Set in a faded holiday park on the shores of a loch, in the sort of relentlessly wet weather a Scottish summer does so well, Summerwater is told through the internal monologues of a cast of damp and mostly fractious holidaymakers - from young children to an elderly retired couple. Within a short space, Sarah Moss explores love, marriage, aging and disappointed expectations: the narrative winds through the groups of people, each incarcerated by the rain and watching the other chalets suspiciously. Not much happens for most of the book, but a remarkably oppressive and threatening atmosphere builds up as the novel heads towards its conclusion.

Perhaps not the most cheerful of reads, but one that sucks you in.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is made up of 12 individuals perspectives and their musings over the course of one day. All these people are staying at a holiday park in Scotland. Firstly can we just talk about Sarah Waters writing style it's beautiful, her description and tone are so endearing.

The individual stories all felt incredibly genuine and 'real'. Some perspectives I enjoyed reading more than others. I imagine some may struggle with the lack of obvious plot as the read feels more meditative most of the time.

For a short read full of beautiful language I would certainly recommend!

<i>Things shouldn’t be made like that, unprotected, lying around waiting for sharp beaks and fleet wings, for boots and tires.</i>

I’d read one book by this author before (“Ghost Wall”) and was impressed by it, and found this book equally enjoyable and intriguing. Along with Jon McGregor’s "Reservoir 13", this is probably the most interesting book on the British ‘village’ mentality I’ve read in recent years. It's definitely a lot more subtle - less bombastic and grandiose - than Max Porter's "Lanny" (a novel I also really enjoyed, don't get me wrong, but I like the approach here more). I’m definitely going to read more of her work (“The Tidal Zone” has been on my TBR list for years).

<i>And if Nessie’s not in this particular loch, we have our own submerged monsters.</i>

The story has a great "In a Bamboo Grove"-esque set-up. It takes place in a Scottish camping park, over 24 hours, on a day where (true to form) it NEVER stops raining. We met the characters through a series of third-person monologues: a mother obsessed with running. A young woman who can’t stop thinking about Don Draper while having sex with her boyfriend, and worrying if fantasizing about fucking in a fancy Zanzibar hotel ‘colonial’ (this is arguably the novel’s funniest section). A mother who has an hour to herself, and can’t figure out what to do with this rare free time (pluck her nipple hair?). An old woman experiencing early Alzeihmer’s symptoms. A realistically melodramatic teenage girl. We meet husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. It’s all very fair and balanced, and shows how successful fiction can be at creating a ‘community’ of different interiorities, and showing different perspectives.

A linking thread throughout the book is characters complaining about and/or encountering a group of Ukranians, who kept the campsite up too late the night before blasting music. It’s hard for me not to sympathise with the irritated characters, I’m afraid… I FUCKING HATE loud music in nature!!! But this definitely develops in a way you don’t expect, in a way I found very pleasing.

<i>Someone has to be the village, to say what’s normal.</i>

It’s tempting to read the Ukranian’s presence as a commentary on Brexit (particularly one girl’s treatment of a Ukranian girl her age, in a really strong sequence), and the campsite as a microcosm for Britain. The novel is really good at evoking a strong sense of dread as you read along (“Ghost Wall” was great at this too) - the feeling that something awful is going to happen at any minute. There are constant references to the apocalypse, to mass extinctions. To the sense of doom that is the fundamental reality of our 21st-century lives, and the feeling that an impending disaster of irrevocable proportions is on its way. And when a disaster does happen, the novel asks, how will we cope? How will we respond?

