Ms Moss knows how to get into her characters heads. She is laugh out loud with her comments about their thoughts. A teen-age boy thinks about being on vacation, crowded in with family in a tiny chalet away out in the country, vacations cost too much, his family would have been happier staying home instead of losing money and time on this rainy vacation. Quiet time, boring vacation, bunch of unhappy folks.
Rain, rain, rain. People looking out windows, watching others, being both nosy and uncaring. Don't know those people, don't want to. It's too rainy to go outside, but they do anyway. Need fresh air. Its always raining in Scotland. Kids are bored.
The book takes place over a period of one day in the Scottish Trossachs. It has rained constantly, hard, heavy rain, for a long time. Characters paid well for a vacation, but at the wrong time. The log cabins are old, not well built, a group of log cabins located close together on a large loch. The people keep to themselves, many of them have children, wanting to introduce their kids to the world of nature. Before each chapter is a page pertaining to the natural world. Ladies have to cook, clean, do housework, just as they do at home.
The first chapter introduces Justine, a runner, a believer in healthy food and healthy eating. She gets up very early to get away from her family before they wake up. She runs and runs and runs, thoughts running through her head. She could have done more with her life, traveled more if she hadn't settled for Steve. Mother of two young boys, her doctors told her she has a heart defect, quit her passion for running. Readers get to meet David, a retired doctor, who goes hiking in the rain, he loves to hike. He is an owner of his cabin where he lives with his wife. Wife, Mary, sweet lady, early dementia, takes art classes which she likes. Her mind wanders back and forth to her childhood and when her grown kids were very young.
Claire has two young children, Izzy, five, saying constantly, Mummy, Mummy, Mummy. Patrick is fifteen months and needs to ride around in a buggy. Dad decides to take them out in the rain so Claire can have a break, a short time for herself. She thinks back to when she was working, a good job, dressed well, went to nice places, met fun people. Times have changed. Milly, who when making love to Josh, imagines herself making love to gorgeous, handsome men in beautiful parts of the world such as Bali, Hawaii Islands. Teenage Alex rushes out of his cabin in anger to go kayaking in the loch. Waves tear against the kayak, this an almost suicidal trip. Violent weather, violent loch.
Comes the story of a little brat girl, Lola, who throws stones at another girl from a different family. There is a family of Eastern Europeans who party, wild parties,sing and dance all night, loud, loud, loud, keeping babies, small children, and old folks awake. The vacationers are angry. Lola tells the other little girl to go back to where she is from, echoing what her father has said many times.
Characters are tired, fussing at each other, too much togetherness. Teenage Becky has a boyfriend, not really, who lives in a tent. Vacationers wonder about that man. Gavin tells her about Iraq, he did have an interesting life, not a boring one like hers. Becky is a typical teen, angry at life, but makes funny comments, funny kid. Izzy is a five year old with a great imagination and a fear of the dark. The book ends seen through the eyes of a child. Beautiful works and descriptions of nature. Great book, good writing, but chilly.
This is the first book I have read by Sarah Moss. I had never heard of her until she was introduced on PBS. This book made a big impression on me.
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the reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2021KTer
3.0 out of 5 stars
Poetic story of classism & racism,
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2022
Classism. Racism. How does a parent’s words affect their child’s actions?
Family #1
The wife is a runner, but what exactly is she looking to run away from? Her marriage? Her life? Judgement?
She looks at her marriage as an obligation and feels the world is constantly judging. Running she thinks is a refuge from it all.
“….must have been two weeks, three – four? – and even when she doesn’t feel like it, it seems to be good for them, like oiling your bike chain, doesn’t have to be fun but it stops things falling apart.”
Family #2
A newly engaged couple in their prime, already questioning the capatability of their relationship.
Their plot centers around moving to a recluse island to raise children, yet their inability to get through a single day in their holiday cabin makes me seriously doubt even the idea of these two making it down the aisle, let alone on an island.
One of woman’s thoughts “I have a book I’d rather be reading” during intercourse, was a favorite line of mine, and well, relatable.
The weather is not the only foreshadowing of the doom of this relationship. But hey, they “love” each other. At least that’s what the woman is banking on.
Family #3
A currently suicidal teenage girl spends her day reminiscing on past suicide attempts and all the reasons the next one could fail. The son very much just wants to run away and leave it all behind. He emits an angst, much more so than the normal teen boy – though has a maturity and intellect that produces one of my favorite quotes.
“It’s pretty weird when you think about it, all these middle-class white people coming here to have less privacy, comfort and convenience than they do at home, how’s that a holiday?”
