Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Published back in 2024, Intermezzo is Sally Rooney's most recent novel. Her previous books had been very popular, with Conversations with Friends and Normal People being made into series for Hulu, the latter starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Intermezzo is a New York Times Bestseller, a National Indie Bestseller, and an Amazon Editors' Pick for Best Literature and Fiction. It was in the running for the Post Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the DUBLIN Literary Award, as well as being named Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Vox, and The Guardian. It deals with cancer, thoughts of self harm, grief, and the death of a parent.

Peter and Ivan are brothers - but they couldn't be more different. Charismatic and confident Peter has made a name for himself as a lawyer in Dublin fighting for those that need help the most. But his love life is a mess. He's still in love with his ex-girlfriend who is still his best friend, and he suspects he's developing feelings for the younger party girl that he's been seeing. Things are only getting worse as he self medicates after the death of his father, but he just needs to sleep. Ivan, on the other hand, is a socially awkward loner younger brother whose life has revolved around the game of Chess. But since their father got sick, Ivan just can't play like he used to and his ratings is steadily dropping to the point where he doesn't even want to compete anymore. After agreeing to play an exhibition in a small town, he meets an older woman dealing with the ramifications of her last relationship and the two quickly become enmeshed in each other's lives. But Margaret is not sure that her reputation can stand a relationship with a much younger man.

This was such a beautiful story. I chose to listen to the audiobook, which was narrated by Éanna Hardwicke and was wonderfully done. A story of two brothers, each dealing with grief in their own way. Or not dealing with grief in their own way. We get to slowly discover as the story unfolds the complexities of their relationship not only to each other, but to the other people around them and to themselves. I loved it. Chess is a major topic of the book but you don't really have to understand how to play - some of the characters don't know either. The prose was lovely, the characters were easy to become attached to and very dimensional, the grief was real. A difficult story to talk about simply because it doesn't really feel like anything happened, but then again everything happened. And I loved the ending.

I'm giving Intermezzo by Sally Rooney 4.75 stars out of 5. Beautifully done and I'll definitely be looking at her other books.

For more from Sally Rooney, check out her Instagram @sallyrooneyofficial

Pairs well with tortellini and understanding how to defend the King's Gambit.

My favorite quote:

"To have a few times in life and no more. Still worth living for."