Wow what a sad Rooney!!!!! Grief and siblinghood and neurodivergence. Probably will stay with me compared to some of her earlier work.

(Thanks to @fsgbooks #gifted.) 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗭𝗭𝗢 was one of my most highly anticipated books this year and it did not disappoint! This is a complex story centered around two brothers grieving their father’s recent death. Ivan, 22, is a chess prodigy who was a little lost even before his father died. Peter, 10 years older, is a lawyer. His life looks stable at first glance, but in reality his issues are more complicated than his brother’s. For years, the two have drifted apart, and in their grief, they push each other even further away.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Rooney’s writing style may require patience from some readers, so be aware. Alternating between the brothers’ perspectives, Ivan’s chapters are relatively easy to read, with a more traditional structure. Peter’s can be challenging as they verge on stream of consciousness. His chapters’ sentences can be choppy and quotation marks are never used. Further, conversations take place within larger paragraphs. You’ll also be left with questions. None of that bothered me. I quickly grew comfortable with the style and saw it as an element of each brother and what they were going through. I let my questions go.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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What about 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘻𝘻𝘰 so won me over? It’s a beautifully-told, deeply-layered story of love. There’s the grief-tinged love Ivan and Peter each have for their father, yet struggle to share. They’re both involved in unusual relationships that take up a lot of space in their heads and hearts. But most of all, this was a story of the strained love between two brothers, something we don’t see very often in literature. The ending was perfection and I found myself impressed with the tenderness Sally Rooney brought to these men.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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“In the weeks since his father died Ivan has not heard these words from anyone, I love you, or said them to anyone either. Does this explain his intense longing to hear and say them again, to relieve the pressure of this confined force inside his body?”

As my first Sally Rooney book, I totally understand why her writing is relatively divisive. I'm not sure that her writing is for me, but the premise of the book is really fascinating.

Incredibly heavy, full of Rooney's signature introspection and anxiety. Interesting to hear her write solely from a male perspective. Plot wise, it often felt plodding, but I was invested in seeing it till the end.