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

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I seriously don’t know how I feel about this book. In its tone and style it’s really similar to The Dinner and I had mixed feelings about that book too. This was a dark and uncomfortable read which I did enjoy at times. The chapters were relatively short and it was an easy book to get sucked into. I really liked how it was told - we know straight away that Ralph is dead and Marc is somehow involved in it. I loved following the families through their crazy summer and seeing the little moments add up to complete the big mystery of Ralph’s death. The characters were all really well written and very vivid which I both liked and disliked. The men were all toxic and annoying. The women were slightly better. This book is definitely character over plot which worked most of the time but left me wanting something more to happen, especially at the end. I was really enjoying it up to about the 60% mark - I had issues with the way women were treated, Marc’s attitude/actions and the ending left me disappointed. It also left me slightly confused? I can’t deny that this was an interesting, compelling and complex book which for the most part I liked.