hello_lovely13 's review for:

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
3.5
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
I vastly preferred Margaret and Ivan's perspectives over Peter's. Rooney really excels at writing dialogue, and I think that is better utilized in Ivan's chapters rather than Peter's. In his grief, Peter's mind is scattered and incomplete, which is reflected in the writing style of his chapters through phrases in place of sentences and random observations of things that are happening around him. I didn't particularly like this choice, and his first couple chapters felt nearly incomprehensible at times. However, it did get much better as time went on and I got used to it, particularly at the halfway point onwards. Still, I preferred reading Ivan's chapters, which had a more structured thought-process reflected in the writing style, for a majority of the time. There were also exceedingly LONG paragraphs that I don't remember from her other books (one notable case was a paragraph that lasted over SEVEN pages (that particular one was a banger, but in most cases it felt a bit excessive because you didn't get a mental break with the end of a paragraph, and it felt almost like a continuous train of thought without pause)).

In part 3, we got a conversation between Naomi and Ivan, which I wasn't expecting, but was delighted by. I really liked the dynamic and relationship between Margaret and Ivan (they were both interesting, flawed, brought up interesting points of conversation, and delightfully awkward in similar ways). I would have liked to have seen at least one conversation between Margaret and Ricky (
Margaret's ex-husband
), though; I felt that was missing. Peter's relationship with Naomi was fine, but I wasn't overly attached to it, though I liked how it ended. Peter's relationship with Sylvia was very interesting, and I liked Sylvia as a character overall.

This book did an excellent job in the developing and progression of the relationship between Peter and Ivan. It was often subtle, but you could see how it impacted their individual lives separate from each other, and I like how it all unraveled. It was complicated and realistic, but you still wanted them to work it out and make up in the end (at least I did). I really like how their relationship ended up by the end of the book. I think that the ending was done so well overall.

For a good portion of the book, this felt like a 3 star, maybe 3.25 at most, but the second half really improved my attachment (not just to Peter's perspective) and the discussions brought up. I can definitely foresee myself rereading this in the future, even purely just for how well crafted the progression of Ivan and Peter's relationship is (though also for the other characters and their relationships with each other). 
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