This was not a bad book, but it has confirmed that I am not the right audience for Sally Rooney. I didn’t really care for Normal People but thought I’d give this a chance because some people who didn’t like Normal People did like this one. And I did indeed prefer Intermezzo, but not as much as I’d hoped. A large part of the problem is that I disliked Peter, one of the POV characters. His self-pity, while realistic in its duration, grew old, and I didn’t care for his mean-spirited thoughts and comments about his brother Ivan, the second of the three main characters. I think Peter is meant to be unlikable, but I generally don’t prefer to read about unlikable main characters, even though I could empathize with him. However, I did like Ivan and generally found him a more interesting character.
Peter and Ivan are brothers who have recently lost their father to cancer. Peter is torn between an old love, who is still a dear friend, and a newer relationship with a younger woman. He seems to be a fairly successful lawyer, while the much younger Ivan has found his chess career stagnating. Ivan’s life changes when he begins dating an older woman, Margaret. The novel focuses on the inner experiences of Peter, Ivan, and Margaret.
Rooney uses a stream-of-consciousness writing style as the characters navigate their relationships with each other and the other people in their lives. She eschews the use of quotation marks in speech, at times making it challenging to determine whether a character actually said something or merely thought it, though this fits the overall style of the book. While her lack of quotations does irk me, the flow of the writing appealed to me. However, it’s notable that she tends to invert the syntax of a lot of her sentences, which did sometimes distract from the book.
Aside from the unusual but interesting prose, Rooney seems to excel at writing characters’ thoughts. I particularly liked the way the characters would think about how other people were thinking about and sometimes second-guessing what they said as they reflected on others’ overt and unknown reactions. As much as I didn’t care for the realness of Peter’s issues, I did really like how true to life this part was.
I’m happy I read the book, particularly because it was a buddy read with my husband, which was a fun experience. However, I didn’t like it as much as I’d hoped to, and combined with how I felt about Normal People, I think I’m going to be done with Sally Rooney. 3.5 stars rounded down.
CW for suicidal ideation