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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
De hoofdrolspeler van dit boek, een huisarts, is op een Freudiaanse manier geobsedeerd door seks. Ik lees graag smut, maar dit vind ik obsceen en obsessief.
Koch heeft in principe dus goed werk geleverd, want ik vind de hoofdpersoon een nare man en kan hem niet uitstaan. Waar hij minder goed werk heeft geleverd, is in zijn onderzoek naar het beroep huisarts. Welke huisarts werkt van 8.30 tot 12.30 en neemt 20 minuten de tijd? Hoe kan dat? Hoe komt deze man aan zijn geld? Hij krijgt maar voor de helft van de tijd die hij aan patiënten besteedt betaald en neemt daarnaast de halve dag vrij. Of doet hij in de middag andere dingen?
Daarbij is het zeer ongeloofwaardig dat een arts een andere arts op zijn handelen aanspreekt op de gang van het ziekenhuis, waar de vrouw van de patiënt bij is.
Al met al lopen de ergernissen me te hoog op om verder te gaan met dit boek.
Koch heeft in principe dus goed werk geleverd, want ik vind de hoofdpersoon een nare man en kan hem niet uitstaan. Waar hij minder goed werk heeft geleverd, is in zijn onderzoek naar het beroep huisarts. Welke huisarts werkt van 8.30 tot 12.30 en neemt 20 minuten de tijd? Hoe kan dat? Hoe komt deze man aan zijn geld? Hij krijgt maar voor de helft van de tijd die hij aan patiënten besteedt betaald en neemt daarnaast de halve dag vrij. Of doet hij in de middag andere dingen?
Daarbij is het zeer ongeloofwaardig dat een arts een andere arts op zijn handelen aanspreekt op de gang van het ziekenhuis, waar de vrouw van de patiënt bij is.
Al met al lopen de ergernissen me te hoog op om verder te gaan met dit boek.
This book is way different that most I've read. Different in a good way. Marc's story isn't told in a linear fashion, but rather through a series of flashbacks. We start and end at the end of his story, and the middle is dedicated to everything that led up to that point. It actually reminded me an awful lot of the novel We Need to Talk About Kevin (which I highly recommend if you haven't read!) which is also told in past tense as a recollection of events. Or even like Memento (a favorite movie of mine.) My point is that the format definitely kept me interested, since the book opens with the ending. I've decided that if someone was to draw a timeline of this book, it would need to be drawn by someone who builds roller coasters.
This book was translated from Dutch and for the most part takes place overseas. Unlike other translated books I've read, there wasn't a lot of foreign words that were difficult for me to read. I had worried about that when I realized it was originally in Dutch but it was not an issue at all.
One of the most interesting things was how Marc's thought process worked. It reminded me a lot of my own. While Koch would be writing about an event Marc was remembering, he would interweave other events and memories, including other experiences that he felt were similar. It made the scenes play like a movie in my head, and kept me engaged.
It seems like recently, all of the books I have read included an assault on a young woman. This book is no different. And though Koch made it a major part of the storyline, I felt like it wasn't dealt with properly by the characters. In fact, I feel like the victim was wronged twice by the lack of justice she was given. I did like how Koch dealt with the aftermath of the attack and showed how the life of the victim was effected.
Overall, I found Summer House with Swimming Pool to be a very engaging and different read. I especially enjoyed the format and felt it was a refreshing change of pace. I give this book five stars and would recommend it to anyone who might be getting burnt out on reading.
This book was translated from Dutch and for the most part takes place overseas. Unlike other translated books I've read, there wasn't a lot of foreign words that were difficult for me to read. I had worried about that when I realized it was originally in Dutch but it was not an issue at all.
One of the most interesting things was how Marc's thought process worked. It reminded me a lot of my own. While Koch would be writing about an event Marc was remembering, he would interweave other events and memories, including other experiences that he felt were similar. It made the scenes play like a movie in my head, and kept me engaged.
It seems like recently, all of the books I have read included an assault on a young woman. This book is no different. And though Koch made it a major part of the storyline, I felt like it wasn't dealt with properly by the characters. In fact, I feel like the victim was wronged twice by the lack of justice she was given. I did like how Koch dealt with the aftermath of the attack and showed how the life of the victim was effected.
Overall, I found Summer House with Swimming Pool to be a very engaging and different read. I especially enjoyed the format and felt it was a refreshing change of pace. I give this book five stars and would recommend it to anyone who might be getting burnt out on reading.
Medical murder mystery narrative that unfolds more and more as you go on... Not what I expected, but still pretty good!
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
till 3/4 it was kinda mweh after that it got better but never to a point that says wow or really good.
Overall not impressed and kinda one out of many with the same story and ending..
Overall not impressed and kinda one out of many with the same story and ending..
This book is definitely not going to be for everyone. It's rather creepy and at times not exactly palatable. And yet it's compelling and interesting. A good psychological thriller.
This is a suspenseful novel with interesting characters written in a very direct voice. Dr. Schlosser, a general physician, who mostly treats famous artists and is less and less enamored by them, lines up a vacation with his wife and two teenage daughters and an actor and his wife and two teenage sons. What starts out as a possible opportunity for an extramarital affair turns into a life changing event for one of the doctor's daughters and in return to a break of the ethical oath by Dr. Schlosser. After reading this novel it might be hard to view the doctor's profession in the same way as before, not so much for the action or non action than the thoughts that accompany them.
I enjoyed this novel much more than "The Dinner", the last one I read by Herman Koch, because if seems more realistic.
I enjoyed this novel much more than "The Dinner", the last one I read by Herman Koch, because if seems more realistic.
De boeken van Koch zijn pageturners en zijn plots zijn subliem. Zijn boeken moet je gewoon op een dag of twee, drie uitgelezen hebben. Het diner vond ik wel net iets sterker en degoutanter tegelijkertijd.
Another Herman Koch novel full of despicable characters. I'm wondering if he always writes unlikable, unreliable narrators like the ones in Summer House and The Dinner. He definitely does twisted well.