Book Summary and Reviews of Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

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Elizabeth T.

A Disturbing but Addictive Read!
After reading three pages of this book, Herman Koch became this summer's "it" author for me. I was completely engrossed for days, then I ran to download his earlier novel, "The Dinner," and ripped through that one, too. But -- here are my serious reservations -- I would recommend this book ONLY to a certain kind of weird reader, such as myself, who enjoys the intricate and twisted psychology of careless and dangerous people, who doesn't need to like or identify with the characters, and who finds it interesting, not to say compelling, to follow the distorted rationalizations of a completely unreliable narrator. It's a really unsettling book, one that can leave you physically and morally seasick as you attempt to return to normal life after leaving its troubled and ultimately doomed world. Briefly, Dr. Marc Schlosser, who tells the story, and whose personal outlook and medical ethics are completely upsetting to any decent person, gets involved socially and professionally, with a bunch of people whom he knows are creepy right away. Nevertheless, the good doctor takes his wife and their two beautiful and innocent preadolescent daughters on vacation with them, and the forebodings of doom darken with every chapter. I've always wanted to gain insight into the kind of parent that exposes young daughters, just at the time of their utmost vulnerability and allure, to the most exploitative kind of environments. Are they in denial? Don't they care? Anyway, reading about these young creatures romping around among beasts of prey is both hair-raising and addictive, or at least it was for me. I didn't care for the ending -- I felt it was a stretch, and it gave the guilty players a free pass -- but when I lent the book on to a good friend, she read the first chapter, shuddered, and returned it. Oh, and did I say, I couldn't have borne the point of view if Koch weren't a totally excellent writer, which he is!

Cloggie Downunder

A brilliant novel
Summer House With Swimming Pool is the seventh novel by Dutch actor, television and radio producer, newspaper columnist and author, Herman Koch, and the second book to be translated into English. Dr Marc Schlosser, a General Physician whose patients appreciate the time he takes with them, is summoned to appear before the Board of Medical Examiners. One of his patients, celebrity actor Ralph Meier, has died, and a question hangs over his medical management. Some eighteen months earlier, Marc, his wife and two daughters spent a week at a Mediterranean summer house with Meier’s family, an ageing Hollywood director and his very young girlfriend. Most of Marc’s narration is spent recounting, in hindsight, the events of that vacation that led to a shocking climax, and its aftermath. Koch so cleverly crafts his story that the reader is left wondering exactly what crimes or misdeeds were committed during that summer interlude, and by whom. While Marc’s narration is entirely reliable, it is, of course, wholly biased, and it is equally apparent that others who contribute to the account of events have their own agendas. Many of the characters are easy to find loathsome or obnoxious and none is quite what they first seem to be. Marc demonstrates an ability to shift priorities and abandon responsibility with breath-taking ease, as well as a cold, calculating nature, which makes his actions seem thoroughly plausible. Koch’s novel touches on the Dutch medical system, paedophiles, what is appropriate treatment of sexual deviants, justice, revenge and taking the law into one’s own hands. It is a given that we cannot know mere acquaintances to any significant degree, but Koch’s novel will have the reader questioning just how well we can truly know those really close to us: our children, our parents and our spouses. Koch gives the reader some marvellously descriptive prose (his depiction of abscesses and tumours is particularly imaginative) and he inserts some moments of sharp (and occasionally quite dark) humour to relieve the building tension. Female readers will be grateful that not all men are this shallow and most readers will hope their doctor is not this cynical. This thought-provoking, powerful, and compelling read is flawlessly translated by Sam Garrett. A brilliant novel that stays with the reader long after the last page is turned.

B

Summer house with Swimming Pool
I made it through 100 pages of this book before deciding I didn’t like any of the characters and I truly didn’t care if Ralph was murdered or it was just a horrible mistake. Marc, the doctor who made the mistake or committed the murder, was an especially unlikeable person. He was selfish and narcissistic to the extreme. Ralph wasn’t much better. They were both lecherous towards the other’s wife within minutes of meeting (apparently not an unusual happening).

There was supposed to be humor somewhere in this book, but it hadn’t occurred by page 100 (out of 385). Marc didn’t like camping and I didn’t like Marc so I guess we are even. Skip this one.

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