Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

Summer House with Swimming Pool Reviews

• 
  Tayari Jones

  This book was really hard to read. I really respect the writing, and also the character work. The people seemed so real, that they could bleed on you. And this is both the strength and the challenge of this novel. The people came to life and they were incredibly difficult to be around.
  
  Someone said that she felt the book was really sexist. I couldn't tell if the book itself hated women, or if it was a book about how much women are hated by the world. I am leaning toward the latter interpretation.
  
  But that said, it was a hard read.
  
  I feel very uncomfortable giving a book a low rating because it isn't pleasant. Literature isn't about being pleasing. But that said, I will have trouble sleeping tonight.
  
  This is a book you won't forget.
• 
  °°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ

  Το βιβλίο αυτό απόλυτα ρεαλιστικό και κυνικό με έκανε να μάθω και να σκεφτώ μεσα απο τις σκέψεις και τα συναισθήματα του γιατρού Μαρκ Σλόσερ πόσο φθαρτοί και τραγικά φοβισμένοι,άσχετοι,ψεύτες,ενοχικοί και θλιβερά απαίσιοι είναι οι ανθρώποι ως φυσική υπόσταση σε σχέση με τη φυσική νομοτέλεια!
  
  Ο Σλόσερ,γιατρός πλουσίων πελατών εθισμένων στην προσωπική τους πλήξη - ανία - παράνοια οι οποίοι συρρέουν στο ιατρείο του απλά για να ακούσουν αυτό που θέλουν ....αφού έχουν πει αυτό και μόνο αυτό που δεν πρέπει να ακούσει ο γιατρός τους -υποδυόμενος ότι ενδιαφέρεται- και τους χαρίζει άπλετο απο τον πολύτιμο χρόνο του μαζί με κάποια θεραπεία ....πολλές φορες άκρως "τοξική " ή ψεύτικη!
  
  Όλο το σκηνικό αλλάζει όταν η οικογένεια του γιατρού που ειναι ίσως το μόνο μη σκοτεινό σημείο της ζωής του αποφασίζει τις ετήσιες διακοπές. Ο γιατρός αγαπάει τις δυο πανέμορφες κόρες του και την θλιβερά ευτυχισμένη σύζυγο του....
  
  Υποθετικά μοιραία καλούνται να περάσουν κοινές διακοπές με κάποια οικογένεια στην οποία ανήκει το «εξοχικό με πισίνα»
  και αποτελείται απο έναν σύζυγο άξεστο "σταρ"του κινηματογράφου,μια σύζυγο όμορφη ζηλιάρα και καταπιεσμένη απο τον αρχοντοχωριάτη σταρ και φυσικά τα δυο παιδιά τους αγόρια και συνομήλικα των παιδιών του γιατρού Σλόσερ.
  
  Απο εκείνο το καλοκαίρι και μετά σιγά-σιγά η αφήγηση γίνεται ανατρεπτική,σοκαριστική,τραγική και παράλληλα αστεία.
  
  Ενα θλιβερό γεγονός ανατρέπει τα «πάντα», τα τοποθετεί σε αλλη κλίμακα αξιών,ήθους και συνειδητών ιδεωδών.
  
  Τίποτα δεν ειναι όπως φαίνεται ....και αυτό τελικά ειναι και το μυστικό κλειδί που θα ανοίξει την πόρτα του θανάτου .....και θα αποκαλύψει ανθρώπινες αδυναμίες και άδικες καταλήξεις με οδηγό το απόλυτα αρχέγονο ένστικτο της επιβίωσης και της προστασίας των δικών μας δημιουργημάτων !!!
  
  Εξοργιστικά πρωτότυπο βιβλίο και ανηλεώς κυνικό!!
  
  Καλή ανάγνωση!!
  Πολλούς ασπασμούς!!
• 
  Elyse Walters

  Wow....great Kindle deal today!!! $1.99 special!!! If you haven't read this very fun book ... the price is good today!
  
  
  
  Reading Herman Koch, is a little like jumping on a pogo stick. (only its your thoughts which are jumping up and down).
  
  "The Dinner" by Herman Koch involves parents and kids --
  "Summer House with Swimming Pool" involves parents and kids --
  In both books, the reader is challenged.
  
  Here are two questions to sit with from "Summer House with Swimming Pool":
  
  1) How far would you go to protect yourself even if it meant doing horrific psychological damage to your child?
  
  2) What are you capable of doing to exact revenge?
  
  And.....
  
  If you've ever wondered what your medical doctor thinks about you-- (when you are being examined in your hospital gown) ---My, my, you just might never go to the doctor again! lol
  Ask your doctor a question?? Maybe at your own risk? lol
  
  As I was deeply engaged turning the pages of this story --(with absolutely no likeable characters) --I was laughing and wincing at the same time.
  
  The narrator --Marc Schlosser, general practitioner, explains to the reader several times where he stands with regard to naked bodies ---the naked bodies of his daily practice.
  He says "a naked body in a doctor's office is something different from a naked body out of doors"....
  
  There was a section in this story where 'Dr. Marc' talks about his feelings about nude beaches, nudist campgrounds, --places he avoids like the plague. (its all very funny) ---
  Marc is very proud of being 'prudish'.. proud not to flaunt his body parts all over the place in the out-of-doors'. (I was dying laughing at the words --and ways --'Dr. Marc' talked about his disgust)
  
  NOTE: I live in the Bay Area: Grew up in Berkeley -- ---(I almost never get to hear people talk about the human body the way Marc Schlosser talks) --I found it so damn funny!
  
  "Summer House with Swimming Pool" is NOT your typical 'sit-by-the-beach' light summer reading --
  Yet--its as addicting as eating a bag of sunflower seeds sitting on the beach with your coke in hand--(you can't stop eating those salty-little seeds no matter how chap your lips are getting from the salt)
  
  From swordfish and sardine meals by the pool with the parents and kids -- to fireworks blasting like a lightening bolt (literally & figurally), --to obnoxious characters -- to things going wrong -wrong-wrong --
  This book feels sooooooooo right! (as in MUST READ)!
• 
  Guille

  
  En principio, la novela nos vuelve a traer al mismo Koch de “La cena”. Una narración que consigue atraparte y que te enfrenta a problemas éticos interesantes, temas y comportamientos controvertidos de la sociedad actual y, nuevamente, con algunos de esos instintos naturales de los que tanto nos avergonzamos, con razón (no hay que olvidar que nuestro desarrollo como especie se dio en unas condiciones muy distintas a las que disfrutamos hoy en día) y sin ella (tampoco debemos olvidar que nuestra esencia es la que es y que no es fácil y posiblemente no siempre conveniente actuar en contra de esos instintos).
  
