Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney: Conventionality is for Suckers

Early in Sally Rooney's new novel, Intermezzo, a character who at that point, we're not sure whether we like or not, has the following thought: "Plain, unappealing people are by no means exempt from the experience of strong passion." That seemed unnecessarily mean -- like, obvious to the point that it goes without saying. Which made me immediately think, "Wow, I'm really going to hate this book. But bad books are by no means exempt from strong passions about them." 😜

So it was with no small degree of trepidation that I continued on with my third foray into the Rooneyverse. Having really liked Normal People and intensely disliked Beautiful World, Where Are You, this novel would be my personal Sally Rooney tiebreaker. I'd put it off for quite a while, but when the end of the year best-of lists started coming out, and everyone from Barack Obama to Rebecca Schinksy at Book Riot (as an Honorable Mention) included it on their lists, I decided to give it a go. 

The verdict?  

Good Rooney 2, Bad Rooney 1. I loved this! I can't believe I just typed that, but I'm doing so with a clear conscience. Intermezzo is really, really good. It's wise, it's exceedingly well-written, and it's just downright entertaining.

The story is about two Irish brothers, Ivan 22, a chess player, and Peter, 32, a successful lawyer. Both are mourning the recent death of their father. Both become involved in exceedingly complicated love connections, and these relationships also complicate the already complicated relationship with each other. Yes, if you like a whole bunch of friction, tension, and conflict (and complication!), this is the novel for you. It's no accident, I'm sure, the characters have "Russian" names, including a dog named Alexei -- this has all the existential crisis vibes of the Russian masters.

Intermezzo is successful, I think, because of how Rooney deals with the notion of convention. In this novel, conventionality is in the eye of the beholder, and the point is that no one should care what the beholder thinks. Ivan is dating a 36-year-old woman who is separated but not divorced from her alcoholic husband and Peter is dating a much younger woman, in addition to still carrying the torch for an ex-girlfriend who had a horrific accident. These relationships shouldn't work, notably because everyone in proximity to them looks down their noses at them. But will they work? Why will they work or not? That's why we continue to read, to see how Rooney continues to juggle all this juicy conflict. 

Rooney is often judged harshly because of her popularity -- if it's popular, it can't be good, some say. But this is, actually. Really, really good. 

New Dork Review's Most Anticipated Books of 2025

Last week, we looked back on the bookish year that was. This week, let's look ahead. Here are 13 books I can't wait to read in 2025. 

Before we get to the list, let's quickly talk about preorders (sorry if you've heard this soapbox speech from me before), because we all have a vested interest in writers and books being successful. Preorders are absolutely crucial for the success of a book. A robust preorder number tells the publisher there's a lot of interest in and buzz around a book, and is therefore worthy of marketing dollars. So if any of these books strike your fancy, smash that link and preorder. (All the links below are affiliate links for Bookshop.org, so using those links to order not only supports indie bookstores, but also me!)  

The Heart of Winter, by Jonathan Evison (January 7) -- I've already read this book and I can faithfully report that it's freakin' AMAZING. You already know I'm a huge Evison fan, and this may actually be his best novel yet.

Good Dirt, by Charmaine Wilkerson (January 28) -- The author of Black Cake returns with another "multi-generational epic" about family secrets, past trauma, and seemingly much more. I loved Black Cake an

The Forty-Year Kiss, by Nickolas Butler (February 4) -- Between Evison's book and this one, friends, we're living in a golden age of geriatric romance novels. (That was a sentence so preposterously funny for me to write, I need to take 5 minutes now to compose myself.....Okay. There we go. Back to the post.) Butler's new novel tells the story of a rekindled romance 40 years after the first spark. Butler is one of my all-time favorite writers, and I'll follow him anywhere.

The Dream Hotel, Laila Lalami (March 4) -- Do you want to hear my Laila Lalami story? As usual, it involves me being awkward around brilliant writers. So I was supposed to introduce her before a class she was teaching for StoryStudio. I practiced her name all day, and of course then, when the time came, I said something like, "and with that, I'll turn it over to our instructor, Laila Lamamamalani." She was very nice about it. I'm an idiot. And the world spins on. Anyway...Lalami's follow up to her AMAZING novel The Other Americans is a dystopian story in a future America where dreams are under surveillance. 

Dream Count, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (March 4) -- I learned about this book while I was in a coffee shop and gasped so loudly, I drew concerned glances from people me around me. It's been 10 years since Adichie's last novel Americanah, which is one of my favorite books ever. This is, for my money, THE publishing event of 2025.

Theft, by Abdulrazak Gurnah (March 18) -- When a living Nobel Laureate publishes something new, you read it. This is Gurnah's first novel since he was awarded the Nobel for Literature in 2021.

The Savage Noble Death of Babs Dionne, by Ron Currie (March 25) -- Speaking of writers I love, but who haven't published in a minute, Currie returns with his first novel since 2018's The One-Eyed Man. Currie is also the author Everything Matters! and Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles, both of which are tremendous. 

Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life, by Maggie Smith (April 1) -- Poet, novelist, memoirist, and essayist (she's just a really good writer!) Maggie Smith will publish a craft book in 2025, and if you're a writer who has read your Bird by Bird and On Writing and looking for something new, this is it. 

Rabbit Moon, by Jennifer Haigh (April 8) -- The author of the criminally underrated novels, Mercy Street, Faith, and Heat and Light (among several others) is now a must-read writer for me whenever she publishes. Her new novel is a psychological thriller about a family dealing with an accident in Shanghai. Yes, please! 

