At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers – one they are determined to conceal.

A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.

Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.

I was late getting aboard the Sally Rooney train and didn’t read my first novel by her until late last year when I picked up “Intermezzo”. I’ve had this book for a couple of years and finally decided to give it a go. I am so happy that I did. I’ve been wanting to watch the Hulu series based on the book, but I always like to read the book first to decide whether it’s worth the time commitment of a whole series, and I can happily say that this one is.

In a nutshell, this is a quiet yet deeply affecting story about two young people whose relationship shifts and evolves over the years as they struggle to understand both themselves and each other. The characters really grew on me and will stick with me for a while.

The novel follows Connell and Marianne, two teenagers from a small town in Ireland who come from vastly different social backgrounds. Connell is well-liked and popular, the kind of person who easily fits in at school. Marianne, on the other hand, is an outsider – wealthy yet isolated, intelligent but socially disconnected. Their connection begins in secret, with an intense yet fragile relationship that is largely shaped by Connell’s shame and fear of judgment by his peers.

When they both move to Dublin to attend Trinity College, their roles shift. Marianne thrives in her new environment, falling in with an intellectual and affluent crowd, while Connell, who struggles with his working-class background and sense of belonging, finds himself on the fringes. Over the years, their relationship ebbs and flows, constantly pulling them back together, even as they hurt and misunderstand one another in ways that feel deeply human.

Rooney has an uncanny ability to capture the nuances of her characters in ways that make them feel deeply relatable. I fell in love with both Connell and Marianne. They are flawed, often frustrating, but incredibly real. They are so complex and vulnerable that I felt like I knew them. Watching them navigate love, self-worth, and the changing tides of their relationship was both heartbreaking and beautiful. The way they continually return to each other and in some way save each other – even when life has worn them down – speaks to the deep, unbreakable bond they share.

What I really appreciated about this book was that even though it may feel like one at times, this is not a conventional love story; instead, it’s an exploration of how two people can love each other deeply and still struggle to get it right. Their miscommunications are frustrating yet realistic, and it’s heartbreaking to watch how often they fail to say what they truly mean. I couldn’t help but wonder how much pain they could have avoided if they’d just stopped assuming and actually communicated.

I will admit that when I first finished the book, I had a moment of thinking, ‘That’s it?’ The ending is open-ended, offering no definitive resolution, but the more I sat with it, the more I appreciated its subtle perfection. It’s not a neatly wrapped-up love story, but it leaves readers with a sense of hope that Connell and Marianne will continue to grow and find their way back to each other and that life will carry them forward and leave them exactly where they need to be.

The only reason I didn’t give this book a full five-star rating is because Rooney – for whatever reason – refuses to use quotation marks in her novels. I don’t need to beat this dead horse, but I seriously hate this and refuse to give any novel – no matter how much I love it – a full five stars if the author refuses to utilize proper grammar. It’s no longer avant-garde and comes across as nothing more than pretentious. End rant.

In the end, I really enjoyed this one. It captures the messiness of human relationships with aching honesty and precision. Marianne and Connell are characters I can see myself thinking of often. If you love introspective, character-driven stories that explore love in all its complexity, this book is an absolute must-read. And yes, I will definitely be watching the Hulu series now.

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