brother, bared to even look at him, let alone support him. the regret Ivan must feel at 22, progressing from the angsty insufferable teenager he was at the time, and the unspoken apologies he kept inside.

another theme i was fond of is the exploration of polygamy, and of unconventional relationships in today’s day and age. Rooney really embraces awkward interpersonal interactions in this book; the age gap between Ivan and Margret, the close age between her and Peter and Ivan and Naomi, how Peter connects with Margret and is touched, even attracted to her, and so is she.

all of those things that we are surrounded by day to day although we are too embarrassed to admit, even the thoughts themselves we disregard and throw them far away.

in the end, we are all flawed in some way and inevitably we will hurt each other constantly, unknowingly, albeit loving one another.

Content Warnings