Family #4
An elderly man and his wife. Once a prominent doctor who purchased the cabin as a holiday compound with friends, soon finds himself the only original owner left.
His elderly wife’s train of thought alludes to dementia though she believes she is successfully hiding it from her husband. His thoughts reflect that she is not.
Their thoughts linger to their own children and memories as they watch the lives unfold of the other vacationers throughout the day.
Family #5
A young family with two small children struggling to make it through a first holiday. The mother, a prior-career woman, now stay at home mom who’s in that rough stage of life. Overwhelmed and constantly questioning her self-identity. Who she was vs. who she is now and who she hopes to be in the future.
She’s very cognizant that the struggle of now, will be something she longs for someday.
“They won’t always love her this much, she thinks, holding her son, no one else, not even her children’s future selves, will ever be so pleased to see her coming as they are today.”
Family #6
A father who takes his family on holiday yet spends the days working on his laptop at the pub.
A drowning mother who fluctuates between horrifying anxious worrying, crying and sleeping all day.
A daughter who is cruel and heavily influenced by her parents and a young boy who is left to observe it all.
It is he whose eyes the Author chooses to let the final scenes of the book play out through. And the words are just as chaotic as you would expect from a child’s mind, yet somehow is able to capture all the details an adult would pass over.
Family #7
A Ukrainian Mother and daughter, constantly mis-raced by the other vacationers as “Romanian” due to their accent and last name.
The central tragedy that culminates the book is focused around these two. I don’t think its coincidence, that while each family’s focus somehow drifts to these outsiders, when tragedy occurs, they are also the first to be forgotten.
Family #1
The wife is a runner, but what exactly is she looking to run away from? Her marriage? Her life? Judgement?
She looks at her marriage as an obligation and feels the world is constantly judging. Running she thinks is a refuge from it all.
“….must have been two weeks, three – four? – and even when she doesn’t feel like it, it seems to be good for them, like oiling your bike chain, doesn’t have to be fun but it stops things falling apart.”
Family #2
A newly engaged couple in their prime, already questioning the capatability of their relationship.
Their plot centers around moving to a recluse island to raise children, yet their inability to get through a single day in their holiday cabin makes me seriously doubt even the idea of these two making it down the aisle, let alone on an island.
One of woman’s thoughts “I have a book I’d rather be reading” during intercourse, was a favorite line of mine, and well, relatable.
The weather is not the only foreshadowing of the doom of this relationship. But hey, they “love” each other. At least that’s what the woman is banking on.
Family #3
A currently suicidal teenage girl spends her day reminiscing on past suicide attempts and all the reasons the next one could fail. The son very much just wants to run away and leave it all behind. He emits an angst, much more so than the normal teen boy – though has a maturity and intellect that produces one of my favorite quotes.
“It’s pretty weird when you think about it, all these middle-class white people coming here to have less privacy, comfort and convenience than they do at home, how’s that a holiday?”
Family #4
An elderly man and his wife. Once a prominent doctor who purchased the cabin as a holiday compound with friends, soon finds himself the only original owner left.
His elderly wife’s train of thought alludes to dementia though she believes she is successfully hiding it from her husband. His thoughts reflect that she is not.
Their thoughts linger to their own children and memories as they watch the lives unfold of the other vacationers throughout the day.
Family #5
A young family with two small children struggling to make it through a first holiday. The mother, a prior-career woman, now stay at home mom who’s in that rough stage of life. Overwhelmed and constantly questioning her self-identity. Who she was vs. who she is now and who she hopes to be in the future.
She’s very cognizant that the struggle of now, will be something she longs for someday.
“They won’t always love her this much, she thinks, holding her son, no one else, not even her children’s future selves, will ever be so pleased to see her coming as they are today.”
Family #6
A father who takes his family on holiday yet spends the days working on his laptop at the pub.
A drowning mother who fluctuates between horrifying anxious worrying, crying and sleeping all day.
A daughter who is cruel and heavily influenced by her parents and a young boy who is left to observe it all.
It is he whose eyes the Author chooses to let the final scenes of the book play out through. And the words are just as chaotic as you would expect from a child’s mind, yet somehow is able to capture all the details an adult would pass over.
Family #7
A Ukrainian Mother and daughter, constantly mis-raced by the other vacationers as “Romanian” due to their accent and last name.
The central tragedy that culminates the book is focused around these two. I don’t think its coincidence, that while each family’s focus somehow drifts to these outsiders, when tragedy occurs, they are also the first to be forgotten.
