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Asmita

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Intermezzo

by Sally Rooney (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in January 2025

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Asmita said: " intermezzo is a feat of profound emotional acuity and boundary-pushing prose. the novel centers around a pair of brothers. there is a significant enough age gap there that they are constantly at odds with each other. they've recently lost their fathe intermezzo is a feat of profound emotional acuity and boundary-pushing prose. the novel centers around a pair of brothers. there is a significant enough age gap there that they are constantly at odds with each other. they've recently lost their father, and they're both reeling with grief. three women, each exceedingly different from the other, are tangled up in the brothers' affairs. the premise is simple, but the emotions involved are far from it.

the pov changes back and forth between the brothers and one of the women, spanning a length of a handful of weeks, two months at most. it does a lot of heavy lifting in terms of characterization as the older brother's pov runs in a choppy yet vivid stream of consciousness flow. the prose is distinctive and definitive for each of the pov characters, and within this structured framework, rooney somehow manages to explore almost the entire spectrum of the human emotions. rooney's prose is sure and refined, confident almost to a fault some may say. she writes with an inquisition that feels inherent, and hence, universally relatable. while both of these qualities are commendable on their own, it's the marriage of the two that allows her to produce something truly transcendent in this work. she deftly uncovers obscure thoughts and foibles that are /just/ out of the reach of our consciousness, bringing focus and clarity to realizations that would otherwise elude us. it's a puzzling yet gratifying read in that sense. she gives name to the undefined, meaning to the haphazard, and plays complex emotions like it's an instrument she has mastered to the highest order.

beautiful world remains my favorite rooney work as it was a life-changing reading experience. however, objectively speaking, i do think that she has, once again, outdone herself with intermezzo. without a doubt, it's her most emotionally complex work to date. microscopic in breadth yet universal in its depth. reading sally rooney's words is a privilege i don't take for granted. ...more "

Aug 08, 2025 12:45PM · see review