Rating: 4/5 stars

When the release of Sally Rooney’s fourth novel was announced back in February, fans of the highly beloved author could not stop talking about this book. 

Rooney has mentioned in interviews, and it is evident in her work that she is exploring this idea of relationships and their complexities and normalities. From “Normal People” to “Conversation With Friends”, her book’s themes typically center around romantic relationships, but the narrative is not romantic. Rooney explores how societal pressures and other relationships affect the character’s relationship to one another. 

Rooney explores these themes and more in “Intermezzo.” Following two brothers, Peter and Ivan, who have recently lost their father and the complication of brotherhood and romantic partners. Rooney has said she writes what she knows and as an Irish author, her characters are set in Ireland. 

“Intermezzo” feels like an experiment in Rooney’s work. Still stays close and familiar with the themes she likes to follow about relationships, but the writing style is a bit more complex and takes risks in telling the story. Talking in third person with no quotation marks, which is Rooney’s speciality, the narrative flips between Ivan and Peter. 

Usually, Rooney’s style stays consistent and has the same tone throughout her books, but in “Intermezzo”, Rooney flips from short-paced sentences with not much description when Peter’s narrative is present, to a more relaxed narrative when it is Ivan’s turn. 

The characters are truly what makes a Sally Rooney novel. Ivan, being this failed chess prodigy, who is often seen as odd, and Peter, who is a successful lawyer, both struggle in their relationships in different ways. Peter has complex relationships with two women, trying to understand where both stand in his life, and Ivan rarely dates but has found himself falling for a woman fourteen years older than him. The book follows this idea of age-gap relationships through Peter and Naomi’s relationship and Ivan and Margaret’s. 

Rooney is a Marxist and her novels reflect that in an interesting way. Instead of tackling big economic or political issues, Rooney again focuses on what she knows and demonstrates how class and money also bleed into relationship structures at the eye level. Peter often helps Naomi out financially because she is jobless and often sells images of herself online for money. At one point in the novel, Naomi is arrested and Peter lets her stay at his apartment. Exploring this dynamic, it is shown how this money struggle often can bleed into the relationship in small ways. Peter never holds this against Naomi, but this idea of money struggles is felt lingering between the two, often being brought up when Naomi needs money. 

Grief is shown quietly, usually by Ivan who seems to be closer to their father. The loss of their father makes Peter want to get closer to Ivan, but the two are very different and it feels complicated and real. Rooney’s writing does not exaggerate or romanticize these themes of sibling bonding, but it feels honest and does not sugarcoat the long issues and history the brothers have. Rooney writes grief beautifully and quietly, only mentioning the father in passing and shows the aftermath and reality of death. 

“Intermezzo” is a beautiful read and another excellent novel by Rooney. Her themes of grief and relationships are well-done, and through the characters, Rooney explores these ideas interestingly. 

Overall, “Intermezzo” is a powerful book about relationships and the normality and complexity of them that everyday people face.

Image by Kalpesh Lathigra for Penguin Random House