Lizzie Hudson
5.0 out of 5 stars
When I finished the last sentence of this book, there was a new silence.
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2021
I began Summerwater deep in a hammock yesterday, and fell lost in the loch and the rain and the mysteries and the tiny universes and the big universe and the loneliness and the hatred and the gut-holding humor and the omniscient understanding, the engine, that drives and paddles and pushes this glorious novel upon the first chapter and when I closed this book at 1 AM I stayed awake, still thinking.
And then I dreamed about the book, or something that reminded me of these words, which is about as much praise as I can give to art. I dreamed about Noah's ark, certainly a new one for me (!), where Noah places a man and a woman in a coffin until the rain stops. And then I thought about all of the semaphores and parallelisms in Summerwater, including the pairs of people and the choice Moss makes to allow some consciousness and some only as seen by the temporary narrators. The omniscient narrator, however - be that entity Nature, Time, Universe, the author herself- oversees and sees over this tiny theater, and without judgment but not without some compassion.
I also might mention that I couldn't breathe for the freaking hilarious thoughts and behaviors of some of the characters. And even Don Draper gets a cameo!
Summerwater is an elegy and I mean this to my bones, one novel that has affected me like few others in recent years. The rain, the prey, the drop on a leaf- lingering but ready to fall.
And then I dreamed about the book, or something that reminded me of these words, which is about as much praise as I can give to art. I dreamed about Noah's ark, certainly a new one for me (!), where Noah places a man and a woman in a coffin until the rain stops. And then I thought about all of the semaphores and parallelisms in Summerwater, including the pairs of people and the choice Moss makes to allow some consciousness and some only as seen by the temporary narrators. The omniscient narrator, however - be that entity Nature, Time, Universe, the author herself- oversees and sees over this tiny theater, and without judgment but not without some compassion.
I also might mention that I couldn't breathe for the freaking hilarious thoughts and behaviors of some of the characters. And even Don Draper gets a cameo!
Summerwater is an elegy and I mean this to my bones, one novel that has affected me like few others in recent years. The rain, the prey, the drop on a leaf- lingering but ready to fall.
Top reviews from other countries
Kate Hopkins
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning Writing - But Perhaps Not Enough Narrative
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2020
Sarah Moss is one of my absolute favourite authors: I rank 'Night Waking' and 'The Tidal Zone' as two of my most enjoyed reads of all time, really liked 'Cold Earth' and am looking forward to reading her two historical novels over Christmas. However, while I admired her last novel 'Ghost Wall' a lot, I wasn't entirely sure about the very spare style she now seems to be adopting - and I felt much the same about 'Summerwater'. At its best it's wonderful, and the prose style can be stunning - but I had a slight feeling of something missing.
'Summerwater' is essentially a collection of stream-of-consciousness narratives from a group of holiday-makers stuck due to rain in a chalet park in the Scottish Highlands. Among them are Justine, a frustrated exercise-crazy mother, and her somewhat bigoted husband Steve; pensioner David and his wife Mary who has early Alzheimer's; stroppy teenager Becky; Alex, a bolder adolescent who braves the wild weather to go canoeing; Lola, a cruel child who torments a little Ukrainian girl; exhausted mother-of-two Claire and her vulnerable daughter Izzy and Lola's gentler brother Jack. In between each stream-of-consciousness (all approximately ten pages) monologue, are wonderful, lyrical meditations on nature and descriptions of the wildlife round the holiday park. The action takes place in a single day, building up to a dramatic climax in the final chapter.
The nature-writing is wonderful, like a superb prose-poem (has Moss written poetry too, I wonder?). The narrative voices are on the whole very convincing and highly individual. The story, though reasonably low-key, is believable and engaging, and Moss manages to make one interested in all her characters, even the more unsympathetic ones like Becky, Steve and Lola. There's some interesting reflections on immigration, on how society has changed over the years and on climate change. I was really impressed with how Moss captures the perspective of children - though I'd have loved a chapter told from the Ukrainian girl's point of view. And I thought Moss's evocation of the holiday park itself was superb. So - lots to recommend and it's definitely a book I'll re-read.
