Summerwater

A wonderfully atmospheric moody window into a brief moment of time, with glorious utterly, believable characterisation. Summerwater is lIke a film in slow motion, with a growing sense of trepidation as you move towards the final moments where the dreamlike quality will suddenly speed up leaving you as if woken in shock from an unnerving dream.

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… It didn't tale much more than that to make this book appeal to me. Wet summer days in Scotland were part of my childhood. What Moss does with this novel is to tell us everyone's stories in this fleeting moment of time that that they are all sat coping with the weather. Some of the local wildlife get their own interludes too. The premise therefore is a simple one, but it is the execution which is the proof in the pudding. Moss is a wonderful writer, her prose is rich, her storytelling rooted in reality. These people come to life. In these brief vignettes, about marriage, depression, unfulfilled lives, teenage angst and more she give the reader enough information to want more, whilst also leaving you with a sense of foreboding. Great book from one of UK's best writers.

ARC from Netgalley

A beautifully written collection of thoughts and actions of a group of holidaymakers sharing a claustrophobic campsite in a rainy Scottish summer. The writing is so precise and so taut that you quickly become immersed in the lives of multiple characters and different perspectives as the book moves seamlessly from one character's viewpoint to another and the tension builds over a week of relentless rain and family squabbles. The shock of the ending is brutal,and so well done. Read this in awe of a writer working the height of her powers.

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.

Read in one sitting. Sarah Moss writes beautifully and I loved Ghost Wall so much I requested Summerwater. It's a novella with each chapter reading like a short story. A simple but effective way forward to a brilliant ending.
Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

A gripping novel, full of atmosphere. Sarah Moss writes about family tensions and intimate relationships so well. A pleasure to read, as always.

Short and powerful. 10+ strangers in a Scottish holiday camp. Rain, feelings and a lot of inner thoughts. Loved every minute of this book.

There is a reflection of Ghost Wall in this book, bits and pieces of people and racism, but I think overall I loved this one better than Ghost Wall.

Doesn't have a traditional plot structure, but every chapter is well thought and well connected. I think Moss is a clever mind. This is a book that you have to read and try to understand each sentence, as she is leaving us breadcrumbs of the map of characters and events she's driving to a tragic end.

The ending might be the weakest thing in the book, but this is my personal opinion, I found it a bit too sudden, but perhaps if it was longer it wouldn't be as effective? Can't really decide. I still loved it.

Powerful & Sublime. The stream of consciousness was something I thought I may dislike, but this novel made me want to read other novels in this style now.

Set over one 24 hour period at a holiday park in Scotland. Summerwater tells the stories of the couples and families staying at the holiday park.
I loved this book and read it in just over a day. In some ways nothing happens until the last few pages but there is a sense throughout that something is impending and you are constantly thinking ‘is this it?’
Would definitely recommend this and I’m now going to hunt out Sarah Moss as an author

Rainy summer day in a faded Scottish cabin park. Twelve people in their stream of thoughts. Until someone starts to draw their attention. Tensions everywhere, tragedy is on a horizon.

So well written, raw and realistic.
Brilliant.

Who would have thought a novel about several unrelated families spending a soggy holiday in a set of lodges in Scotland could tell you so much about the state of the nation?

Don't be fooled because for all of Summerwater's interpersonal insights this is an astute state-of-the-nation novel. Moss brings together a diverse and disparate set of characters who don't really come together as inhabit the same space in their own silos. We see an elderly couple reminiscing on how the world has changed during their lives, we see a young couple contemplating the state of contemporary politics and their future together, we see young families and the imbalances that still pervade society in gender roles, we see children finding their voices and parroting the views of their parents without understanding them.

Moss is artful in how she achieves this, drawing you into interior, personal lives, with such vibrant and distinct voices. Hearing from each character separately leaves a real sense of frustration - why can't they just talk to each other? But of course that's easy for us to say, invading their perspectives and knowing how they feel, and the more of this novel you read the more you realise that you are just as guilty as these characters of living in your own headspace and failing to communicate with those around you. We can't help it any more than Moss' characters can.

As with it's predecessor Ghost Wall, this is an incredible short and concise novel which captures so much and will leave you thinking long after you leave it. Moss manages to cover the personal, interpersonal, social, political, environmental, not to mention class, xenophobia, climate change, sexism and gender roles. You almost wish she'd written more just to get further under the skin and unpack all of this, but the beauty of her writing is that she leaves you to understand and comprehend what plays out without having to explain it all to you.

From the get go this is a profoundly sad novel, manipulating your emotions, and just when you get what you wished for, when these characters living their separate lives begin to come together, Moss packs a punch that you would never have seen coming, despite the fact that there were several warnings, hidden away throughout the book. This complex and ambiguous ending makes you wonder what Moss really means here. Is this a punishment for wishful thinking? Perhaps a sign that despite the positive strides we are all doomed anyway? In my opinion it's about life being messy. Real life doesn't come with a neat conclusion and bow-tied moral and neither does Summerwater. In a pandemic constrained summer filled with staycations and seemingly just as much rain as this book, Summerwater feels terrifyingly relevant and will be the standout book of the season.