<i>What are you supposed to do if disarray and death come calling; what if things are, in fact, frightening?</i>

Throughout the book are short descriptive passages of nature that reminded me of "Reservoir 13" and "Ducks, Newburyport", in the sense that they put the characters and their petty squabbles within context of the wider natural world around them. There’s references to stars, bedrock, geological change. <i>“The land under our feet, beneath our buildings, roads, pipes, subway, subway systems, mines.”</i> A section about a starving peregrine falcon is particularly brutal :(

<i>What some would call the closeness of the community is also the challenge of living there. No privacy, nowhere to hide.</i>

I was very impressed by how subtle the novel is, how it doesn’t go the easy route. In some ways, though, this is also the novel’s weakness (thus proving Bruce Springsteen’s claim that your greatest strength is also your biggest vulnerability). I wondered at times if the book was being a little <i>too</i> subtle, too quiet. I wondered if the ending was too sudden - too out of the blue. I get the feeling that’s what the author wanted, though - something violent and brutal. Inexplicable and random. Not something cheesy that had lots of foreshadowing. Overall, I found myself genuinely surprised and pleased by how the ‘community’ responded in face of the disaster (particularly the young people - GO YOUNG PEOPLE!). The last sentence is an absolute killer. Overall, the metaphorical subtext could be teased out a tiny bit more, but at the same time I really appreciate how this book isn’t heavy handed

<i>Maybe that’s what we should all be doing here in the rain, having parties, getting to know the neighbours.</i>

In conclusion this is a fast, fun, short, and thoughtful read. I would recommend this but you should be aware going in you’re not going to have your hand held and things are not going to be spelled out for you (which is fine by me). This is clearly a writer who’s growing in strength and power.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC via NetGalley.

Unfortunately I started reading this and decided to DNF the book as it just is not for me, therefor I can't give a rating or review. After reading and enjoying one of the author's previous books "Ghost Wall" I thought I would get on with it better than I did.

Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to try out this title.

“On the longest day of the summer, twelve people sit cooped up with their families in a faded Scottish cabin park. The endless rain leaves them with little to do but watch the other residents.”

This is a short, punchy, atmospheric novel. Curl up with this book near a window on a particularly wet and miserable day and you will feel like you have been transported to one of these lakeside cabins to spy on the restless holidaymakers.

Summerwater is the first Sarah Moss book that I’ve read, but it won't be the last.

Thank you, #NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sarah Moss is brilliant at writing short, sharp pieces of prose which linger with you long after you've turned the final page. 'Summerwater,' is no exception. Set in a rather bleak sounding Scottish holiday park where the rain just will. not. stop, this isn't so much a novel as a multi-person stream of consciousness. Moss has a real knack for getting under the skin of people and writing about them in a way which feels real (I absolutely loved the scene where one of the characters is having sex and can't stop thinking about Don Draper in 'Mad Men,' and bacon rolls. Been there, done that.) Each person has their own problems, their own needs, their own desires, yet they're all exceedingly nosy about the lives of the people they've ended up with. There's a lot of curtain twitching which anyone who has lived in a small community can definitely relate to.

The blurb makes a big thing out of there being 'outsiders,' within the holiday park and they're referred to frequently in rather coded terms. We know they're Eastern European and that they like playing loud music at all hours of the night. We also know that one of them has a small child who we meet briefly in one of the chapters. Yet, they never feel as real as any of the other people we meet during 'Summerwater.' Perhaps this is a purposeful choice by Moss - we want them to see them as the others do, as outsiders and intruders. But it also means that when the novel hits its conclusion, it all feels very rushed. We're supposed to feel shock and sorrow at that final scene, but it doesn't hit its mark because we knew so little about them in the first place. As a result, 'Summerwater,' feels lacking.

Sarah Moss is an excellent writer. But despite it having many great moments, 'Summerwater' just doesn't hit the mark.

Sarah Moss is probably my favourite author of literary fiction, but Summerwater was unfortunately a disappointment for me. A short novel with multiple narrators, the common thread running between them seems to be a vituperative and bitter unhappiness which makes for tough reading.. The writing, as always with Moss, is beautiful, but the overwhelming sense is one of mundanity and the sudden and tragic ending only serves to add misery to the mundane.