  La forma de abordar estos temas por parte de Koch es sensacionalista, provocativa (aunque en mi opinión mucho menos que en La Cena y de lectura menos adictiva también), sin intentos de disculpa pero tampoco haciendo un juicio sumario a los culpables: nadie es del todo inocente o todos podemos llegar a ser culpables. El autor tiene oficio para crear un ambiente escabroso, inmoral si queréis, con comentarios y lucubraciones cínicas, crueles, de una total falta de empatía con el débil; opiniones y situaciones que consiguen que te incomodes, que te rebullas en la butaca, incluso que adoptes una posición defensiva, bien porque te escandalices, bien porque te reconozcas, bien porque te escandalices al reconocerte.
  
  Hasta aquí todo más o menos bien. El problema viene cuando llegamos a la conclusión, cuando se trata de cerrar la trama. Ya en La cena mostró lo que parece ser un problema del autor para abordar esta última fase del libro. En aquella dio la impresión de que se asustó de sí mismo y metió por medio una justificación cobarde del asunto. En esta, el problema estriba en la existencia de contradicciones insalvables en la resolución del conflicto. Y en este tipo de novelas esa falta de coherencia es imperdonable.
• 
  Petra X

  This book is an awful lot like a really complicated 5,000 piece jigsaw where you saw the picture on the box just briefly. You know the ending right at the beginning. Now you have to get there.
  
  The story is a doctor is going to be charged with malpractice that is almost certainly murder, and the victim's wife is very upset obviously, she doesn't feel her late husband got proper treatment. Doesn't sound complicated? It is.
  
  As the pieces are fitted together the picture changes somewhat from what you thought it was going to be, more pieces, more changes, it's always different and always much more detailed than you thought. It keeps you going. I hardly put the book down for days. When the jigsaw is nearly complete and it is only the middle, the central focus, that is left to be done, each piece changes the story entirely, time and time again speeding up in an exponential way. Every single character in the book has a part to play and as with
  The Dinner none of them are particularly likeable. Funny thing though is that those who engender the most dislike as you read, are not those you will necessarily feel are the baddies when the book is finished. It's bloody genius writing.
  
  It's challenging and provoking. The doctor's most revered mentor is a professor who believes that biology is destiny. Girls and women over 40 are useless for breeding so it is only natural a man of any age would go after as many women as possible who are good, fertile stock. Homosexuals are against nature as they cannot breed and therefore they and pederasts who go with little girls who cannot breed should be removed from society; it is a man's inbred instincts to kill such unnatural creatures.
  
  The author doesn't believe a word of it and goes out of his way to show his respect of homosexuals in one of the very few pieces that could have been edited out of the book. It added to the book, but wouldn't have detracted from it if it hadn't been there. I guess Koch doesn't want any righteous anger directed at him!
  
  So, it is a book where you are led piece by piece to an ending that is unguessable but whose reality you can easily understand. Koch is a master of knowing human nature and communicating it.
  
  I'm not a big fiction fan but I've read the only two books by Koch in English. I wish he'd write another one.
  
  _____________
  
  Notes whilst reading the book.
  This is really good. I don't read a lot of fiction and I generally am not attracted to books where the characters are not likeable as I find them hard to identify with. However I really enjoyed
  The Dinner with its cast of people you wouldn't want to lunch with so I thought I would read this one. I've read about a quarter and it's equally good. All the main characters are deeply flawed so the identification is not with them as people but in what they say, the universal truths ones we don't usually think of let alone express in words. Or else it is in thinking this is not so, we don't all think like this (and then secretly wonder if everyone else does and it's just you that is the outsider on this one).
  
  I love books where the writing itself is so good that it sparkles and illuminates the subject, no matter whether it is a genre I'm interested in or not. And Koch sparkles. I'm enjoying this book.
• 
  Justin

  The first few chapters of Summer House with Swimming Pool are dedicated to descriptions of what it's like to be a doctor. If the book was just about life from a medical professional's point of view and the day to day grind of getting up close and personal with aches, pains, bumps, and bruises... that would have been good enough for me.
  
  Koch is just a daggum great writer. He can take the most mundane stuff and breathe life into it to make it fascinating. The beginning of the book and other sections sprinkled throughout almost felt like nonfiction, like a disgruntled physician peeling back the curtain to share what life is like on the opposite side of the examination table.
  
  But this isn't nonfiction. Thank God this isn't nonfiction. Herman Koch dabbles in fiction. Dark, twisted, beautifully written fiction.
  
  If you liked The Dinner you should enjoy this one as well. If you hated The Dinner you probably don't even care that this book exists. There are definitely some similarities between the two books. A bunch of rich people. A crazy event (this time at a summer house with a you-guessed-it swimming pool). Dumb teenagers. Unlikable parents. No one to root for. Plot twists. A great ending.
  
  I think Koch has found his niche and I expect future stuff from him will be similar, but if his next book is about deep sea fishing or molecular biology I will probably still read it.
• 
  Orsodimondo

  IL SUO NOME È VENDETTA
  
  
  Tempo d’estate.
  
  Dai tempi della lettura di La cena m’era rimasta voglia di conoscere meglio Herman Koch, di leggere qualcos’altro di suo.
  Villetta con piscina mi è sembrato il secondo tentativo che volevo/dovevo fare.
  Purtroppo non ha migliorato le cose: io e Koch non viaggiamo sulla stessa lunghezza d’onda – la sua letteratura ha, sì, un aspetto di curiosità – ma forse è solo prurito - è altamente scorrevole, leggibile, però racconta storie sgradevoli con un approccio narrativo altrettanto sgradevole.
  
