Intermezzo: A Novel

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!

A little damage to the spine but good quality. No ink spillage or creased pages. The paper is nice and thick. Floppy book.

If “no thoughts, just vibes-but-only-if-you-catch-it-at-exactly-the-right-phase-of-your-life” were a book, it would be Intermezzo. Rooney’s Intermezzo doesn’t so much tell a story as it breathes it - laying bare a narrative that is less about what happens and more about what lingers, aches, and pulses beneath the surface. After beautiful people, which unfortunately didn't do it for me, Rooney's writing sort of felt like the last thing I needed, but Intermezzo's blurb called out to me and I am glad I gave it a chance. At its centre, are two brothers, Ivan and Peter, trying to make sense of life after their father’s death. They hardly see each other and yet their connection, is felt in what’s left unsaid, in the distance between them and in their weight of shared childhood and history. Rooney avoids easy emotion and chooses to gravitate towards the quietness and apparent stillness of it. The narration doesn’t exactly shift fluidly between the brothers’ minds and you can feel the sharp divide. Peter’s sections are chaotic, his thoughts rushing at times and sometimes scattered, tangled in heartbreak and self-doubt. Ivan’s, on the other hand, are deliberate and steady, his tone and emotions carefully restrained, as if he’s offering pieces of himself to the world in measured doses, unsure how much he can afford to give away. Ronney adapts this narrative style to reflect who they are at their core - Peter, adrift in the wreckage of lost love and a crumbling sense of self, and Ivan, quietly grappling with uncertainty behind a façade of control, finding refuge in the calculated world of chess and the complexities of his relationship. Unlike stories of familial grief, where mourning unfolds linear, Intermezzo moves in a more fragmented, elliptical way. Ivan and Peter cross paths only occasionally, their sorrow running side by side, rarely intersecting yet it is manifested beneath their concealed lives. Intermezzo left me not with answers, rather it was a novel I lived within, if only briefly..

I am in a week of writing style of this book. In actuality the timeline described are about 6 months but the way she joins backstories, their past, relationship, dreams, future, aspirations etc is something I loved about the book. The language is simple and relatable. One could easily imagine in Peter or Ivan shoes. The book generates so many emotions that compels you to take deep breath and feel. The climax is so well writen, I was rooting for Peter and Ivans union and was waiting to feel that happy moment I have become a fan of the author and bought normal people

Rooney has beautifully conveyed the intricacies of being human.. of families we’re born into and those we make for ourselves.

Sally Rooney's skill in depicting emotion, confusion, yet hope is at its best in her latest novel Intermezzo. Two brothers, a decade apart in age, experience the stress of a “throuple” relationship loving two women simultaneously, balancing love with a sense of duty, while the younger brother falls into a romance with a woman fourteen years older. The dialogue is current, fragmented and real, illustrating the doubts of one brother and the expectation of social disapproval of the other. Add to this the overshadow of the recent death of the father, the consequent conflict between the two brothers, create an intriguing backdrop to the intermezzo between the scenes to its ultimate finale. Enjoyable, teasing and recommended.

Good quality,love it.