I read this book three weeks ago, and still find myself thinking about it. A collection of chapters from the perspective of different people staying at a type of holiday park in Scotland, the landscape and emotions of a fairly bleak and very British type of holiday turns into a fascinating glimpse into people's lives, and particularly how they see each other. Teenagers, retirees, stressed parents, recent immigrants, all are described and we see their opinions form of each other. A beautifully written slice of life.

I wish to thank Sarah Moss, Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Summerwater in exchange for an honest review.

Set on a loch at the height of the Scottish summer, a group of holiday makers in a cabin park endure relentless rain. This is not a great advertisement for the Scottish tourist industry. Sarah Moss has written a brilliant book, it is incredibly unique with multiple narrators of all ages and species. There is tension, a feeling something bad is about to happen. The character development is impressive; the descriptive writing is some of the best I’ve read. There is one chapter I found to be very funny, possibly my quirky sense of humour. I highly recommend this short story.

The 'stream of consciousness' writing style might not be to everyone's taste, but it works well here. You get inside the various character's minds, not observing, but seeing their 'secret selves' - making the events come to life. The claustrophobic, ceaseless rain and wet - tarnishing what should be a welcome vacation break from their ordinary lives.

Sunshine would have much improved this cabin park in the Trossachs - though to be honest it would still be rather faded and the worse for wear. But these unfortunate souls chose the worse two weeks for their holidays. Unrelenting rain.  So much rain, drizzle, and dampness that I felt quite soggy after reading this captivating little book and should really check myself for mildew.

The writing was incredible. "The sky turned a yellowish shade of grey, the colour of bandages, or thickened skin old old white feet. Rain simmers in puddles. Trees drip. Grass lies low, some of it beginning to drown in pooling water..."

Because the narrative was divided in the manner it was, it reads almost like a collection of linked short stories. Linked in that the various residents of the holiday park all come together in the end in what was, for me, an ending that was both memorable and chilling.

Sarah Moss has granted us a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of various different people here. They are all very genuine and uncompromisingly 'real'. Their stories portray the author's keen understanding of human nature. Literary fiction that engenders empathy in the reader is to be recommended.  Well done!

This is just what I expect from a Sarah Moss book, a story you can disappear into from the very start. The setting of Summerwater in a Scottish holiday park is great, and the variety of characters really interesting. It reads almost as short stories as each chapter introduces us to a different character in one of the chalets, and is reminiscent of Elizabeth Strout.

Emotive, captivating and a really enjoyable read.

A slow moving story at times, but with a shocking ending. A little repetitive at times, and a little tedious. But a good read and one that will make you think.

Summerwater is a story of individual dramas lived within the confines of a Scottish holiday park on a relentlessly wet day. An atmosphere of dampness, depression and claustrophobia hangs over the park which slowly evolves into a sense of impending doom.  For anyone who has stayed in a holiday cabin with children on a rainy day, this novel perfectly captures the quiet desperation often felt by families on holidays. Each chapter is narrated from the point of view of one of the family members; a mother suffering from depression, an elderly woman worrying about her inability to remember words, a bored teenage girl who wishes she was dead, amongst others.

There are beautiful descriptions of the natural world, including a wonderful likening of the yellowish grey skies to “the colour of bandages, or thickened skin on old white feet”.  Nature is seen as strong and resilient whereas humans appear fragile and diminished by the weather. There are some hilarious moments such as Moss describing the likelihood of dislocating your shoulder when taking off a wet sports bra or a mother deliberating over which herbal tea bag to choose.  A Ukrainian family staying in one of the cabins, who are variously referred to as Polish, Bulgarian, Russian and Romanian, become the focus for the other families attention and there is a seething, simmering undercurrent of suspicion and resentment towards them  The climax when it arrives is sudden, shocking and tragic.  I love Sarah Moss’s evocative and economic style of prose and this short novel is an absolute joy to read. 

Many thanks to @netgalley for this copy which I received in return for my honest review.

Summerwater is an evocative series of vignettes, taking place over the course of one rainy day at a holiday camp in the Trossachs.

