A review by christielli
Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

2.0

I really enjoyed Koch's "The Dinner". I found that this book had some similarities to the dinner: nasty narrator, twisted plot, times at which the slow pace of the story drove me insane. However, the complete mysogeny, homophobia, and hatred spewed by some of the characters really turned me off of this book, even though the story was interesting. On one hand, I think the mysogeny thrown at women by the men in this book is realistic and reflects what women face in real life, however, reading about it isn't enjoyable at all. Somehow "The Dinner" managed to be dark, twisted, and somehow enjoyable, yet this book really turned my stomach at points. However, there were a few moments of warmth in this novel, but overall it just left me conflicted.