Intermezzo

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Consider Rooney’s depiction of sibling relationships. Does it resonate with your own experiences (or what you’ve observed, if you’re an only child)? What do siblings tend to disagree about, in your experience? How do they deal with their disagreements? 

2. Rooney’s identity as a Marxist writer manifests in her focus on the economic conditions of her characters. What associations did you have with Marxism before reading this work? Did the novel change your understanding at all?

3. Ivan often feels isolated from the rest of the world because of his status as a chess prodigy. Have you ever felt excluded or ostracized because of a special talent or an interest in something? How did this novel resonate with that experience? 

4. Margaret feels trapped within the life of her small provincial town. What kinds of places have you lived, and have you ever felt similarly about them? If so, how did you deal with your discontent?

5. The novel places both of its lead characters in relationships with significant age gaps. How did you feel about this? Do you think such relationships can be successful? Do they raise ethical concerns, even when both partners are adults?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel draws a contrast between Dublin and the provincial town where Margaret lives. How does this contrast reflect Rooney’s concerns regarding class inequality, development, and lived philosophy?

2. Is Naomi a positive depiction of a sex worker? Discuss how the novel depicts her agency. How would you describe the novel’s overall attitude toward sex work?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The novel title refers to a movement in chess, which is a prominent motif in the narrative. Discuss how the book’s depiction of chess reflects the dynamics of the book’s major characters.

2. Grief is one of the novel’s underlying themes. Apart from the Koubek brothers, which characters are grieving, whether for their youth, the direction their lives have taken, or the opportunities that are available to them? What does this suggest about the variety of ways grief can manifest?

3. Ivan contemplates the direction his career might take should he choose to abandon chess. How does the book navigate the balance between talent, work, and joy? Does it suggest that Ivan is correct in his decision to progress in his chess career, or is he limiting the shape of his adult life?

4. Ivan and Peter’s father never appears in the novel, yet his presence hangs over their lives like a specter. How does his presence develop the novel’s themes of grief and reality? How might you compare their father’s presence to other haunting fathers in literature, such as the father of Hamlet?