  
  
  Koch sembra ritenere che la legge della giungla, o ancora meglio, quella delle caverne, sia dominante: istinto di sopravvivenza, sopraffazione se necessario, difendersi sempre, attaccando per primo se occorre. In ogni caso, non ritenere la violenza un optional, ma considerarla parte integrante dei rapporti umani.
  Qui siamo, volendo mettere un’etichetta, nel sottogenere della storia di “revenge”, un filone che tira sempre bene e sembra inesauribile, che spesso poggia su un pessimo sentimento altamente condiviso e socialmente accettato: la gelosia.
  In questo caso si tratta di una vendetta meditata ed eseguita per un torto di modesta rilevanza.
  Koch cerca di depistare il lettore, dissemina di falsi sospetti, non risparmia neppure il maggiordomo, e sembra neppure troppo interessato a concludere davvero la vicenda. È più attratto dalla maturazione del desiderio di vendetta che dalla risoluzione del caso “giallo”.
  
  
  
  Particolarità di questa sua storia potrebbe essere la misoginia: le donne sono generalmente nient’altro che oggetto di desiderio – neppure tanto oscuro, e ovviamente sempre di desiderio maschile. Nessuna brilla di particolare intelligenza.
  Ma anche gli uomini non sono meglio. E allora, forse, ancor più che misogino, Koch è misantropo. Ce l’ha proprio con tutti.
  Cinico? Sì, anche cinico.
  E omofobo. Regala una lunga tirata contro il sesso anale, considerato contro natura.
  Quando si concede riflessioni e si allontana dal plot, quando si prende una pausa, viene voglia di saltare la pagina: per evitare banalità più che per ansia di tornare al thriller.
  Credo proprio che dopo questo secondo capitolo il mio interesse per Herman Koch sia esaurito.
  
  
  
  
  David Hockney, autore delle opere qui sopra, ritratto a bordo della sua piscina nel 1983.
• 
  Sawsan

  قد تكون الرغبة في الانتقام من الرغبات المشروعة لتحقيق العدالة, لكنها أحيانا تعمي عن رؤية الحقيقة
  تبدأ الرواية بداية غير مفهومة وبالتدريج تتضح الصورة وتختلف في النهاية عن المتوقع
  أجاد هيرمان كوخ رسم شخصية الراوي الطبيب الغريب الأطوار في ثلاث حالات
  كممارس عام يفهم لغة الجسد لكنه يمارس عمله بدون اهتمام, وكزوج وأب محب لبناته
  وفي المنزل الصيفي لأحد المرضى الأصدقاء تدور الأحداث التي تغير مسار عمله وحياته
  الرواية مليئة بتفاصيل الجسد البشري ما بين الصحة والمرض.. تفاصيل مرئية بعين الطبيب
  وخلال السرد نظرة غير مألوفة في الغرب عما يرتبط بالجسد من تعري ورغبات وعلاقات
  يعرض الكاتب شكل من أشكال العلاقة بين الآباء والأبناء, ويكشف خبايا النفس
  وقدرة الانسان على فعل الشر بسهولة تبعا لأحكام مشكوك في صحتها
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Patrice Hoffman

  For those of you living under a rock, Herman Koch is the Dutch author who introduced us to a slew of vile characters in the hugely successful The Dinner novel. True to form, Summer House with Swimming Pool is another plethora of characters readers love to hate. After spending a few days reading Dr Marc Schlosser's narrative of the events that eventually summons a medical review board due to a "medical error", I'm actually happy to rid my life of his contempt and bitter disposition.
  
  Dr Marc Schlosser is the epitome of an arrogant general doctor who does the absolute minimum. He's seen it all and is not impressed with the ailings of his patients. His practice generally thrives on word-of-mouth and he's quite fine with that. When one of his semi-famous patients Ralph Meier dies of his possible negligence or malpractice, it sets the stage for the whole novel. Because of the blurbs, most prospective readers will already be aware that something happens to his daughter Julia that demands Meier's existence be terminated.
  
  It's no shocker here that Koch paints a vivid picture through the eyes of a person that is almost as vile as his rival. I don't think that I have to like the character in order to enjoy the story he has to tell. The writing is what gets me with Summer House with Swimming Pool when all else fails. There are little nuggets of information provided that keeps readers interested. I just had to keep reading no matter how much I hated Schlosser, Meier, or even the supporting cast.
  
  Overall, I did enjoy this novel. It's grossly descriptive in parts, structurally sound, and even captivating at moments. What keeps me on the fence and unable to award it 4 stars is that I really felt at no moment did the main character grow. None of the characters made any effort to be anything other than self-absorbed, shallow individuals who never see the error in their ways. I guess that's the point. We are who we are, for better or worse.
  
  Summer House with Swimming Pool is one of those novels readers will either love or hate. I applaud those who can make a decision. I am comfortably on the fence but do suggest that those who loved The Dinner give this one a go as well. I look forward to the next group of vile characters Herman Koch can muster up for his next novel.
  
  Copy provided by Random House via Netgalley
• 
  Robin

  BAD MEDICINE
  
  Doctors are usually good guys, right? They take an oath. They know things. They're good to have around in an emergency.
  
  Unless, of course, they're not good. See: Dr. Lecter, Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Moreau, Dr. No, to name a few. And now, friends, we can add another to this list of frightening physicians - Dr. Marc Schlosser. He's not obviously bad. For example, he's not eating anyone, or sewing dead body parts together, or out for world domination.
  
  No, Schlosser's darkness runs much subtler than that, but it doesn't mean he's less dangerous. He looks the part of a friendly general practitioner, taking time with his patients, making them feel listened to and cared for. In reality though, he finds the human body disgusting and holds no love in his heart for people. He almost never refers his patients to specialists, even if he knows it would help. He judges, he lies, he manipulates. He pretends to care - he even pretends to look! He has no medical scruples. But what keeps Dr. Schlosser from being a one-dimensional villain is a simple fact: he loves his daughters, Lisa and Julia.
  
  Dr. Schlosser isn't the only icky character in this story. So when two awful families vacation together, awful things happen.
  
