Intermezzo
ABOUT
THE BOOK
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. 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.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
One of the most popular Fiction titles amongst our borrowers since release. A truly wonderful novel and a funny page-turner about the derangements of grief. The theme of grief has supported our further work within our libraries. (Redbridge Central Library)
Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo is a masterclass in emotional precision and literary innovation, offering library readers a deeply resonant exploration of grief, love, and family bonds. Our readers have embraced Intermezzo not only for its compelling character studies but for its quiet bravery: Rooney writes about male vulnerability, fractured siblinghood, and the limitations of language with a tenderness that invites reflection and empathy. The novel’s alternating narrative styles, Peter’s introspective, almost Joycean passages, and Ivan’s crisp prose, mirror the emotional distance between the brothers, making the reading experience both intellectually rich and emotionally immersive. Already recognized with the numerous awards, Intermezzo has become one of the very few “prize” books that has been extremely popular with our readers and has found a cherished place on our shelves as well as in the hearts of readers who seek fiction that challenges, consoles, and connects. For its literary merit, cultural relevance, and profound emotional insight, Intermezzo deserves serious consideration for further accolades. Rooney has not only evolved as a writer but has redefined the emotional terrain of contemporary fiction. (Liverpool Libraries and Information Service)