Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - Summerwater

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Summerwater by Sarah Moss

10 reviews

miacorkum's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective

3.25

Content Warnings

hrosel's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Well written, but the short story format is never really for me. Some characters I liked and wanted to see more of, others I trudged through.

I think there was something off-putting about reading an endlessly rainy book when it was gloriously sunny weather outside too! It certainly evoked the feelings of being uncomfortably cramped with your loved ones well.

All in all, I feel like my rating is unfair, but it just didn't quite speak to me.

Content Warnings

conspystery's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’m conflicted about this book!

Summerwater is told in a series of introspective yet quotidian vignettes, each centered around a different character; the main narrative thread drawing each character together is their residence, be it permanent or vacationing, in a particular cabin park in Scotland and on a particularly nasty, rainy day. I love this premise, and I think for the most part it works very well-- it reminds me of a very contemporary To The Lighthouse, in ironic structure, plot, character intricacy, and reflective musings about the meaning of human connection alike.

Moss’s writing style here is beautifully casual, and each character is offered a distinct thought pattern in their chapters. All these people are complicated; all of them are more than they seem to be. Moss does a fantastic job of communicating that complexity in her writing, along with adding lyrical flair in interspersed depictions of wildlife between chapters. The natural world, however gloomy it is on the day the story takes place, is rendered with a careful poignance, complementing the quiet melancholy or dissatisfaction underpinning many of the characters’ stories. The gap between the anthropocene and the otherwise natural is wide and tangible-- but we also get to see the subtle similarities through those differences.

My concern with Summerwater is, as many reviewers seem to agree, its ending.

I’m inclined to think the surprising nature of the fire, its overt out-of-left-field disturbingness and the dawning horror it evokes, is the point: all these people, who seem to have nothing in common, are drawn together by the tragedy, just as the wildlife is drawn together in the face of environmental deterioration caused by humans. There are parallels between the people and nature, as well insights about what we refuse to notice and the biases we pass on to those who look to us for guidance. The contrast between the fire and the water represents the disturbance and disruption of the environment by humans too preoccupied with their own goings-on to care, or even to notice when their worldviews promote harm to their own community. And thus, destruction, fire, tragedy.

I can’t help but feel unsatisfied, though! Even if it was the point, I think the fire could have had much more of an impact with increased foreshadowing. This book thrives on irony; why not turn up its intensity? In the pages leading up to the fire, we do see some amount of this, especially with the focus on the horrible xenophobic little girl (her name eludes me at the moment). Ultimately, the book realizes its potential as a tragic warning about manufactured differences between humans, how we should not let classism and xenophobia and racism and sexism divide us lest our biases result in such a tragedy. I only wish there had been more, though. The ending’s suddenness almost undercuts its point… almost. It would have been far more chilling if it had been just a bit more predictable, I think.

Overall, I liked Summerwater, regardless of how I felt about its ending. Moss’s ability to entrench the audience in the minds of the different characters and shift flowingly between them is astounding; the writing shines in its complexity. The audiobook version, which I listened to, did an amazing job of communicating the story as well. I don’t think this book is for everyone, and I don’t think it’s perfect, but I enjoyed its reflection, however rainy and gray.

Content Warnings

e_banfield's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Alternating chapters between different characters and the nature surrounding them. It was as if the landscape and animals around the loch were another character on its own, looking on at the events of the people.

We see the daily lives inside each cabin with frustrations and bigotry towards the Ukrainian family throwing parties late at night.

Some characters are extremely unlikeable and I couldn’t wait for their chapters to end like Lola and the dads/husbands. I Liked some characters more than others like Milly and David were my favorites.

Beautiful writing and storytelling from Moss! This was my first book from her and I can’t wait to read more. Normally I wouldn’t read this type of book where nothing significant happens plot wise, but the writing just held my attention and made me want to finish the book!

That ending was intense but abrupt and incomplete otherwise it would’ve been a 5 star read.

Content Warnings

jesshindes's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

We read the first chapter of Summerwater as an exercise in one of my MA classes last year and I can absolutely see why: Sarah Moss is so skilful at building character through interior monologue, which is what she does in each chapter of this shimmering little book. Summerwater is set in a clutch of holiday cottages on the Scottish border, on a rainy summer's day (not just rainy: pouring, saturated). As the day passes we dip in and out of each cabin and into the minds of the inhabitants, old and young. A lot of what Moss is exploring here is about relationships: different families and their different traditions and expectations; different financial situations, life stages, loves and hates and frustrations. It's especially rewarding when you get one half of a couple early in the novel and then, later on, see the same cabin from the other person's side. The book isn't trying to be or do too much: it's more about tenderly and carefully rendering this detailed, tactile picture of human life. With that said, there is certainly plot here, and a climax built to - in a way that reminded me (as did the whole book) of John McGregor's If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, which I read with my book group back in 2020. Moss's cast is less diverse than McGregor's (which is fine and I think realistic for the setting), but I liked that she gave attention to the non-human wildlife around the loch as well, in short paragraphs that interleave the longer chapters.

This is the second of Moss's books I've read, after Ghost Wall, which I picked up last year. I think on balance I preferred that one because of its speculative elements (the clue is in the title), which lent it an additional dimension that I really enjoyed, but this is a beautifully crafted piece of work and really a masterclass in precise, understated writing.

(PS I could not stop thinking the whole time I was reading it about something I read last year, where Moss said that she writes a first draft of a book and then DESTROYS IT AND WRITES THE WHOLE THING AGAIN. Absolutely unhinged behaviour but it clearly works for her because this was fantastic.)

Content Warnings

freja's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

bibliothecolle's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

katie_biggs7's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Content Warnings

rabonallie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

what a good book to round off summer with, as full of summer's chaos and liminality as it is. between this and ghost wall, i'm beginning to think nobody does this particular flavour of creeping dread like sarah moss.

oh, also, absolutely dying to read the fell, ngl.

Content Warnings

More...