Emily May’s review of Intermezzo > Likes and Comments

Thank you for this thorough review, Emily!

Navel gazing exactly. These books give me a pain. Such unlikable characters, I cannot warm to Sally Rooney.

I always appreciate an honest review. I hate when book stores overhype books. Drives me crazy. I also don’t like boring 🤣

Hi Nikki,

One hundred percent agree. If a book is popular doesn't mean that it is good. Sorry not sorry.

Oh dear - this type of book is not my usual read and I was wondering whether to read it because so many reviewers I liked were saying how good it was. But in general I prefer books with lots of dramatic events :D

Sorry for being nosy, but is there a reason why you haven’t read Conversations with Friends?

daydreamer wrote: "Sorry for being nosy, but is there a reason why you haven’t read Conversations with Friends?"

Actually I picked it up from the library ages ago and read about one chapter. I found the style to be not as engaging as her later stuff, like maybe she was still working on it?

I agree! Why Margaret but not Naomi or Sylvia? Such an odd choice.

I am only at page 300ish but am devastated to find myself bored! This has never happened with her other books. Even BWWAY kept me glued to the pages.

I was swapping notes on a Sally Rooney book with a friend and we had pretty much formed the same opinions when we realised we were discussing different novels😂 I find that if you’ve read one of her books you’ve read them all

Aisha 🤣🤣

margaret felt like such a flat character. i couldnt understand her motivations. sylvia similarly flat

I feel as though the conflicts in the story were just all around not that developed or strong - the entire conflict of Margaret and Ivan's age gap wasn't that compelling and I just found that they were going back and forth about the same thing over and over (which Ivan even mentions to Margaret), but as a reader it fell flat and left the book feeling stunted

I almost put this one down part way through! I found it too dense. Very melancholy, and I found both brothers difficult to relate to. It was supposed to be examining grief and loss and yet I felt it didn’t do that particularly well. I don’t know. Still pondering it.

This is almost exactly what I thought, with the exception of me expecting obviously way too much of every Rooney's book.

I would also like to add that, while in her other books I never minded the absence of interpunction in the direct speech, here for the first time I was unsure on occasions about the characters and who says what.
Add to it those utterly unnecessary descriptions of everything and anything and this was kind of a dissapointment for me.

Still, Rooney's bad book is much better than any average novel, so I will keep on reading her stuff, but I must say that she is off the throne for me now. And I didn't want that to happen

My thoughts exactly

I listened to the audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it - the narrator did an excellent job and I was very engaged from beginning to end.

Thus us the first one I thought was any good, the others being dull exercises in human relationships. It’s getting slow now at page 300 but still interesting. I feel like her next or maybe next, next work will be damn good.

My thoughts exactly

100% agree! After wading through the emotional swamp for most of the box the ending felt completely disconnected

I read it recently, my first Rooney book, and wasn’t impressed. I was bored and couldn’t get into the characters. However, even the less favorable reviews I read on Intermezzo, indicate that reviewers usually enjoy her books. I’m keeping that in mind. Thanks for your review.

It was a DNF for me

You’ve put into words exactly what I thought of the book

This comment is exactly how I feel about all of Rooney’s books. I quit after two of her books cause I reached my “melancholy navel gazing” really early. I feel frustrated she’s so popular

Please answer if anyone has a clue: Why couldn't Sylvia have sex? Was it mental or physical?

Jan wrote: "Please answer if anyone has a clue: Why couldn't Sylvia have sex? Was it mental or physical?"

I believe it was physical. She was in pain from the accident.

I think Margaret had an inner voice because Ivan sees her as another human, whereas Peter just sees Sylvia and Naomi as objects for his own ends (hence they get no inner voice).

I feel exactly the same way!

This was a perfect summation of my feelings about this book!

I couldn’t agree more with you. Beautiful and precise review. Thank you for that!

„Im going to read whatever she writes next“ sums it up very nicely for me:)

I always come to goodreads to find a review that encapsulates how I felt about a book when I can’t quite put it into words. I’ve found it in this review.

100% agreed with everything written in this review, you’ve captured these feelings splendidly

Thanks, Emily. Just what I was I looking for in a review.

Excellent review. Pretty much sums up what I think about the book. Very nicely articulated

Couldn't agree more. I loved her other books but this one was a real slog to get through tbh

Agree with you - but not going to read her anymore. Way too long and for no good reasons.

Really agree with this review.

This is 100% how I felt about this book!!

💯

Well said

Hear hear sister

Ha! I just wrote a shorter but nearly identical 3 star review.

A well-written book but a real chore to get through. About half way through I started skimming it just to get to the end.

Very much a NOT favorite author…

agree 100%

Totally agree with you

I agree 100% with you

Thank you for the review. I agree with your statement Peter was too easily summed up. That was a bit of a let down. Other than that I think I felt as you did during my reading.

Totally agree it was hard for me to care about these characters