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I loved Normal People and seems like everything I read from Sally Rooney after that just fell flat. Highly unlikeable characters, ok plot. I didn’t hold my breath for Intermezzo, but wow. Might be her best book yet. She writes the way I think about things, which can always be jarring when you’re starting one of her books, but eventually it feels like she’s in your head, transcribing your thoughts as you look around the made up world she creates.
I find it hard to relate to male characters, but she finds the humanity in everyone and I was tearing up towards the end.
I feel like she’s been getting tons of criticism lately for writing “boring” stories, people saying they DNFd her books, but I devoured Intermezzo.
Jan 4, 2025
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im sure I’m the first person to like a Sally Rooney book. But anyway I just read the new one and it’s her best yet. the characters are so real and developed and lovable, and the whole thing was a joy to read. Sorry!
Oct 6, 2024
After a highly anticipated wait I finally received my copy from the library this morning. I’m already 4 chapters in—couldn’t stop reading—and it’s spectacular. Easily her best book since Normal People, if not better. As always Rooney’s characters are complex and flawed, but that’s what makes them loveable. I like how she writes Peter’s prose in the style of James Joyce—it reads like Ulysses.
Next up: Boulder, The Parisian, and Borders, Human Itineraries and All Our Relation.
Nov 10, 2024
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A very popular book, but if you havent read it yet... I recommend it.
Devoured it in a few hours first time I read it. The way the characters view relationships is very in line with my own. To the point where since reading it I have a relationship with a similar dynamic since (don't know if I recommend that). The point of the book, to me, has always been to showcase the difference forms love can take on, even when the feelings are unchanging.
Other than that Sally Rooney is just a really good writer, is tapped into interesting discourses which she weaves into her stories, and she knows how to make a character problematic in ways that feel relatable and honest instead of foreign or scary. + i just really like stories about 20-something-year-olds being themselves, figuring shit out without much plot holding it together.
My best friend gave it a 1/5 stars on Goodreads bc she thought everyone was boring and whiny sooo like.. it's not for everyone maybe.
May 18, 2025
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I really hate when people say “you should watch this, it’s so good”. Maybe it’s my natural oppositional defiance at play, but any time something gets hyped up, I want nothing to do with it.
So I just finished watching Challengers, and yeah. It lives up to the hype. But I’m glad I came to that conclusion in my own terms, makes it easier to see a piece of work for what it is, without the influence of too many opinions.
Jan 15, 2025
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Is when someone sends you a song they think you would like and they actually get it right, and then it goes into heavy rotation, and every time you listen to it, it makes you think about how they were thinking about you, and it’s like a tiny little love letter from the universe, letting you know that in one split second in time, you were in someone’s thoughts
Jan 23, 2025
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