  Herman Koch brings out the worst in people in the very best way. This is a compulsively readable story, spiced with sharp satire, and tied tight with psychological tension. He also sprinkled in the most sardonic humour (nude swimming pool etiquette provided more than a few laughs for me!). Man, he tells some tough truths about people. He also asks pointed questions about parenthood, power, and revenge.
  
  You might have noticed by now that I happen to love me a despicable character. Herman Koch is masterful at bringing the morally bankrupt to life on the page. I felt the ending lost some of the power and focus of the rest of the book, but... I gotta be honest, I'm in my happy place reading this guy's words. Does that mean I'm sick, doctor?
  
  4.5 stars
• 
  Dianne

  Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for an advance reader copy of this book. This review, however, is based on the hardcover version.
  
  Not sure what it says about me that I liked this book so much - the narrator is almost a sociopath and several of the other characters are equally repugnant. But - I couldn't put it down! It fizzled a little at the end, but what a ride.
  
  The story is told by Dr. Marc Schlosser, a Dutch family doctor with a wife and two young teen daughters. The doctor treats a famous actor, Ralph Meier, who invites the doctor and his family to his summer vacation home. The doctor, who is a misogynistic asshole at best, has his eyes on Ralph's wife. Ralph, a sexual predator, has his eyes on Marc's wife and oldest daughter. When the families get together at Ralph's summer home, nothing good can come of it. Marc Schlosser is a piece of work and one of the sickest, most appalling narrators I can ever remember reading, but he is pitch perfect and his "tone" and viewpoint is what makes this book work so well.
  
  If you tend to give books low ratings because you don't like any of the characters, for the love of God, don't pick this up!! I can promise you will not "like" or relate to the characters - most of them are messed up in some way or other. If, on the other hand, you are fascinated by misfits and oddities and aren't overly squeamish or easily offended, you may find this riveting.
  
  
  
• 
  Mandy

  I'm not sure my rating is even what I want to give it, but it's not a 5 and not quite as bad as a 1... So a 3 it is.
  
  When I checked this book out the librarian told me it was really weird. I took it with a grain of salt at the time. She was correct this book was stranger than fiction. I kept waiting for something big... A climax that never came.
  
  First off, Marc is an insane Doctor. He is selfish, so selfish that he puts his patients lives at risk. Hell he even put his own kid at risk. He shouldn't be a doctor. He isn't right in the head, but with that in mind I can see what he did, now that I've finished the story, it kinda makes sense. If I'd been in that position I might have reacted the same.
  
  Ralph and his wife are ugh. I could stand Ralph more than Judith. She is nothing but the village bicycle that everyone has had a ride on. Ralph I'm sure did his share of horndogging it around as well, but who knows.
  
  Caroline, Marc's wife irritated me. She just ignored everything and acted like it was perfectly fine! Even after the beach incident she acted like her husband should take over and there's no way I would have let him, doctor or not.
  
  For me there was no climax or point of "oh my gosh!!!" I kept waiting and waiting and finally I was like, well shit there isn't one. So there ya go.
  
  The ending sucked for me, I really wanted to know what had happened with the BOME, but I guess that's left for us to guess.
• 
  Debbie

  This is one twisted dude! Marc Schlosser, the unreliable narrator, is a general practitioner. Do NOT make an appointment with him—he’ll fake interest but in fact he despises you. In fact, he despises everyone. He also despises the human body, so don’t you dare put on one of those gowns and let him see your body or, god forbid, touch you. He has nasty things to say about every one of your nooks and crannies. Get off the table and run for your life!
  
  Marc takes joy in making his patients suffer. He lies, he condescends, he humors. He has no conscience. Just when you think he can’t get any nastier, he ups his game and floors you with yet another display of his sicko weirdness. Koch is a genius at painting a clear picture of how this disgusting man thinks.
  
  The beginning of the book is really strong, as we sit wide-eyed inside the head of a sociopath. Sicko Marc elaborates on his disgust with the body, and the detailed descriptions of everything ugly about the body are phenomenal. The tone is funny, smart, and satisfying. When we get to the plot, which moves at a good clip, the writing is good as is the pacing, but it lacks the wow factor of the first third of the book. And there are a couple of events at the end of the book that seemed unrealistic (they’re spoilers, so I won’t elaborate). Still, the story is intriguing, and I couldn't put the book down. I was surprised that I liked it even more than
  The Dinner, which is a favorite.
  
  Despite Marc’s hatred of the human race, he is loving and protective of his daughters, which maybe gets him out of the sociopath category a little. Is a sociopath capable of love? Though he reacts normally to the tragedy that occurs (well, mostly, that is), there are sick behaviors that he does not seem to react to in the right way. Again, I won’t go into specifics because they’re spoilers.
  
  Marc is not the only disgusting man in the book. There are two others. All three men have a despicable attitude toward women. The leering is beyond disgusting. One guy hangs around naked, even in front of teenage girls, grossing out even our narrator. Through brilliant writing, Koch allows his narrator to do a phenomenal job of persuading us that the naked guy is a totally repulsive scumbag slimedog.
  
  The book wins the prize for gross. I said ick a whole lot. Ick to the disgusting images our narrator shoved in our face, ick to the leering men, ick to the naked man, ick to the gross eye, ick to the way everyone behaved. And ick to the next time I go to my annual exam and have to lie down on the doctor’s table, wearing one of those paper robe thingies.
  
  People who hate the much talked about unlikable narrator will hate this book. I definitely didn't like the guy, but I liked that Koch created such a fascinating character. I don't have to be in this icky guy’s presence: I can sit on the sidelines and shake my head, say oh brother, and chuckle in disbelief. Is this guy for real? Nah, he's just a character...
  
• 
  Carol

  Herman Koch really knows how to conjure up the most despicable characters......GEESH!

  First of all, there's Dr. Marc Schlosser who is the epitome of a GP from hell with an extreme distaste for his patients and their repulsive bodies that he describes in disgusting detail along with his questionable diagnoses and inappropriate treatments.

  Next, we have Ralph Meier, a fun loving but grossly obese actor with an (evil) eye for the too young ladies who becomes violently scary at times and feels no shame in walking around in the au natural with his "little guy" blowing in the wind.

  And then there is "old man" Stanley, the mysterious road-raging (picture taking) filmmaker with his too young of a girlfriend who are both a bit strange to say the least.

