Intermezzo

Discuss Rooney’s choice to minimize representing Bridget, Margaret’s siblings, and Ricky on the page. How do their absences play into the reader’s experience of Margaret’s personal dilemmas?

How do Sylvia and Naomi’s careers affect their respective dynamics with Peter? How does Peter’s belief that he needs to choose between the two women impact Rooney’s depiction of sex work?

Peter argues that he has been Ivan’s protector. Could Ivan make the same argument? Does Ivan protect or rescue Peter? Why or why not?

Compare mothers Christine and Bridget. What differentiates their parenting styles? How do they affect the Koubek brothers and Margaret?

The housing crisis is reflected in Naomi’s living situation and in the abandonment of the Koubek house in Kildare. How does the novel portray inequitable development?

Why does human rights lawyer Peter feel starved for humanistic discourse? How might the latter field benefit the practice of the former?

Peter’s narrative arc deals heavily with mental health, which is a recurring theme in Rooney’s body of work. Discuss how Rooney deals with the topic of mental health in one of her other novels.

Is Sylvia a positive depiction of a person with disabilities? Discuss this in the context of her characterization and how Rooney renders her interiority.