Sally Rooney is an Irish novelist. At the time of writing she's penned four novels, Intermezzo being the most recent.
In the novel two brothers, Peter and Ivan, grieve over their father's death from cancer. Peter is a barrister living in Dublin, while Ivan is a former chess prodigy living in Peter's shadow. As the story unfolds the two brothers come to terms with their father's absence, with Ivan's quest to become the first Irish Grandmaster being an oft-revisited thread throughout the narrative.
Sally Rooney's prose will remind you a lot of James Joyce, though unlike Joyce her stream-of-consciousness approach often wears out its welcome. I found it a bit unfortunate that she chose to quote Joyce in the novel, given that she's no James Joyce and Intermezzo is a far cry from Ulysses. Intermezzo isn't terrible, but in reminding the reader of a far better novel this one can only suffer by comparison.
In dramatic terms I was also disappointed by this book. The events it presents seem to be out of order, and they certainly don't add up to the big, life-changing moment that the author was aiming for. Giving us a clearer picture of the two brothers and their relationship in the beginning of the novel would have made for smoother sailing later on, and even now, having just finished it, I'm not sure that I completely understand who Peter is or what he's about. The (Catholic) guilt over a polyamorous affair I get, but I never got a sense of why he was so angry and troubled all the time, or why he was so dissatisfied with his life after the funeral.
There are critics who fawned over this book, and Sally Rooney has been hailed as both "one of the foremost millennial writers" and "one of the most influential people in the world." If you ask me Intermezzo is only a passable effort, leaning as it does on the work of a much better writer.
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