There is something degrading about reading “Intermezzo.” You’ll find it unpleasant, and Sally Rooney tries her best to make it unenjoyable, yet you won’t put it down. Notably, the author writes about someone else for a change (avoiding the long-held autobiographical accusations) while maintaining her distinctive narrative voice, and an uncanny ability to capture how, and why, we hurt the people we are supposed to love.

“Intermezzo,” released Sept. 24, is Rooney’s third book and features refreshingly different characters. The book centers on two feuding brothers, 12 years apart in age and even further apart in temperament. Ivan, the younger of the two, is 22 years old, newly graduated and meandering through life as he struggles to find his form again as a semi-professional chess player. Peter, on the other hand, is a high-strung and self-righteous human rights lawyer whose interactions with his brother are defined by his condescending and unempathetic attitude.

The novel begins with the death of their father and follows the brothers in the months after. I appreciated Sally Rooney’s realistic presentation of grief — it lingers in the lives of the protagonists. Sometimes it’s at the forefront of the novel, but often it slips to the background, although its residue remains.

The brothers’ grief defines their romantic relationships. Ivan falls for an older woman, Margaret; he experiences a love he’s never felt but longed for painfully, especially in the aftermath of his dad’s funeral. Peter is torn between two women — his ex-girlfriend Margarete (whom he clearly still loves, but can’t be intimate with due to her chronic health conditions), and Naomi, a much younger woman.

Our perception of Peter is clouded further because of Naomi’s sex work. Rooney invites the reader to judge Peter and the ethical ambiguities that define his relationship with Naomi. He regularly sends her money, but the relationship is presented from Peter’s perspective as more than just transactional.