And yet... there was something about it that appealed slightly less to me that Moss's earlier work. Maybe it was the bleakness of the story (I always prefer novels that have some happy episodes - or at least offer some sort of hope). Maybe (I do read the 'Guardian' most days after all) I'm a bit exhausted by doom-laden tales that don't offer any sort of realistic solution to how we can alleviate the trouble we're in. Maybe it was the fact that none of the characters appealed as much or felt as vivid as the students in 'Cold Earth', the marvellously sarcastic Anna in 'Night Waking' or Adam the gentle father-narrator in 'The Tidal Zone'. Maybe it was the style - no speech marks, a tendency to very long sentences and paragraphs, a rather 'meandering' narrative clearly meant (as in Virginia Woolf) to capture the fluidity of our thoughts. Anyway, whatever it was, I found myself nostalgic for the more traditional narrative and the very distinctive voice of Moss's earlier novels. Despite the often beautiful prose, 'Summerwater' felt less individual than the other Moss books I've read (there are so many writers now, from Ali Smith to Bernardine Evaristo, dispensing with punctuation, relying on stream-of-consciousness narrative and focussing on bleak or despairing subject matter). I had something of the same problem with 'Ghost Wall' so wonder whether Moss is actually a stronger writer in the longer format novel rather than the novella? I hope she goes back to bigger books soon.
Nevertheless, despite these criticisms (which may be partly due to my personal love for 19th-century realist novels and their contemporary equivalents and my mixed feelings about modernism) a book by Sarah Moss is always a delight, and the strengths of 'Summerwater' far outweigh the weaknesses. Please keep writing Ms Moss - you are much needed!
'Summerwater' is essentially a collection of stream-of-consciousness narratives from a group of holiday-makers stuck due to rain in a chalet park in the Scottish Highlands. Among them are Justine, a frustrated exercise-crazy mother, and her somewhat bigoted husband Steve; pensioner David and his wife Mary who has early Alzheimer's; stroppy teenager Becky; Alex, a bolder adolescent who braves the wild weather to go canoeing; Lola, a cruel child who torments a little Ukrainian girl; exhausted mother-of-two Claire and her vulnerable daughter Izzy and Lola's gentler brother Jack. In between each stream-of-consciousness (all approximately ten pages) monologue, are wonderful, lyrical meditations on nature and descriptions of the wildlife round the holiday park. The action takes place in a single day, building up to a dramatic climax in the final chapter.
The nature-writing is wonderful, like a superb prose-poem (has Moss written poetry too, I wonder?). The narrative voices are on the whole very convincing and highly individual. The story, though reasonably low-key, is believable and engaging, and Moss manages to make one interested in all her characters, even the more unsympathetic ones like Becky, Steve and Lola. There's some interesting reflections on immigration, on how society has changed over the years and on climate change. I was really impressed with how Moss captures the perspective of children - though I'd have loved a chapter told from the Ukrainian girl's point of view. And I thought Moss's evocation of the holiday park itself was superb. So - lots to recommend and it's definitely a book I'll re-read.
And yet... there was something about it that appealed slightly less to me that Moss's earlier work. Maybe it was the bleakness of the story (I always prefer novels that have some happy episodes - or at least offer some sort of hope). Maybe (I do read the 'Guardian' most days after all) I'm a bit exhausted by doom-laden tales that don't offer any sort of realistic solution to how we can alleviate the trouble we're in. Maybe it was the fact that none of the characters appealed as much or felt as vivid as the students in 'Cold Earth', the marvellously sarcastic Anna in 'Night Waking' or Adam the gentle father-narrator in 'The Tidal Zone'. Maybe it was the style - no speech marks, a tendency to very long sentences and paragraphs, a rather 'meandering' narrative clearly meant (as in Virginia Woolf) to capture the fluidity of our thoughts. Anyway, whatever it was, I found myself nostalgic for the more traditional narrative and the very distinctive voice of Moss's earlier novels. Despite the often beautiful prose, 'Summerwater' felt less individual than the other Moss books I've read (there are so many writers now, from Ali Smith to Bernardine Evaristo, dispensing with punctuation, relying on stream-of-consciousness narrative and focussing on bleak or despairing subject matter). I had something of the same problem with 'Ghost Wall' so wonder whether Moss is actually a stronger writer in the longer format novel rather than the novella? I hope she goes back to bigger books soon.
Nevertheless, despite these criticisms (which may be partly due to my personal love for 19th-century realist novels and their contemporary equivalents and my mixed feelings about modernism) a book by Sarah Moss is always a delight, and the strengths of 'Summerwater' far outweigh the weaknesses. Please keep writing Ms Moss - you are much needed!
C. O'Brien
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant novel-in-flash
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2021
This is not so much a novel as a "novel-in-flash" - in this case a series of short linked narratives focusing in turn on the inhabitants of a set of holiday chalets in a woodland clearing miles from civilisation during one long, rainy August day in Scotland. Bored families, discontented couples, frustrated teens - each try in their own way to get through the day without sunshine, wifi or a phone signal, many driven to confront their own personal demons in the process.
