The Perks Of Being A Book Addict discussion

One of our November 2024 Book of the Month is Intermezzo by Sally Rooney



An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family, from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.

Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.

Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.

For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.

Looking forward to it

I’ve started now and I am very curious about how this will be, anyone else started already?

i’m about 100 pages in, & I went into this blind….

first impressions:
-stream of consciousness so that took me a second to find my rhythm
-Ivan is labeled as the ‘weirdo’ who doesn’t fit in but it’s very obvious that Peter is the one struggling with coming to terms with where he is in life.
-a few reoccurring themes already popping up: M & Ivan being in the same ‘camp,’ Peter’s seemingly random religious reference drops.
-i ship Margaret and Ivan
-Naomi interests me, not for peter but as a character herself

I am also around those pages and I have the same feeling! In the beginning it was a bit hard to get into “Peter” as I find him way more confusing than Ivan. I am curious in which direction the book is going

I am finally about to start this. Very excited!

I have now gotten through the first two chapters. All I can say is that both, despite their potential differences, have some crazy ways of coping with grief. Then again, when my mom died, I found myself doing all that I could to not have to be alone, even hanging around in a bar just to be around people.

Hannah wrote: "i’m about 100 pages in, & I went into this blind….

first impressions:
-stream of consciousness so that took me a second to find my rhythm
-Ivan is labeled as the ‘weirdo’ who doesn’t fit in but ..."

Agreed: Reading chapter one, I had to reread a couple of times to totally grasp it. Jury is still out, however, if Ivan really is on the spectrum or if it was just some snide remark on his brother's part. This could be; I am on the spectrum and can already kinda relate to the latter.

Okay I am now in chapter 7; it’s my days off and I spend most of my free time reading.

I get the idea that Peter thinks he’s god’s gift to women. But he really is not, but he has kinda the savior complex…which is definitely personified by his relationship with Naomi.

Ivan, on the other hand, has just spent most of his life being ridiculed, bullied and told he is nothing, that he gets especially excited when someone not only gives him the time of day…but actually cares about him.

Also…omg…there are a lot more naughty scenes than I would have thought. Not a bad thing…but geez!

I’ve finished it now, I have to think about it and am curious what you all think

okay so i just started part 3, chapter 14.

now that i have a better understanding of the writing style, im in love with the imagery in this book. love love love the way sally used all of your senses as a reader to help describe where characters are and how they are feeling.

it’s very interesting how there is an intense ‘this is different’ feeling within all the relationships portrayed.
Peter = hurt people, hurt people. i’ve cried over Sylvia and the breakdown of her life and how it’s affected those around her. i’m sick to my stomach over Naomi not letting Peter let her go.
i’m angry over Peter’s reaction to Ivan opening up about Margaret when that’s exactly what he’s doing to Naomi [and he knows it? 🚩okay self aware king]
I’m also annoyed with how triggered Ivan was with Peter. especially since he’s willing to dole sympathy out to his mom.
BUT i’m super stoked that Ivan has his dog back.
I’m really hoping Margaret gets her ‘break,’ she needs to let go and open up to living her life!!

all in all, sally has got me feeling some FEELINGS right now.
i want to try and finish this by the end of the weekend 😊🩵

I am 85 percent through. It still makes me soooo mad that Peter has still not atoned for mocking Ivan, calling him socially inept. But still sees nothing wrong with how he is involved with Naomi but his brother has Margaret.

Also, I cannot stand their mother! But I have a feeling that Ivan and Naomi could possibly be friends. We shall see.

Hannah wrote: "okay so i just started part 3, chapter 14.

now that i have a better understanding of the writing style, im in love with the imagery in this book. love love love the way sally used all of your sen..."

I have a day off coming up. I am thinking I will. It is getting that good! It did take me a bit to get used to the writing style, however.

A thought. Peter reminds me of my big sister...a lot. Her and my mom were always at each other's throats. They had countless blow outs and it was always all she did wrong. But then our mom died and she was acting like some kind of wounded bird that was devastated by it all. I see Peter doing that, using this grief as leverage for everything that people question.

Just finished it. I gave it five stars; it was quite emotional at the end and I thought the resolution all around was really good. I have other thoughts, too.

(view spoiler)[I have a bit of mixed feelings of what Sylvia suggested of how Peter stays involved with both her and Naomi. I mean, it is definitely obvious that he loves both of them truly, but it does seem a little bit, well, easy how it all resolved.

I do think that this did help Peter realize, however, that there would be serious ramifications if he lost the most important things in his life. That is, with their mom just about out of the picture and off with her new life with the family of their step dad, he realizes that Ivan is the only real family he has left.

Despite everything else, however, I was still kinda surprised that Peter never joined in with their mother, haranguing Ivan to get a "real job." If that had been the case, the lack of true support that caused Ivan to never be too close to their mom, accepting of Peter's atonement never would have happened. (hide spoiler)]

All in all, really good. Looking forward to our next pick.

I've had to give up. I hate the writing style. I've tried it on a couple of dozen occasions, and the style grates on me. I didn't like Normal People either, so clearly, I'm not in tune with Rooney's style.

@Dee totally agree with you. The writing style was not for me. I really really wanted to like the story!

Jamie wrote: "@Dee totally agree with you. The writing style was not for me. I really really wanted to like the story!"

I did finish it. But, to be completely honest, there were a few times where I had to reread stuff to make sure I was reading it correctly...or making sure it was who I thought it was speaking. It really bugged me, to no end, that there were literally no quotation marks.

Is this how Rooney writes her other books?

@ Travis YES

Like you all said, I think it’s just not 100% nine. I have read all her books and of course they make sense to a certain extent but I don’t like the style or the feeling that’s being conveyed (in all of them I find the people highly unsympathetic)…..