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the complete review - fiction

The Summer House
(Summer at Mount Asama)

by
Matsuie Masashi

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B : almost leisurely, and effectively understated

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "Por más que la novela tenga algo incontestable de manifiesto arquitectónico (...), la narración de la “aventura” deja que desear en la parte emocional. Al narrador le cuesta liberarse del academicismo y su exceso de perfección al hablar de arquitectura destensa la trama. No hay duda de que Matsuie sabe de lo que habla y quien trabaje en un estudio de arquitectura se verá reflejado, porque como manual de consejos de lo que debe ser la buena arquitectura funcional, La casa de verano es imbatible. (...) Una cosa es contar y otra hacer sentir." - Use Lahoz, El País

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       The Summer House (which is being published in the UK as Summer at Mount Asama, sigh) is narrated by Tōru Sakanishi, who here looks back to his beginnings as an architect decades earlier, with most of the novel focused on 1982 and specifically the months spent near Mount Asama in the summer house of the (American) title.
       When finishing college, Tōru already knew that he didn't want to continue studying architecture at graduate school or join the design department of a major construction company, but the only other way to eventually get his architectural license was to first put in some time at an office of architectural design. At the time: "There was only one architect I really respected, and that was Shunsuke Murai", who had been apprenticed to Frank Lloyd Wright for two years before the war, but the aging master -- already in his mid-seventies -- hadn't hired anyone fresh out of university since 1979 and seemed to be slowly winding down his business. Nevertheless, Tōru wrote a letter to the Murai Office of Architectural Design asking to be considered for a job, and got first an interview and then was hired.
       Practically the whole Murai-office decamped to the so-called Summer House every summer, spending several months working there, rather than in Tokyo, and Tōru joins them his first summer there. The house sits close to the active volcano, Mount Asama, -- and, indeed, the spring before they are to head to the house it erupted (as Mount Asama actually did, on 26 April 1982, with ash apparently falling as far away as Tokyo), though without causing any damage to the house and not preventing them from coming. Mount Asama of course continues to loom in the background, the threat of an eruption always simmering ever so slightly in the background.
       As Tōru points out, this all happened in times "before the introduction of CAD software, which allowed designers to draw on a computer", and those in the Murai office still rely on good, old-fashioned lead pencils, with a daily ritual of sharpening a set number of pencils (and the stubs collected in huge glass jars that are lined up on a shelf when full). Tōru devotes considerable space to describing the work done in the Summer House that summer -- both the architectural design work as well as the various chores and errands -- as well as how some of the leisure-time is passed, and some of the dynamics between the different characters -- especially in relation to Murai.
       Among those helping out at the Summer House is Mariko Murai, Murai's niece who is three years older than Tōru. Tōru is warned: "don't get involved with her. An office romance is out". Despite this, Tōru and Mariko do get involved -- and, in fact, Murai isn't opposed to them hooking up; eventually he even suggests to her parents that Tōru would be a suitable husband for her and they agree (even though: "On a purely social basis, anyone could see that this wasn't an ideal match"). With no male heirs, Mariko also feels it is her duty to eventually take over and continue the family business, running a shop -- a complicating factor.
       While Murai had stopped entering architectural competitions, he has the office enter one now after all, a competition for the National Library of Modern Literature -- and that is the big project the office focuses on while at the Summer House. Tōru goes into considerable detail as to the work involved, including the bits he is tasked with helping design, such as the chairs, or how to keep the books relatively dust-free. Several architects' work is also discussed, including Frank Lloyd Wright's as well as that of Gunnar Asplund -- including Asplund's design for the Stockholm Public Library.
       Despite these potential sources of tension -- the volcano in the background, a secret love affair, and an architectural competition -- The Summer House is a very low-key, laid-back narrative. Just as Tōru is not an ambitious striver, everyone knows their roles and focuses on the tasks at hand without much fuss. Some of those at the office are considering their future options and steps -- it seems likely that Murai will, after all, presumably sooner rather than later retire -- but no one upsets the natural flow of things. Even when there is an actual crisis it is presented in a fairly low-key manner, and even the outcomes of the competition and of Mariko and Tōru's affair are presented almost anticlimactically -- blips along the way, rather than truly pivotal events. (It helps, of course, that Tōru is looking back from decades later for much of the novel, giving him the perspective of time and experience rather than recounting with any immediacy.)
       The calm, deliberate exposition and commentary, and the detail-focused digressions, are appealing, but also make The Summer House an almost subdued read -- and, at nearly four-hundred pages, quite a long one. It stands in striking contrast to much of today's very busy fiction -- a truly leisurely read but, as such, also requiring patience from the reader.

- M.A.Orthofer, 16 May 2025

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Links:

• Other Press publicity page
• The Indigo Press publicity page
• Libros del Asteroide publicity page
• 新潮社 publicity page

• culturamas (Spanish)
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal
• LiterNatura (Spanish)
• Metropolis
• El País (Spanish)

• See Index of Japanese literature

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About the Author:

       Japanese author Matsuie Masashi (松家仁之) was born in 1958.

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© 2025 the complete review

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