  Throw them all together with their families for some summer fun and fireworks at the beach and you have: shapely flirtatious wives.....pubescent children of both sexes.....an aged nosey mother.....excessive consumption of alcohol.....vulgar language (one combo I've never even heard).....infidelity.....and explicit sexual descriptions using every orifice of the human body imaginable.....WHEW!

  This is one crazy unputdownable, hellacious read with an unexpected ending open for much discussion.....and I really liked it!

  (Better than
  The Dinner IMHO, but probably not everyone's cup of tea.)
• 
  Kelly (and the Book Boar)

  Find all of my reviews at:
  http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
  
  This is the story of Dr. Marc Schlosser and one very memorable vacation he and his family spent at the summer house (with swimming pool, natch) of one of his patients (a middle-aged, loudmouthed, boor of an actor who was so repugnant that I was routing for Marc to either murder him or to have sex with his wife as soon as he was introduced).
  
  I requested an ARC (and was promptly denied) of Summer House With Swimming Pool since I enjoyed The Dinner, last year’s big hit by the same author. When I came over to Goodreads and saw this was designated as another literary/book clubby type of thriller I decided I probably needed to check it out. I briefly glanced at a handful of reviews and noticed several people saying how “deeply disturbing” they found this story. I like deeply disturbing, so that that sealed the deal and I rushed down to the local bibliotheek (that's library in Dutch - see NetGalley, I'm freaking BRILLIANT. Stop declining my requests!!!!).
  
  Now that I’ve finished the book I realize that my deeply disturbing is apparently a lot (and I mean A LOT) more disturbing than the average person. What does it say about me that I really enjoyed Dr. Marc? Don’t answer that – I know exactly what it says:
  
  
  
  
  While Marc is a revolting main character – an overt chauvinist and homophobe who can take any situation and warp it into something sexual (I’m telling you, Dr. Freud would have had a heyday with this guy) or violent, I didn’t find him to be nearly as disturbing as some of my other favorites . . .
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  (Whooops, wrong Dexter)
  
  
  
  
  Generally I would lower my rating for an advertised thriller that turned out to be not-so-thrilling. The saving grace for Summer House is Koch’s writing. The man is brilliant. He puts the pedal to the metal on page one and never eases up, he can turn a phrase like nobody’s business, and he writes the most despicable characters that I simply can’t get enough of. I’m not usually a huge fan of the first-person narrator, but Koch’s Dr. Schlosser executed his story with damn near perfection.
  
  That’s not to say I found this to be a perfect novel – thus the 4 Stars rather than 5 (duh, right?). It does a little of the bouncy-bouncy with regard to timeline at both the beginning (which I found to be necessary) and at around the 80% mark (which I did not); Marc goes from enjoyably vile to criminally negligent (and not in the way the synopsis might lead you to believe) that made me unable to keep defending his horribleness; and there was maybe one too many “ripped from the headlines” type of recognizable plot points meant to perplex the reader. All that being said, at the end of it all I found this to be a superb follow-up to last year’s blockbuster. I’ll anxiously await Koch’s (and Sam Garrett's – Koch would not rank so high on the enjoyability scale if he did not have such a spectacular translator) next creation.
  
  Recommended to: Anyone who likes to hate everyone in a book and doesn’t mind feeling like they need a good scrub down with some lye-soap and a wire brush after they are finished reading.
  
  Although I was denied an ARC (most likely because I write super-gify reviews and the publisher was terrified what kind of crap I would spew out on this one), I still read/reviewed it anyway. Na-na-na-boo-boo, stick your head in doo-doo.
  
  
• 
  Glenn Sumi

  I haven’t had a checkup with my family doctor since reading this disturbing book, but I know I’m going to be pretty paranoid when I do.
  
  Herman Koch’s antihero, Dr. Marc Schlosser, is a nasty piece of work. A doctor to members of the “creative class” – movie/TV stars, writers, producers, some professionals, very few “9 to 5 types” – he is ruthless in his assessment of their vanities and their sagging, aging bodies. These celebrities have come to him because he’s less judgmental in their drinking and drugging habits, and he’s liberal in handing out prescriptions. But unbeknownst to them Schlosser seethes with hatred, boredom and a disgust that borders on the sociopathic.
  
  Here he is describing what he sees during a typical day:
  
  

  I see and hear things all day long. Things you need to get off your mind at night. The fungal growths. The bleeding warts. The folds of skin between which things have gotten much, much too warm. The three-hundred-pound woman you have to examine in a place you hoped you’d never have to go again.

  
  I won’t go on. There are descriptions that verge on misogyny, Patrick Bateman territory, but of course Marc is a character, not the author.
  
  Koch is at his funniest when he’s sending up theatre, which, given my job, was a hoot to read about. One of the perks of his profession Marc hates most is attending book readings and movie premieres and theatre openings that his patients are involved in. He’ll often duck out of a movie premiere to hang out in the washroom or lobby. You can’t do that at plays. Here’s Marc describing some of the outlandish productions he’s had to sit through:
  
  

  It wasn’t the first time I’d been invited to a Shakespeare. I’d already seen about ten of his plays. A version of The Taming of the Shrew in which all the male roles were played by women, The Merchant of Venice with the actors in diapers and the actresses wearing garbage bags for dresses and shopping bags on their heads, Hamlet with an all-Down-syndrome cast, wind machines, and a (dead) goose that was decapitated onstage, King Lear with Zimbabwean orphans and ex-junkies, Romeo and Juliet in the never-completed tunnel of a subway line, with concentration camp photos projected on the sewage-streaked walls. A Macbeth in which all the female roles were played by naked men – the only clothing they were was a thong btween their buttocks, and they had handcuffs and weights hanging from their nipples – and performed to a soundtrack consisting of artillery barrages, Radiohead tunes, and poems by Radovan Karadzic. Besides the fact that you didn’t dare to look at how the handcuffs and weights were attached to (or through) the nipples, the problem once again was a matter of how slowly the time passed. I can remember delays at airports that must have lasted half a day, easily, but which were over ten times as quickly as any of those plays.

  
  This is Koch at his best: brutally, savagely satirical, skewering the glitterati with diabolical glee.
  
