Intermezzo: Sally Rooney’s Best Novel Yet!

Posted On January 12, 2025

Hi Readers! Here’s the first book review of 2025! I have read Sally Rooney’s books before, and have never liked them. I thought Normal People was far too removed from reality and also quite pretentious. I DNFed both Conversations with Friends and Beautiful World, Where Are You? because the story didn’t grip me within the first 100 pages or so. After these three disappointments, I had decided not to read Rooney’s books again. But, I couldn’t resist Intermezzo. I saw so many people claiming it to be Rooney’s best novel yet. Those who hadn’t liked her other books were raving about this. So, I picked it up and really liked it!

~~DESCRIPTION~~

Intermezzo is the story of brothers, Ivan and Peter, who are trying their best to live their lives after the death of their father. Ivan finds himself attracted to a woman more than half his age. Peter finds himself in a love triangle where he is in love with two women. We also see how strained the relationships are between the brothers, with their mother and with their father. We see how already strained relations become more complex while grieving.

~~THOUGHTS~~

What does it mean to be happy? Fulfilled? If I had to pick my answer based on Intermezzo, I would say it simply means being able to share your thoughts with your loved ones time and again. Stream of consciousness writing can either make you dizzy or leave you amazed. With Intermezzo, I was amazed. There were several instances where page after page description is singularly just the thoughts that are happening inside one character’s head. Once it’s just ordinary day to day living. Other times we can feel him falling into a downward spiral of depression and hitting rock bottom. Another when he is thinking about his childhood. And, really, many others. The stream of consciousness writing was so fresh and unreal at the same time, because I could relate to the 100 kmph speed of thoughts running in my brain. What didn’t strike a chord with the previous Sally Rooney books for me, worked like a charm in this one.

We see how we unconsciously want others to suffer just because we are suffering. We don’t want to be alone in pain. We want it shared so we can be in pain together with someone. That’s what Peter does time and again with the two women who adore him.

We see how a person’s body language completely changes depending on the topic. Like, it’s confident with an upright posture while talking about certainty or things and people we love. But, when we are talking about an uncomfortable past, or people from childhood who bullied us, we remember that version of ourselves and in a way become that version in that moment, making ourselves smaller. The thoughtful, calm and emotionally intelligent Ivan becomes defensive, incoherent and angry while talking about Peter when they were kids.

We see how we are always ready to put ourselves down. We have the wondrous ability of empathy, and yet we only use it in selfish or self-deprecating ways. The amazing and self-made Maragret thinks what Ivan’s brother will think of her dating someone so much younger. She thinks how disappointed, suspicious and dismissive he would be. That becomes such a unilateral worldview. Even when we are being empathetic, we are still thinking of ourselves from our view. Why are we so defensive and yet so pessimistic in our vision at times?

There isn’t a strong plot to the book. There is no structure to the story or the punctuation. But, these things are never found in Sally Rooney’s books, so you can’t expect them. What you can expect is the nature of human behaviour molding, evolving, growing, diminishing, flourishing in all its glory. Intermezzo is masterful in its writing, though provoking in its approach of emotions and goes beyond the standard structure of a novel. It makes you think too much, feel all the way more and also wants you to evolve in your own maturity. I haven’t read anything quite like this book, which though unsettling, stays that way in the best and worst ways.

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~

This part gets tricky, because even though I liked the book, I am not sure whether to recommend it or not. If you have loved Sally Rooney’s books, then you will definitely love this. If you like reading structured books with plot-based story, then you shouldn’t read it. If you cannot stand improper dialogues without any punctuation, then you should stay away from this book, because it takes some time getting used to what’s in the head and what’s actually spoken out loud. If you like novels where there is ambiguity, then you might like this one. If you prefer quiet books focusing on slow paced character focus, then you should read this book. Most importantly, I think you need to be in the correct head space when you read Intermezzo. Don’t read because everyone’s reading it. Definitely don’t read when you are trying to get out of a reading slump. It’s not a beach read or an airport read, because you have to give it your entire attention. So, if you pass these challenges and read 100 odd pages, you will get to the charm that book has in way of complications. I have rated Intermezzo by Sally Rooney at 4/5 stars!

Until next time,