Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney , is a poignant exploration of the complexities of family relationships and personal identity, framed within the context of grief and love. The story follows two brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek, who, despite sharing blood, lead strikingly different lives.
Book Summary Contents
- 1 Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Book Details
- 2 Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Book Statistics
- 3 Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Quotes
- 4 Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Table Of Contents
- 5 Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Book Summary
- 6 About the Author: Sally Rooney
- 7 Get Your Copy Of The Book: Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney
Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Book Details
| Publisher | Language | Format | Pages | ISBN-10 | ISBN-13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farrar, Straus and Giroux | English | Hardcover | 464 | 0374602638 | 978-0374602635 |
Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Book Statistics
Staistics of the 4th week of september :
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Release Date: September 24, 2024
- Hardcover Pages: 464 pages
- ISBN-10: 0374602638
- ISBN-13: 978-0374602635
- Best Sellers Rank:
- #14 in Books
- #2 in Literary Fiction
- #3 in Coming of Age Fiction
- #4 in Family Life Fiction
- Customer Reviews: 4.2 out of 5 stars (88 ratings)
- Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Romance, Ireland, Adult Fiction
- Goodreads Rating: 4.3 out of 5 (2,048 ratings)
- Notable Recognition: #1 New Release in Coming of Age Fiction
Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Quotes
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He doesn’t want after all for others to be poor, doesn’t even want to be rich. No. He only wants what he has always wanted: to be right, to be once and for all proven right.
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There is more to life than great chess. Okay, great chess is still a part of life, and it can be a very big part, very intense, satisfying, and pleasant to dwell on in the mind’s eye: but nonetheless, life contains many things. Life itself, he thinks, every moment of life, is as precious and beautiful as any game of chess ever played, if only you know how to live.
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Doesn’t the feeling between people have a truth of its own? Not in the sense of formal propositional truth-value, no. But then why does that word, ‘truth,’ have a certain sensation to it, which is not exhausted by the formal definition?
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For Peter, social systems are never confusing, always transparent, and usually manipulable to his own ends. He is someone who not only knows a vast number of people, but through knowing them can somehow make them do things he wants them to do.
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Peter naturally unable to be thirsty on main, he has a career to think about.
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It doesn’t always work, but I do my best. See what happens. Go on in any case living.
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Yes I would like he thinks to live in such a way that I could vanish into thin air at any time without affecting anyone and in fact I feel that for me this would constitute the perfect and perhaps the only acceptable life. At the same time I want desperately to be loved.
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what if life is just a collection of essentially unrelated experiences? Why does one thing have to follow meaningfully from another?
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Yes, the world makes room for goodness and decency, he thinks: and the task of life is to show goodness to others, not to complain about their failings.
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Sometimes you need people to be perfect and they can’t be and you hate them forever for not being even though it isn’t their fault and it’s not yours either. You just needed something they didn’t have in them to give you.
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Yes, the world makes room for goodness and decency, he thinks: and the task of life is to show goodness to others, not to complain about their failings.
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But it is a pleasure, isn’t it, on a crisp September night in Dublin to walk with long free strides along a quiet street. In the prime of his life. Incumbent on him now to enjoy such fleeting pleasures. Next minute might die. Happens every day to someone.
Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Table Of Contents
- Copyright Notice
- Epigraph
- Part One
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Part Two
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Notes
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Sally Rooney
- A Note About the Author
- Sign-up
- Copyright
Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Book Summary
Peter, who is in his thirties, is a thriving lawyer in Dublin and appears to have everything under control.However, he is struggling with deep emotional distress after his father’s recent passing.
Balancing his life is made challenging by his involvement with two uniquely different women: Sylvia, his committed partner, and Naomi, a carefree college student who views life nonchalantly and finds humor in everything. While dealing with sleeplessness and feeling lost, Peter has to face the truth of his father not being there and how it has affected him.