  Unfortunately, the book’s story – about Schlosser’s part in the death of a famous actor named Ralph Maier – isn’t as fine as Koch’s prose.
  
  It’s told in a circuitous fashion, and the plot hinges on a tragedy that happened on the beach near Maier’s summer home. I won’t spoil the details. But some sections are overwritten, and the characters are so unlikeable that in a way you don’t care what happens to anyone.
  
  Koch has an annoying habit of beginning chapters with weighty, ponderous statements:
  
  

  I often wondered later on whether things would have turned out differently if the Latvian girl had remained on her feet.
  ***
  There are times when you run back through your life, to see whether you can locate the point at which it could still have taken a different turn.
  ***
  That evening, the rest of our lives began. Let me say right now that I’m not a big fan of melodrama. I also have a natural aversion to dramatic statements. The rest of our lives… I’d heard people say that often enough. People who had lost someone or something. Who’d had something happen to them that you wouldn’t wish on anyway – something you would never get over. Still, it had always sounded fake to me. It’s only when it happens to you that you know it’s not fake. There is simply no better description for it than “the rest of your life.” Everything gets heavier. Especially time. Something happens to time. It doesn’t really stand still, but there’s no denying that it slows down.

  
  This is fine writing, a tad self-indulgent, but at times I wanted to prod Koch/Schlosser and say…. OKAY! GET ON WITH IT!
  
  Don’t get me wrong. I liked this book. It’s sharply written. Nobody knows how to analyze the little details of human behaviour – especially among strutting, cocky upper-middle-class men – than Koch.
  
  As in The Dinner, I had problems with this book’s resolution. It just didn’t have the force that I think the author intended.
  
  But I’ll read whatever he writes, knowing beforehand that if I don’t like his characters, I at least will find it interesting getting under their slimy skin for a few days.
  
• 
  Diane S ☔

  I am not going to rate this because I cannot finish it. Koch's books c3rtainly contain characters that are detestable. He can write sure, but this book is so graphic at times that it is nauseating, this book was like a train wreck and I guess I would not make a good gawker. I can't read a book that makes me feel terrible for no good reason, yes Holocaust books make on sad but that really happened, it is history. I will say I will have a hard time looking my doctor in the eye again.
• 
  Zoeytron

  "Is there a doctor in the house?"
  
  A summer house filled with house guests. Dissatisfied, dissolute, condescending, self-absorbed individuals. But by the gods, there is a swimming pool!
  
  One of the guests is Dr. Marc Schlosser, a nightmare of a general practitioner. His outright distaste for the human body is frightful. One has to wonder how on earth he ever made it through the Anatomy courses in med school. The things that go through his mind as his patients file through with their litanies of bodily complaints and malfunctions are terrible, but so entertaining!
  
  When I have an appointment with my family doctor, he asks a couple of perfunctory questions and then spends most of the remaining time typing on the computer. I've always wondered what the hell he learned that spawned such a marathon keyboarding session. Makes me want to whip that monitor around and take a look for myself next time. Ha!
  
  This is a good argument for staying in your house on vacation, with a goodly stack of books at the ready, of course.
• 
  Marvin

  Four and a half stars.
  
  Dutch writer Herman Koch is one of those authors who write exquisite prose even if you feel you want to wash your hands after reading it. His characters are far from perfect and border between very imperfect and downright sleazy. Yet they wander amongst the privileged crowd; artist, doctors, producers who exude a shallow tide of civilization along with the well-hidden skeletons. Whatever your opinion of the uncomfortable topic which is slowly revealed in the novel, Koch's prose reels you in and immerses you into the plot like sirens off the shore.
  
  Our narrator is general practitioner Dr. Marc Schlosser, who tends to an elite bunch of celebrities despite his cynicism and partially due to his generosity with prescriptions. We find out early in the book that he is being suspected of medical malpractice allegedly contributing to the death of a famous actor named Ralph Meier. Marc, the epitome of the unreliable narrator, takes us back to the beginning of Ralph and Marc's acquaintance. Friendship is too strong a word as we learn of the doctor's cynical view of his patients and human nature in general. Marc and his family, which includes two young daughters, are invited to the Meier's summer house and he becomes suspicious of Ralph's intention with his wife and daughters, a suspicion which is complicated by Marc's own infatuation with Ralph's wife, Judith.
  
  There are few places where the phrase, "what a tangled web we weave" is so well practiced. Much of the delicious tension in this book is fueled not by action but by the complex thoughts and feelings our unreliable narrator places in his tale. We see everything from his perceptive. He is a very flawed protagonist but so is everyone else in the book. As we learn about the past events, we wonder many things. Who is responsible for the crime? (a crime which I won't reveal and hopefully you did not read the book's promo blurbs which shamelessly gives it and other things away too early) Was Dr. Schlosser's malpractice one of neglect or murder? Eventually we find these things out but I believe the author's focus isn't on the answers but on bigger questions such as why we as human beings work so hard to do the very things that make our lives so miserable. In Koch's world, The road to hell may be paved with good intentions but it keeps us there with a fair amount of quicksand.
  
  I've heard great things about Koch's debut novel, The Dinner. I have not read it but based on this second novel, Herman Koch seems to be a literary force to deal with. Credit should also go to the superb translation by Sam Garrett which appears to catch all the complexity of this involving novel.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Carol

  My sincere thanks to Hogarth Publishing & Netgalley for providing the e-galley of this book to be published June 2014.
  
  In Koch's hands Summer House with Swimming Pool is like a sculpture. Koch, the sculptor, forms a piece of art, his words used like a hunk of clay that he carves in intricate layers before our eyes. He is a master at presenting characters that are not only unlikeable but are disturbing.
  
  We are sucked in slowly, introduced to general practitioner, Dr. Marc Schlosser. Before long, we wonder just what kind of doctor is he, this man who views his patients with contempt and has utter disregard for the human body. He examines his patients using tactics to avoid any contact with human flesh, rarely having them disrobe for a complete exam, never taking seriously the medical treatment or advice they may need. This doctor truly nauseates me but the thoughts that go through his mind fascinate me nonetheless.
  