And in the background are lives we don't explore so closely - those of the wildlife clustering invisibly around the clearing; the lone male camper who pitches his tent in the woods, and the group of Rumanians, Bulgarians or Ukrainians (nobody's quite sure) who seem to be throwing a party.
Each chapter is written from the point of view of one single visitor. Some need to escape into the wilderness - the woman desperate to indulge her running addiction, the boy who almost drowns in a kayak - while some are looking for a way to hang onto connection, like the young couple chasing the mirage of sexual compatibility, the elderly doctor's wife fending off dementia and the watchfully worried gaze of her husband. Each narrative is written in close third-person - a tricky tone to pull off, but Sarah Moss does it brilliantly, giving us an intimate insight into the workings of each mind without the self-consciousness that can accompany straight first person narratives.
As the linked narratives build towards a single common climax, we also become increasingly conscious of the spirit of place which informs this book and weaves its way into each human story, as vivid a setting as Hardy's Egdon Heath or the Bronte's Yorkshire moors. A great read.
And in the background are lives we don't explore so closely - those of the wildlife clustering invisibly around the clearing; the lone male camper who pitches his tent in the woods, and the group of Rumanians, Bulgarians or Ukrainians (nobody's quite sure) who seem to be throwing a party.
Each chapter is written from the point of view of one single visitor. Some need to escape into the wilderness - the woman desperate to indulge her running addiction, the boy who almost drowns in a kayak - while some are looking for a way to hang onto connection, like the young couple chasing the mirage of sexual compatibility, the elderly doctor's wife fending off dementia and the watchfully worried gaze of her husband. Each narrative is written in close third-person - a tricky tone to pull off, but Sarah Moss does it brilliantly, giving us an intimate insight into the workings of each mind without the self-consciousness that can accompany straight first person narratives.
As the linked narratives build towards a single common climax, we also become increasingly conscious of the spirit of place which informs this book and weaves its way into each human story, as vivid a setting as Hardy's Egdon Heath or the Bronte's Yorkshire moors. A great read.
Alexander Goetze
2.0 out of 5 stars
Book for women
Reviewed in Germany on July 14, 2023
Probably not bad. After 1/2 of the book I decided to stop. It seems more a book for women. I liked a few pages though.
Secret Spi
4.0 out of 5 stars
Torrent of consciousness
Reviewed in Germany on September 9, 2021
“Summerwater” is an unusual novel that I found oddly compelling, evoking as it did damp caravan sites in Scotland and Wales where I spent summer holidays in my childhood and teens.
The main chapters are stream of conciousness dips into the minds of various holiday makers staying in rather run-down cabins near a Scottish loch. Most human life is there - good, bad and ugly. These thought monologues are interspersed with short poetic pieces on the non-human life of the area.
I liked the honesty of the writing, which captures many of the preoccupations of post-Brexit Britons. But there is universal insight, too - into human relationships, growing up and growing older, isolation and connection - as well as sly touches of humour. “Summerwater” is not for you if you’re looking for something feelgood, light and uplifting. I can understand many would find it dreary. Nevertheless, it captures a collective mood shared by disparate individuals perfectly.
The main chapters are stream of conciousness dips into the minds of various holiday makers staying in rather run-down cabins near a Scottish loch. Most human life is there - good, bad and ugly. These thought monologues are interspersed with short poetic pieces on the non-human life of the area.
I liked the honesty of the writing, which captures many of the preoccupations of post-Brexit Britons. But there is universal insight, too - into human relationships, growing up and growing older, isolation and connection - as well as sly touches of humour. “Summerwater” is not for you if you’re looking for something feelgood, light and uplifting. I can understand many would find it dreary. Nevertheless, it captures a collective mood shared by disparate individuals perfectly.
LFM
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing story. Well crafted.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 13, 2020
The book is told from an intriguing perspective. Like a distant watcher able to be close to internist thoughts and dialogue. It is a clever way to tell a story. Each chapter focusses in on different players - longer ones for humans, but also some poignant mini chapters about animals. Each chapter is a story in its own right and each is imbued with tension which as a whole, builds throughout. The ending was disappointing. It felt rushed and ‘is that it?’ I thought the book was going somewhere but it didn’t. I guess I was expecting some apocalyptic ending because of the chlostrophobic tension but it was a bit damp. Maybe I missed the point on where it was going. Nevertheless, this is a different kindve book and an interesting read. Great for book clubs and winter nights in.