Intermezzo | Sally Rooney

Once again, Sally Rooney's latest novel, Intermezzo, shows off her magical ability to excavate the complexities of human relationships. She weaves a tapestry of intimacy, longing, grief, love and the inescapable pull and desire for connection.

In this book, the protagonists are 2 brothers, Ivan and Peter. Ivan is 10 years younger that Peter and is a chess genius. Slightly socially awkward, on a trip to play a chess tournament he meets Margaret, a women the same age as Peter and the couple fall in love. Peter is a lawyer and is in a complicated three-way relationship with his ex-girlfriend and love of his life, Sylvia, and another young woman, closer to Ivan's age, Naomi. Both women know about the other and towards the end of the book, the throuple have found something close to the perfect arrangement between them all.

True to Rooney's signature style, the novel's dialogue is authentic, revealing layers of emotion through subtle exchanges. Each conversation and inner monologue is charged with unspoken truths and fears, simmering with tension. She manages to expertly craft characters who are achingly real. They have flaws and insecurities that are universal to us all. They struggle with identity, love, self-worth, grief and desire, in a rhythm that is organic.

Each word is deliberately chosen by Rooney, capturing the weight and poignancy of fleeting moments, in a way that no other writer I have read can match. Like all of her other books, Intermezzo will linger in your mind long after you've turned the final page.