  Then one of Dr. Schlosser's patients, if not a good friend, at least an acquaintance, dies. Is this medical euthanasia , malpractice, or something far more sinister?
  
  As he did so well in The Dinner, Koch manages to weave a complicated, tangled psychological story with just a handful of skillfully developed characters. Highly recommended.
• 
  Kostas Papadatos

  Το «Εξοχικό με πισίνα» δεν είναι το ένθετο του περιοδικού «Ιδέες για το σπίτι», αλλά ένα εξαιρετικό ψυχολογικό θρίλερ που κόβει πραγματικά την ανάσα και ταυτόχρονα ενοχλεί, ενοχλεί σε σημείο που χαλαρώνεις τον γιακά από το πουκάμι��ο ιδρωμένος.
  Όπως και στο προηγούμενό βιβλίο του Herman Koch (Το δείπνο) έτσι και εδώ, λάτρεψα τον ιδιαίτερο τρόπο γραφής του.
  Οι «τοξικοί» ήρωες μας, ο αντιπαθητικός γιατρός Μάρκ μαζί με τη γυναίκα του και τις δύο τους κόρες, φιλοξενούνται στο εξοχικό του επίσης αντιπαθητικού ηθοποιού Ράλφ Μέγιερ. Δε χρειάζεται να πω πολλά παρά μόνο πως μέσα σε λίγα εικοσιτετράωρα το γαλήνιο σκηνικό μετατρέπεται σε επεισόδιο του «καλημέρα ζωή» του Φώσκολου. Ένας κακός χαμός δηλαδή.
  Φανταστικό βιβλίο.
• 
  Greg

  About five and a half years ago I read a Michel Houellebecq novel. At the time I gave it four stars. I don't know why I did. My memory of the book was that Elementary Particles was a misanthropic bore. There must have been something more to the novel I remember, but whatever was charming about the book to me long since forgotten (if there was something charming about EP it was forgotten fairly quickly because I can remember that a couple of years after that already telling people I disliked Houellebecq's book when asked, an opinion that confused me when I later noticed that I had given the book four stars).
  
  This book feels like the author is trying to be Houellebecq in his general misanthropy and disdain of just about everyone but without whatever that elusive thing that I had found charming in Elementary Particles.
  
  It's not that I found the constant the Celine-esque blah to the world-ness off putting, it was that there didn't seem to be any reason for it all. The story for the book seemed fairly insubstantial and pages were just filled with a string of mini-rants against all different types of people. The structure of the book set up a moment near the climax or resolution to start off the book and then the story went back to the start until at the end it met up with the resolution.... which is a fine style to use, but I felt it took way to long to get into the story that was being hinted at near the start. Which is fine, but I couldn't figure out why a lot of what was in the book was necessary. To many things seemed to be started and then never returned to, things that seemed more like vehicles to rant against one thing or another.
  
  When the story finally does get going certain details are left coyly absent. Things that weren't too difficult to figure out or which were soon revealed where given the 'oh I can't tell you this' treatment. But after so many pages of blunt descriptions it seemed like a cheap trick to drag out some suspense by having the narrator say things like, 'I don't feel comfortable telling you what happened to my daughter'. Great keep it to yourself, but the description of what finally happened is kind of incongruous with what was described when he first discovers her and, well, I was already finding the book to be a tiresome bore and this just made it feel like a cheap literary trick.
  
  Like this distracted review I'm trying to write and just not feeling, this book seems to be lacking focus. It might sound like I disliked the book, and I guess I did but I mostly just felt really indifferent about it. There's got to be better contemporary European literature that can be brought to our shores and given attention by a major publisher than this book.
  
  Disclaimer.... I got this book from Netgalley, it should be apparent the publisher didn't pay me for this review.
• 
  Debbie "DJ"

  While this book can be a tough read, my curiosity of being inside one man's mind got the better of me. All I can say about this book is it's like not being able to turn your head away from a gruesome accident. I always had to see more, to peer closer at the carnage. Towards the end, reading at breakneck speed, ah, the answers to this horrific disaster. I really liked it, but, it ain't pretty!
• 
  Margarita Garova

  Рядко чета всички книги, или поне тези издадени у нас, на някой автор. При Херман Кох се получи някакво изключение с променлив успех. Много се радвам, че именно книгата, която най-много ми допада от него, е и последната, която ми “остана” от четирите му романа, издадени на български.
  
  Във “Вила с басейн” има по нещо и от останалите романи на Кох – герои на ръба на поносимото с възмутителни размишления, ако мерим с аршина на политкоректното, тънка криминална нишка, без да е никога водеща. Това, което издига “Вила с басейн” над другите му книги е, че всички “прегрешения” в цинизъм и арогантност, в които обвиняват автора, тук не са самоцелни.
  
  (В предишните му книги – “Уважаеми г-н М.”, “Вечерята” и най-вече “Одеса стар” антипатичното беше твърде умишлено изопачено за моя вкус. И ако някой тръгва да си състави мнение за холандците само на база неговите романи, то това ще е едно много печално мнение.)
  
  В тази книга това не така. Всичко е много интелигентно дозирано – и героите, и структурата, и психологизма.
  
  “Вила с басейн” е социална сатира от висока класа. Героите са любимите на Кох модерни грешници, а когато главният сред тях е преситен и отегчен семеен лекар, може да сте сигурни, че циничното ще жили по-силно от друг път. Само ако знаехме какви мисли се въртят в главата на личните ни лекари, докато преглеждат голите ни уязвими тела (да не се лас��аем, не са сексуални).
  
  Книгата много увлича, героят е готин скептик и циник, от типа хора, които задължително искаме да са на наша страна, иначе иронията му трудно бихме понесли върху себе си. Западноевропеец от средната класа, с красива жена и две дъщери, навлизащи в тийнейджърска възраст.
  
  Моментът, в който докторът решава да се плъзне по едно нерегламентирано изкушение от извънбрачен характер обръща добре смазаното семейно колело и животът на четиримата дерайлира необратимо.
  
  Кох е развил много силно темата за родителската отговорност – къде свършва преследването на личния интерес и откъде започва дългът към децата. Последната една трета от “Вила с басейн” е дълбоко болезнена и поставя на фокус неразрешима проблематика. И е в рязък контраст с игривата хапливост отпреди това.
  
