Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
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 intertwined.
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.
Review: Peter and Ivan Koubek are brothers struggling to navigate their lives and relationship in the aftermath of their father's death. Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player and has always felt socially awkward. In the weeks after his father's death, he meets Margaret, an older woman recovering from an unhealthy marriage, and they quickly become deeply connected. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties who is juggling two relationships: one with a very young college student named Naomi who he helps support financially and other Sylvia, his first and enduring love, who only ended their relationship in the wake of a horrific accident that left her permanently physically incapacitated.
Sally Rooney does such an excellent job of honing in on the dynamics of interpersonal relationships between her characters. Hers are not plot heavy books, but instead focus intimately on the interplay between the characters. I do grow weary of how sad her characters are! There is a lot of suicidal ideation in one of the characters in this book, in particular. It was also so tragic to see how desperately, deep down, the brothers cared for one another and wanted to connect, but yet somehow seemed unable to verbalize their feelings in a way that would have made themselves understood by the other. They do have more in common than they realize: most notably, they are both engaged in relationships that aren't considered societally acceptable.
I did take issue with the dynamics of Peter and his two love interests. I am not especially concerned with the morality of a three-way relationship. But I am interested in what led Peter to this moment. The characters make it clear that Sylvia broke things off with Peter because she is unable to have a physical relationship with him in the wake of her accident. Despite clearly never moving on and both still loving each other deeply, she remains steadfast that she cannot/will not be with Peter and let him "sacrifice" that for her. There are things left unsaid, details the reader never learns, but it was quite a statement to argue that she wasn't worthy of being loved or being in a traditional relationship with Peter if she couldn't have penetrative sex. This bothered me deeply. I think Peter's actions make it clear that he doesn't feel this way, but I also wish he had said this explicitly to her, even if Sylvia had not changed her mind.
I also wondered what the long-term prognosis was for a three-way relationship, especially considering how young Naomi is and how she seems to mostly be bonded with Peter financially. Of course, the same can be said for Ivan and Margaret. Margaret is very insistent that there is unlikely to be a long-term relationship and doesn't seem a future with him due to their age difference. This is left up in the air as the novel concludes. I suppose this will all play out with time, after the last page, but I guess as a reader I wanted a little bit more, instead of an ambiguous ending that left everyone happy and satisfied with the status quo.
I did love this book. The characters are dealing with complex issues and relationship dynamics and are imperfect people. It felt gritty and raw. I loved Ivan. He is so sweet and earnest and so eager to please Margaret.
I listened to the audiobook version of this and thought actor Eanna Hardwicke did an outstanding job bringing the book to life. Loved his voice and the nuance he brought to the characters' dialogue.
Stars: 4.5
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