Home of the American Circus, by Allison Larkin (May 6) -- Not gonna lie, I've handsold Larkin's last novel The People We Keep approximately 304 times to customers who come into the bookstore and "just want something good to read." Having now read some of Larkin's backlist, too, I can confirm that that novel was not a one-hit wonder. She's an amazingly astute writer, and I can't wait for this new one!  

Mark Twain, by Ron Chernow (May 13) -- Are we really going to read a 1,200-page biography of Twain written by the Hamilton guy? Strong maybe. I'm definitely not ruling it out.  

Flashlight, by Susan Choi (June 3) -- This is Choi's first novel since her National Book Award-winning story of arts school kids, Trust Exercise. I got meet Choi in September, and she's so lovely, and she had plenty of inside info about this literary thriller centers on the disappearance of a father.

So Far Gone, by Jess Walter (June 10) -- So in 2025, we'll have new novels from Jonathan Evison, Nickolas Butler, Ron Currie, and now Jess Walter?! It's an absolute banner year for Middle-Aged White Writers Beloved by Greg Zimmerman. Can someone get Jonathan Tropper on the horn?

(If you're wondering why there are 13 books on this list, but only 12 covers, it's because So Far Gone doesn't have an officially revealed cover yet. Now you can sleep tonight.)

The New Dork Review Best Books of 2024

What a year, man! I wrote, I read, I ran. I wrote 25,000 words on a book project and finished two short stories, I read more than 60 books (which is a light year quantity wise, but readers don't count, and counters don't read, right? Right.), and I stupidly ran three marathons (never doing that many again).

But what matters is the books. Always the books. Here are my 10 favorites of the year. 

James, by Percival Everett -- Let's just get this one out of the way, because yeah, of course the National Book Award (and likely 2025 Pulitzer) winner is a best book of the year. Between this novel and the movie American Fiction (based on Everett's novel Erasure), this year will certainly be remembered as Everett's break-out. Dude had published nearly 20 novels over 30 years prior to this year. He's always had a small and very loyal fan base, but in 2024, he hit the stratosphere. 

Perris, California, by Rachel Stark -- This is the 2024 book I probably spent the most time talking about and trying to convince other people to read, both at the bookstore and generally in the world. Deeply moving, deeply disturbing, and immensely readable, it's about a salt-of-the-earth family just trying to get by in a small California town, all the while dealing with past trauma. It's a really heavy read, but really accomplished.

Same As It Ever Was, by Claire Lombardo -- Rockin' the suburbs just like Claire Lombardo did! Sorry. Sorry about that. Anyway...this, Lombardo's second novel after her massively successful debut The Most Fun We Ever Had, is no sophomore slump. This novel is another long family saga, but this time from the point of view of one character, I got to interview Lombardo for the Chicago Review of Books about this novel, also, which was one of the highlights of my year. 

Playground, by Richard Powers -- Any new Richard Powers novel is a must-read for me, and though this new novel isn't in the same pantheon as The Overstory (which would be nearly impossible, frankly), it's still a fantastic read in Powers' growing oeuvre of environmental fiction. This novel does for oceans what The Overstory did for trees and forests. 

Small Rain, by Garth Greenwell -- Can I interest you in a book about a guy lying in a hospital bed for 11 days, contemplating the world, his relationship, and not much else happens? What if I told you it's actually absolutely riveting? Such is the magic Greenwell works in this novel. This was my first time reading Greenwell, and I can't wait to see what he does next. 

Rejection, by Tony Tulathimutte -- This book of connected short stories which actually feels like a novel (where's the line? whose to say there HAS to be a line?) wins the 2024 Award for Absolutely Most Bonkers and Hilarious Imagined Sex Scene. That's all I'm willing to say about that. But overall, this is easily the funniest book I've read this year, and definitely among the smartest. 

Blue Ruin, by Hari Kunzru -- 2024 is the year Kunzru achieved "one of my favorite writers" status. I'm sure he's very pleased lol. But really, this pandemic novel examines the role of art in the world. It's as entertaining as it is engaging.

Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil, by Ananda Lima -- I got to be on the Chicago Writers Podcast with two very smart Chicago Review of Books editors in June, the topic for which was our favorite books of the year so far. All three of us had this book on our lists, and I'm willing to bet, all three of us will have it on our end-of-the-year lists too. Here's a reason why you should never trust Goodreads ratings: I just looked and this book has a 3.45 average rating, which is preposterous, stupid, and I'm insulted on behalf of the author. This book is brilliant. Period. (By the way, early in 2025 I'm planning to finally jettison my 20-year-old Goodreads account and move to the non-Bezos-infested-and-greener pastures of StoryGraph. Stay tuned.) 

Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar -- I deeply, deeply loved this book. I read it in January, and it was so much fun to see this book gain momentum among readers all year long, culminating in being a finalist for the National Book Award, and in any non-James year, definitely would've won. This is my favorite novel of the year. 

There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, by Hanif Abdurraqib -- This is, simply put, the best sports book I've ever read. And it's only  partly about sports -- it's also Abdurraqib's most autobiographical and political book, and it's unlike any sports book (or memoir) you'll ever read. My most overused phrase to tell people about this book was "reading Abdurraqib is a wholly unique experience" and it truly is.