I love love loved both ‘Normal People‘ and ‘Conversations with Friends‘ but didn’t get on all that well with ‘Beautiful World, Where Are You‘ so was a little apprehensive going into Sally Rooney’s latest novel, ‘Intermezzo’. I needn’t have worried, because oh my goodness, I loved it! I read this book a few months ago and am only just getting round to reviewing, but it’s stuck with me so well since then, which is always a sign of a good read! The book focusses on two men, brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek. Peter is 30 something, successfully and competently working in Dublin as a lawyer. Ivan is 22, socially awkward, a reserved chess prodigy. Following their father’s death, the brothers take different paths in their grief, navigating a world without the man who raised them. With a large 10 year gap between the two, this is the story of them trying to understand one another, perhaps for the first time in their lives. The novel that plays out is, in my opinion, the most complex of plots in a Rooney book so far. “No one is perfect. Sometimes you need people to be perfect and they can’t be and you hate them forever for not being even though it isn’t their fault and it’s not yours either. You just needed something they didn’t have in them to give you.” Switching between points of view throughout, I found it really interesting how Rooney chose different writing styles for each character, reflecting their personalities. Ivan’s world is chess and Rooney cleverly uses the game as a metaphor for the internal struggles that her characters face, mirroring their emotional battles and a desire to win. His chapters are more clipped, more fragmented than his brother’s, whose chapters seemed a little more familiar to Rooney’s usual style. A more mature read than her other work, both men’s lives and personalities are explored deeply and the depiction of sibling love and rivalry was written so accurately that you could believe these were real people. Both brothers are seeking success and happiness, and their deep, long, internal monologues really made me, as the reader, appreciate Rooney’s talent in confronting feelings of grief and despair without making this a sad and dreary read. It’s so interesting to consider grief beyond death… grief for things that didn’t happen, couldn’t happen, the life we wanted and the life we got. Overall rating: With themes of brotherhood, grief, despair and loneliness, Sally Rooney’s latest novel, ‘Intermezzo’ is a sensational read – 5 stars!
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I saw a lot of people tweeting about this book on Twitter so had to buy myself a copy as I had somehow missed the ability to pre-review it prior to publication I’m found it hard to settle into reading this book initially yhe author has a very distinctive writing style with incomplete sentences and lots of very short sentences mimicking thought processes this quite unusual.and took some getting used to .after a few hours reading it started to feel more natural and I settled into the book The story brings out a lot of the thoughts that we repress and I found myself empathising mainly with the socially awkward, probably autistic chess master Ivan the most. The Autistic character seems very real and authentic. I have a number of autistic friends and I can see elements of all of us in him. I liked the idea that there was someone for everyone in the awkward main character? Ultimately finds his love match not necessarily where he was expecting it ? The novel has some of the best most authentic sex scenes I’ve read messy bits and all This author is well known after Normal People her previous novel and I’m sure this book will be loved by her loyal leadership. I liked but didn’t love it. This review would appear on Goodreads and my book blog bionic Sarah S books on Wordpress I will also publish it on Amazon UK.
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I was so excited to read this book but ultimately found it quite disappointing. If it wasn't written by Rooney I'd likely not have finished it. The characters are hard to care about and there's just not enough feeling in this title like her others. I constantly felt distant from the characters, despite the first person narratives and generally found the disjointed writing style of Peter's sections tedious and boring; Ivan's sections were somewhat better but largely only because they contained Margaret. Saying that, all characters were just absolute dull duds ruminating on their one problem for the majority of the book - Rooney needs an editor that has the balls to tell her to cut about a quarter of the text. There was a lot of hand wringing by characters about things that didn't really seem like they would be issues in 2024, like relationships with large age gaps and non-monogamous relationships - perhaps ten years ago this would have been an interesting, scandalous, and thought-provoking read but reading it in 2024 it sounds like what your boomer mum thinks would be scandalous - quite out of touch. The end is satisfying but you can see it coming a mile off and really if the end was not satisfying I'd have thrown the book though the window out of frustration. Considering how short life is I wish I'd spent the time and money on something else.
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Book came in creased and with folds on the corners and stains
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De las mejores historias escritas por Sally
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Kargo hızlı ve sağlam geldi. Kitap orijinal, buruşukluk vs yok
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This book became dear to me.just finished reading this book. The whole story has a melancholy tone. It’s about two brothers ivan and peter and how they navigate their lives and grief after losing their father. It explores the complexities of the sibling relationships and love life. At the beginning i just found ivan so relatable and adorable and disliked peter. But as the story progresses we get to know how that peter is just exhausted and all alone. Personally i found many situations and the emotions relatable and familiar, it resonated with me deeply. Halfway through i became fond of the characters. I became more interested in peters pov. And sure at times I didn’t like ivans thoughts and actions especially towards his brother, but i understood How he just became an adult and figuring out the complexities of life. At the end i ended up rooting for peter and just wanted to give him a hug. The some of the events in this story happened in my life and also having similar sibling dynamic, i really was invested in this book till the end. I just wanted two more chapters at the end, because i felt the story just ended abruptly, although not dissatisfying. I definitely recommend it!
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In my opinion the best Rooney's book!
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