intermezzo review & thoughts on sally rooney
the long and awaited intermezzo review by me! & collab with Hannah (thhebluefairy) and her thoughts on Sally Rooney
Intermezzo! She’s finally here and I’ve finally read it and I’m going to (finally) review it. The book that seems to ignite the book world with excitement and joy. Does it deserve the hype it’s been getting?
I’ve already reviewed intermezzo earlier today on my instagram, but I wanted to write a review that was a little bit longer, as well as a little bit of my thoughts on Sally Rooney’s writing in general.
This article will also feature
’s thoughts on Sally Rooney! I’m so excited to do this collab with her, she’s so down to earth, and very passionate about Sally Rooney.ps. if you’re very very scared of spoilers; i try to limit the information to what’s shown in the summary of the book!
I.I Intermezzo
Intermezzo is a fictional story about how grief follows the lives of the two brothers: Ivan and Peter. Ivan is a chess prodigy who tends to keep to himself and who is shy and a bit emotional. Peter, a lawyer and 10 years older than Ivan, is rich and more outgoing. They are both grieving over the loss of their late father. And we see recurring themes of jealousy, hatred, sadness, and love. Peter finds himself in a love affair, and Ivan falls in love with Margaret, a woman with troubles of her own and many issues in their life.
I.II Thoughts on the book
Sally Rooney writes beautifully about how complicated relationships are. Whether it’s with our families, with friends, with our jobs or our passions, or with lovers. Humans are complicated beings. Grief is love that has nowhere to go. She shows this locked up love in these characters. Ivan, loves a woman who has troubles of her own. Margaret is older, still married. Ivan is clingy and wants to be loved. Peter in a love affair, loving two women at the same time and juggling the death of his father, and these two women: he doesn’t know what to do anymore. We don’t understand what we’re doing anymore when we grieve. Everything is blurry and we just want one last hug or kiss on the forehead from the person we have lost: just one last time before they go.
Grief is destined to be experienced by everyone at some point in their life. Whether they grieve someone or something, the consequences of our actions - the stupid things we do while we grieve, the love we want to give that has nowhere to go - this is what Sally Rooney shows us through her characters. The tension between the two brothers is strong. Ivan is much younger and his thoughts of feeling belittled by his older brother grow. Their father no longer being there, there is no filter or barrier. Peter, older, always expected to succeed and win and achieve is feeling overwhelmed. Their feelings amplified by the loss of their father. The absence of his love - the absence of love. I love the way Rooney shows how complicated beings we are - we can do questionable things when we’re not okay or when we grieve.
I.II.I Thoughts on Sally Rooney’s writing
The first book that I read by her was Normal People. I’ve only read Normal People and Intermezzo (I definitely plan to read more of her works). I’ve always been hesitant to read her works. When an author goes viral and everyone suddenly starts reading them, I always get scared that I will be disappointed because it was overhyped. Then I read Normal people. It’s different than anything I’ve read in terms of writing style. She doesn’t use quotations for dialogue which confused me at first and I found it a bit difficult to follow, but the more I read, the more I fell I love with the characters and just sympathised with them. They’re realistic. Reading intermezzo even scared me at some points - just imagining being with someone like Peter for example, or imagining the scenes in my head as I read the book - it emotionally frightened me, because the characters are realistic, and I’ve even known people like that in the past.
I.II.II My thoughts on the hype
Intermezzo has been the buzz in the book community internationally. The release of the year that everybody has been on their toes. People receiving arcs from publishing companies and being incredibly excited. Everyone is at the edge of their seat, waiting for the 24th of September. Do I think Sally Rooney deserves this hype? Absolutely. I think her books are realistic, talk about emotional issues, mental health issues, they talk about realistic situations. But if you’ve already read a book by Rooney and didn’t like it - I honestly don’t think you’ll like Intermezzo either. The writing style is not very different from her other books, and this book is her longest book yet (437 pages!). It’s medium paced, and the writing can be confusing if you leave off a page and come back later (this happened to me a few times in Peter’s chapters). This isn’t to say that you won’t like this book necessarily, if you want to read this even if you’ve read other books by her and didn’t like them, I say go ahead. It’s good to give a book another try.
I also think that you shouldn’t go into this book with extremely high expectations either. It can really make or break the way you see this book.
II Overhype killing expectations on a book?
Definitely. Having way too high expectations can always ruin a book experience. Especially when the book is all new and shiny. It’s good to come in with realistic expectations, but still try to give the book a chance.
That yes, the book deserves the hype, but it’s still not very different from her other books! Keep this in mind if you plan on picking up the book.
III. Final thoughts on Sally Rooney
As a writer, I appreciate her work. I appreciate the characters that she creates and the realistic situations that she puts them in. Her ability to emotionally integrate heartbreaking incidents into a story - I find it done very well.
My good friend Hannah absolutely loves Sally Rooney, and with Intermezzo hyping up and Rooney becoming more and more known, I thought it would be really cool to make a collab article with her. I’ve asked her a few questions about Sally Rooney: about her success, about how people see her writing, and how Hannah feels about it all.
Sally Rooney was my first love of literary fiction. And you know what they say about first loves. You don’t forget them. With the release of Intermezzo discourse around her works and status as a literary icon has been at the forefront of my mind.
I’ve always been drawn to Rooney’s stories for very reason why many can’t stand her books. Rooney writes about the mundane under a magnifying glass, examining and exploring the human interactions and dynamics which construct our everyday lives. Particularly exemplified in Beautiful World, Where are You?, she illuminates the small pleasures that derive from human conneciton, whether that be a good conversation with a friend while getting brunch, or having someone to send letters to. Rooney’s fictional universe is beautiful because the beautiful ways she sees the world translates seamlessly onto page. Enjoying her stories reminds me that beauty does not exist only on the page and our screens, but right there, through our eyes. All you have to do, is take a breath, and look.
Rarely is there much plot to Rooney’s stories. Her novels centre around her characters, and the different ways they react to certain situations and people. It’s a mirror to all of our lives. While I understand that those who prefer plot may find it boring, this works for someone like me who adores character driven books. Another aspect of why I favour Rooney’s portrayal of human relationships are their dynamic nature. In an interview about her debut novel Conversations with Friends with the Louisiana Channel, to paraphrase, Rooney claims that in contemporary society humans are obsessed with independence, which is strange to her because she believes that relying on one another, dependency, is exactly what makes us human. Truly this altered my brain chemistry. As someone who through they took pride in their hyper-independence, it made me realise that it wasn’t pride, but rather a sense of embarrassment from missing out on the key thing that would make me a real human being. Rooney’s characters fall into ambiguous relationships, too ever-changing to be defined by anything else than pure human connection.
This is why I connect with her characters. She doesn’t confine them, she lets them be and enables them to decide on their own, what they want, who they are, and who they wish to be. Rooney’s stories continue to drive my passions as a writer and reader, and remind me that how she makes me feel, is exactly how I want others to feel when they read my works.
Thank you for reading my article! Please do check out
and her instagram, she does reviews and her writing is lovely.
loved this collab and hearing both of your thoughts!!! i also love the way rooney writes about human connection in a very raw and beautiful way ⭐️ with the release of intermezzo i’ve been wanting to go back and reread all her previous work