  Силно препоръчвам слушането на книгата в Сторител. Такова майсторско прочитане на книга там досега не ми се беше случвало. Истински филм за ушите.
  
• 
  Metodi Markov

  Нямах твърде високи очаквания и останах приятно изненадан от произведението на г-н Кох!
  
  Отлично е структурирано и развито, с пълнокръвни герои и е издържано в стилистиката на съвременните френски романи, които аз толкова харесвам.
  
  Доста читатели си служат с епитети като циничен, отблъскващ, дори неприятен при споделянето на мнението си за романа "Вила с басейн", но аз не съм съгласен, авторът е бил максимално честен и откровен и е написал неща, които нерядко си мислим, но почти никога не произнасяме на глас, дори и пред най-близките ни.
  
  Д-р Марк Шлосер е семеен лекар, работа която ненавижда - преглежда предимно пациенти от арт средите, които са му абсолютно безразлични. Просто си вади хляба и издържа перфектното си семейство - красива съпруга и две дъщери, на прага на метаморфозата от деца в млади жени.
  
  И той е човек както всички останали, но не може да си представи, какви последствия го очакват, заради плътските желания, които женените често търсят извън брачните окови. Разликата е в това, че Марк може да си отмъсти в отговор на предолагаемата неправда. И тук Кох задава въпрос на читателите - как бихте постъпили вие, ако се бе случило на вас?
  
  Роман за загуби, прегрешения и реванш, чете се на един дъх, с приятен стил на писане и много увлекателен. Надявам се на френски или италиански филм по книгата, сякаш за триумф на някой от техните добри режисьори и актьори е писана!
  
  P.S. Не знаех, че холандците имат големи газови находища. Това разбива малко популярния мит, за липсата им на природни богатства и за съответния им икономически възход едва ли не от нулата... Все пак са имали и доста колонии, както и голям пиратски и търговски флот.
• 
  Jenna

  I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said, good or bad about this book. There are twisted characters, vile, repulsive...etc. But hey, I love to read about characters unlike myself as a checklist to remind me that I'm still somewhat normal. I think it's very impressive that a book can be translated from Dutch to English and still have so many layers to it that unfold slowly as the book goes along. From the beginning it is foretold what the ending is about so I enjoy reading bit by bit what lead to such chaos and I can confidently say that I am a big fan of Herman Koch and look forward to reading more from him in the future.
• 
  Caro the Helmet Lady

  Very good book with disgusting people in it. Hated them all while highly enjoying it (the book, not the hating..). There's a lot of unanswered questions left and I'm pretty much free to think whatever I want about the answers. A lot of visible situations happens and a lot of situations happens out of the vision and the narrator doesn't seem to be the reliable one. He tells us only what he wants us to know, so basically you can think twice. Or read twice. There so much happening on the"left untold" level. And I kinda like that. You want to take sides, but there's no one you would want to take side with, other than pretty much passive victim that doesn't speak for herself. Read it on your own risk, but I highly recommend it.
• 
  Благовеста

  "Вила с басейн" е безпощадна и брутално-цинична. Херман Кох ме направи заклет фен с тази своя втора книга, която ми хареса може би дори повече от "Вечерята". Добър психолог, който изследва тъмната ни половина и пише много майсторски и задълбочено за нея.
• 
  Теодор Панов

  Книгата се оказа едно много ярко изживяване, което определено ми хареса. Персонажите са крайно противоречиви (също като тези във „Вечерята“) и отново се изправят пред множество морални дилеми. А решението за правилно и грешно е оставено на читателя. Имаше и много моменти, които ми дойдоха леко екстремни (като този с инфектираното око на лекаря и иглата 😲 - толкова подробно и детайлно беше описано). Отделно в книгата имаше и хубава описателност на плажовете, морето, вилата с басейна и се усещаше една подчертано лятна атмосфера, много подходяща към настоящия сезон и спомагаше да се понесат по-гладко някои от крайностите.
  Не мога да преценя коя от двете книги ми хареса повече – „Вечерята“ или „Вила с басейн“, защото и двете някак си ми харесват поравно. А сега започнах и „Уважаеми господин М.“ и поне в началото ми се струва, че тази е още по-поглъщаща интереса и вниманието.
• 
  Glenda (on hiatus)

  You may view this and more of my reviews and bits of interest at
  https://travelreadlove.blog.
  
  I’ve finally gotten a chance to sit down and look over my notes to write a review on this wonderful book. Herman Koch is one of my favorite authors. I will read more by him. Was it better than The Dinner? In some ways, yes and in others no. Both are terrific.
  
  Marc Schlosser, is a Dutch doctor, a General Practitioner who has some high-profile patients. He is a mediocre doctor who simply gives lip service to his patients. The sight of naked bodies repulses him. Marc’s wife is Caroline. He has two daughters, Lisa and Julia.
  
  One of these high-profile patients is Ralph Meier, a well-known stage actor who has been recently tapped for a television series to be shot in California. He has a wife, Judith and two sons. Ralph is overweight and a braggart. Obnoxious to the nth degree.
  
  Marc and Caroline become socially connected to Ralph and Judith. Ralph extends an invitation for them to stay in a summer house that he has rented. He makes sure to let them know it does have a swimming pool. Caroline does not want to go, however Marc without conferring with her, heads out to a place very close to the house Ralph is renting. Caroline is not happy.
  
  Since they did not take Ralph up on his invitation to stay at the summer house, he invited another couple instead, film director Stanley Forbes and his much younger girlfriend, Emmanuelle. Marc, Caroline and the girls end up pitching a tent in Ralph’s yard and staying there.
  
  At this point, things start happening. Not all of them good. The characters, all unlikable to me, play a part in the drama that unfolds.
  
  From this point on, I will not reveal a lot. Let it suffice to say that much transpires over the summer and this book kept me turning pages, laughing during parts of it and horrified during other parts.
  
  The ending was very sad in my eyes. I believe that the attitude expressed in the book is one that is commonplace in America today.
  
  In a nutshell, as in The Dinner, I really disliked all the characters in this book. I did, however, give it five ***** as it well deserves it.