On the other hand, Ivan, a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player, is socially awkward and has always felt overshadowed by Peter. After their father’s passing, Ivan encounters Margaret, an elderly woman with her own intricate past. Their bond results in a profound and life-changing connection that makes Ivan reconsider his self-image and his position in the world.
The book is divided into three parts, giving readers the opportunity to explore the emotional journeys of the two brothers as they cope with their sorrow in varying ways. Exploring themes of love, loss, and the challenges of progressing in a changed world, the narrative delves into characters facing their past and societal pressures.
Throughout Intermezzo, Rooney consistently blends incisive reflections on contemporary life, wit, and instances of unguarded sincerity in her distinctive writing style. The storyline prompts deep reflection on the essence of family connections and the decisions we make when faced with love and tragedy.
The travels of the brothers ultimately show how interconnected lives are, and how, despite their differences, they need to support each other in their search for comprehension and recovery.
In essence, Intermezzo is not just a story about two brothers; it’s an exploration of what it means to navigate the intricate tapestry of human relationships, especially in the face of grief. It invites readers to reflect on their own lives and the connections that shape them, making it a resonant addition to Rooney’s already impressive body of work.
Intermezzo A Novel by Sally Rooney Raves and Reviews
“Wise, resonant and witty . . . There is so much restraint and melancholy profundity in her prose that when she allows the flood gates to open, the parched reader is willing to be swept out to sea . . . Rooney has an exquisite perceptiveness and a zest for keeping us reading . . . Intermezzo wears its heart on its sleeve.”
―Dwight Garner, The New York Times
“The formal experiments are never idle but always at the service of a desire for emotional precision, for a more satisfactory rendering of the boundless complexity of the inner life . . . It is no small part of Rooney’s achievement in her latest novel that she portrays physical desire with tact and tenderness, without giving in to soft-focus sentimentalism . . . This bold, adventurous and captivating novel is a major addition to a body of work that never fails to surprise and engage.”
―Michael Cronin, The Irish Times
“Intermezzo is exquisite . . . It’s as tender and lovely as you could ask for, and beneath the elegant rise and fall of Rooney’s oceanic sentences, the waters go deep.”
―Constance Grady, Vox
“Intermezzo is perfect―truly wonderful―a tender, funny page-turner about the derangements of grief, and Rooney’s richest treatment yet of messy romantic entanglements . . . She leans fully into her gifts here: more characters, more complication, ‘more life,’ as Margaret thinks . . . Is there a better novelist at work right now?”
―Anthony Cummins, The Observer
“That divide between what you believe and how you behave is one of the great themes of Intermezzo . . . This is new and deeper territory for Rooney . . . Intermezzo is in many ways a more truthful book . . . The work of an artist who is continually trying out new techniques and continually growing.”
―Laura Miller, Slate
“[Rooney’s] most mature and moving book to date . . . I read it in a state of rapture―and relief. By rediscovering what the one thing the novel uniquely excels at―inwardness―Rooney shows she can tune into her characters’ thoughts and catch them in the act of realising important things about themselves. Her work is much better for it.”
―Johanna Thomas-Corr, The Sunday Times
“Something big has shifted here . . . [Rooney] has also set out to probe something deeper and more enduring, more universally human: grief itself . . . The way she supplies tidy closure, even as she subverts it, is a testament to her skill as a novelist.”
―Amy Weiss-Meyer, The Atlantic
“Intermezzo reaffirms Rooney’s ability to capture the thrill and desperation of blooming romance, and to portray a microcosm of human existence with precision and insight.”
―Michelle Cyca, The Globe and Mail
About the Author: Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney, born in 1991 in western Ireland, is a prominent author known for her sharp, insightful writing. Her work has been featured in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta, and The London Review of Books. In 2017, she won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, which recognized her emerging talent in contemporary literature. Rooney is the acclaimed author of Conversations with Friends and also serves as the editor for the Irish literary journal The Stinging Fly.
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