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2000s: A nice little break at a summer house sounds nice doesn’t it?
The Summer House
What you need to know before your trail
The light greenery of the early summer is trembling around Erik and Julia as they shove their children into the car and start the drive towards the house by the sea on the west coast of Finland where they will spend the summer. From the outside they are a happy young family looking forward to a long holiday together.
But look under the surface, and their happiness shows signs of not lasting the summer. On the eve of the holiday, Erik lost his job, but hasn’t yet told the family. And the arrival of Julia’s childhood friend Marika – along with her charismatic husband Chris, the leader of a group of environmental activists that have given up hope for planet Earth and are returning to a primitive lifestyle – deepens the hairline cracks that had so far remained invisible.
Around these people, over the course of one summer, Philip Teir weaves a finely-tuned story about life choices and lies, about childhood and adulthood. How do we live if we know that the world is about to end?
Travel Guide
Jakobstad
The summer house is out at Jackobstad -a six hour drive from Helsinki including time with breaks apparently, with a rest stop in Jalasjarvi.
“They had never stayed at the summer house before. It had stood virtually empty for the past fifteen years, up in the woods. It was a big, dark, timbered house situated a couple of hundred metres from the shore.
Jalasjärvi
They stop on the way to the summer house – it’s a small village with a nice few places to sit and relax, have a coffee and enjoy the fresh air.
There’s an interesting place near here – The Devil’s Nest, the deepest ground erosion in Europe!
Aboland archipelago
There’s many islands and this national park in the archipelago and on one island a boy is bitten by a snake. Don’t let that put you off visiting for real! Also a good place to escape your family in your own summer house potentially.
Booktrailer Review
Susan:@thebooktrailer
A nice little break at a summer house sounds nice doesn’t it? Depends on who you go with I suppose, but the family in this novel are the kind you’d want to escape. It’s dysfunctional but the relationships between the various members is what makes it so fascinating. The house acts like a magnifying glass putting emphasis on each and every one. They all come with their problems and, boy, do they have problems. Secrets and lies have also packed their cases. There’s enough baggage already in the summer house!
The setting is a cool calm place which contrasts beautifully with the trauma and chaos within. The various viewpoints add to the variety and randomness of it all.
Oh and didn’t I say before the outside world seems calm by comparison to the randomness within? The book becomes a study of how all people, in the house and those in the world at large, try and fail to live together, speak with each other and adapt to the changes around them.
The house is rotting too – falling to bits. The imagery is loud and clear.
It’s an interesting look at the world and the people within.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Summer House
Destination : Jakobstad, Finland Author/Guide: Philip Teir Departure Time: 2000s
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