It's claustrophic and immersive, with each character's stream of consciousness narration blending seamlessly into the next. But Moss still manages to retain their distinctive voices, and the changes in perceptions allow for some sharp, emotionally-intelligent insights. There is not much of a conventional plot, but the story is cleverly structured, the underlying tension building with every chapter. You get the sense that each line is perfectly weighted.

This is undoubtedly a novella that hits a bit different during lockdown, and reading it while stuck at home on a grey day was an entirely immersive experience. Summerwater is intense and atmospheric, the perfect book for a rainy day.

I'm furious about how good Sarah Moss is. Summerwater is a deceptively slender, taut novel, coalescing over the course of a single day at a holiday park in the Trossachs, and it is by turns gentle and mean and funny and devastating. The prose is precise and finely calibrated, the authorial eye empathetic and unsparing, and the novel a small and unexpectedly capacious marvel that makes a neat hairpin turn into being a perfect, horrible little horror movie in the last sliver. Read it!

Summerwater is a short, but atmospheric novel, set during a rainy summer in a small holiday park next to a loch in the Trossachs. There’s no mobile phone signal, and most of the holidaymakers are damply bored, yet somehow the novel’s glimpses into their inner monologues is fascinating. Each character is drawn so well, it feels like I know them and recognise them. The oppressive frustrations build until the book ends with a sudden catastrophe.

The writing was beautiful and having enjoyed the author’s novel Ghost Wall previously, I will definitely look out for more of her work.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

I absolutely loved the writing in Summerwater. The book, which is set over a day, was very cleverly written - multiple viewpoints can be difficult to connect with but it's so well done here that you can easily feel immersed into each character. Really lovely details in every single piece, from the woman out running to the teenage daughter, and elderly man - all of the characters were well developed in such a short space. The landscape and weather are beautifully described, and the story builds and builds to the unexpected and devastating ending. Thanks so much for the read - I'll be buying everything by Sarah Moss in the future.

Set in a holiday park of lodges, in northern Scotland, surrounding a loch, Summerwater is a collection of the different holiday makers thoughts on a particular day. It’s not your typical story as such, in that most of them are disconnected from the others, yet they are all connected- all in the same space, often glancing out of the window and spotting one another. It’s constantly raining so they can’t or don’t want to go out as much either, so they are mostly in the lodges, so the focus is very much on relationships, with ourselves, family and friends. We even hear from a fox, bats and vixen. It’s apparent that global warming and Brexit are further along, and the economy down, I viewed this as being set a few years into the future, and it showed how less tolerant of others that people had become too.

Big fan of Sarah Moss after reading Ghost Wall last year and Summerwater didn’t disappoint. As expected it was incredibly dark and ominous writing but so rich and engrossing in its descriptions. My favourite chapter was the teenage boy getting stuck canoeing - so immersive and claustrophobic at times. I didn’t feel overwhelmed by the multiple character stories, which I normally do in novels. All the observations on human nature were really spot on. No doubt this will be a success in August.

Summerwater is a series of short vignettes which each explore the interior thoughts of characters who are all spending a summer holiday in flats set around the same Scottish lake. I enjoyed Moss's writing as always and the concept was an appealing one, I love writing which explores the weird feelings and pressures of a holiday where you are thrown together with family and all making amusing or silly observations about your various holiday village co-habitants.

But against a backdrop of chilly, wet and stormy weather battering the lake the characters' inner turmoils, prejudices and angst rises quickly to the surface and this becomes what also seems to connect them as a central thread running through the novel. They project this onto first the children or partners who they now are trapped inside un-homely holiday cabins with and then the other people on the holiday camp =. the weird old couple, the mum out jogging in leggings thought to be too revealing of her figure, the rude Bulgarians having late night parties,

Ultimately I found this a difficult book to love because the characters were self-obsessed, miserable and had horrible thoughts about other people. Maybe this was the point, and maybe I missed a deep strain of dark humour running through the text (possibly my mindset in lockdown, possibly one to return to on a future wet Scottish weekend).