Since the release of the wildly popular television adaptation of her novel Normal People in 2020, author Sally Rooney’s books have been garnering obsessive attention from young people everywhere. Her three poignant past novels—two of which have been adapted into TV shows—captivated both international fans and those from Rooney’s home country of Ireland. Her latest novel, Intermezzo, was published on Sept. 24 and is already the fastest-selling book in Ireland this year, also reaching similar heights on U.K. and U.S. charts.
The story follows two brothers, Peter and Ivan, as they deal with the recent loss of their father and their complicated relationships with both women and each other. Peter is a successful lawyer who is emotionally detached from seemingly everyone in his life besides his ex-girlfriend, Sylvia, who remains a close friend despite breaking up with him after a tragic accident. He struggles to balance this relationship with his new, chaotic younger lover, Naomi.
Ivan is a socially awkward chess prodigy who fears that his talents are declining until he meets an older woman named Margaret at a chess tournament. They fall into a thorny relationship, plagued by Margaret’s age, marriage, and past. The tension between the women, the age gaps, the brothers, their careers, and the finishing touch of their father’s death make for a messy and evocative story.
As in her previous work, Rooney demonstrates her talent for balancing such complicated characters and plotlines with immense grace. For many authors, the act of writing can seem like a limiting form of media, as it necessitates simplifying the intricacies of real life into a digestible story. It is a near-impossible task to thoroughly explore every angle of every character needed to understand their complete reality, which is typically far more multidimensional than stories allow. However, Rooney has always masterfully fought against this; she allows her characters to be flawed and elaborate, without making her writing too decorative or wordy. This level of honesty and realism is what resonates with so many readers and is the common thread running through all of Rooney’s work.
Unlike her previous novels, however, Intermezzo prominently features the theme of existentialism. Peter’s troubles with drug use and sleeping echo the nihilism of Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, which attracted a similar fanbase of young people grappling to find meaning in a cynical world. Nearly every other character in Intermezzo has a moment in which they seem to question their entire existence. Rooney’s trademark choppy sentences, which are even more exaggerated in Intermezzo than in her previous works, add to this feeling of a fast-paced and almost hollow reality. This existential tone is more intense than it has been in her past books, potentially reflecting a society that is becoming increasingly hard to navigate and extract meaning from. However, it is carefully balanced with comforting moments of peace and strong emotion, usually occurring in intimate scenes between lovers.
This stark contrast between existentialism and sentimentality pushes readers through scenes that deal with difficult topics in hopes that there will be another moment of joy and love. Rooney never disappoints; although her work can be described as existential and painfully realistic, it is nevertheless hopeful and ultimately optimistic.
Throughout the novel, Rooney develops a sense that life, even one that is subpar in most aspects, is still worth living because of its special moments. She boldly trumpets that love, be it romantic, platonic, or familial, is what gives meaning to a nonsensical world. Her characters agree; after sharing an intimate moment with Sylvia, the cynical Peter thinks to himself that “To love just these few people, to know myself capable of that, I would suffer every day of my life.” This powerful theme alone makes Intermezzo worth the read.
Intermezzo was published on Sept. 24 and is now available for purchase.
