Bad Doctor Makes for the Best Narrator in Summer House with Swimming Pool

If I were to judge this book by it's cover, I'd say it was the perfect summer beach read. I mean it's called Summer House with Swimming Pool (by Herman Koch), which doesn't get a whole lot more summer-sounding. However, my immediate reaction while reading this book was "wow, this narrator sounds a lot like that one friend we all have that is too honest about things". You know the person: they have no filter and say exactly what they are thinking at all times even when you find yourself cringing and wishing they would just be quiet already.

Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

This novel centers around Marc Schlosser, a family doctor who gets himself into some trouble when a patient of his dies. That's the plot but really this book is about Marc the maybe not so reliable narrator and his disturbingly honest insight into all things. From his family life, to what he really thinks of his patients, this book is one big very dark comedy wrapped up inside a not-so-thrilling thriller.

Read this book if you like to analyze the characters in the novels you read. You are guaranteed to be thinking about Marc long after you finish.

Blogger note: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. This review is entirely based on my opinion and contains my honest evaluation.

The Vacationers: A Story About The Holiday I Never Want to Be On

Ok so I believed the hype and dove in (pun kinda intended) to THE SUMMER BOOK of 2014: The Vacationers by Emma Straub. And I am probably in the minority when I say this but, I just wasn't feeling it.

The book is literally about a dysfunctional American family that goes on vacation to the idyllic Spanish island of Mallorca. Said family are the Post's: Fran (mom who may possibly care more about food/cooking than everything else), Jim (father, recently fired from his lifelong career at a men's magazine because of an affair with an intern), Bobby (Fran & Jim's oldest child who behaves like someone 10 years his junior) and Stella (Fran & Jim's daughter who seems to be the most stable member of the clan, recent high school graduation about to fly the coop for college life). Along for the vacation are family friends Charles & Lawrence (married couple who spend most of 2 weeks hoping that their adoption in the states goes through) and Carmen (Bobby's much older girlfriend/personal trainer). A few minor characters included a Spanish virginity-taking tutor, a retired hunky tennis pro, a Harley driving pediatrician and the even more self-obsessed (really? is that possible?) owner of the home who rents it to the Posts for their quasi-doomed holiday, none of which really do much to elevate the plot to anything that would keep the reader compelled to finish the book.

This book is essentially about all of them and how their secrets come out and either redeem them or ruin them. There is no real plot. The characters are self-obsessed and don't really do anything noteworthy except exist. There are marital problems. Money problems. Career problems. Friend problems.  It's as if the book is a suspended glimpse of how people interact with one another when forced to by proximity via vacation house in foreign country. (Side note: the descriptions of Mallorca were very enchanting)

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. It felt like I kept waiting for something to happen, and it never really did.

photo courtesy of: Penguin group