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The Summer of Kim Novak
Sweden in the ’60s. Erik and his friend Edmund spend their vacation by a forest lake daydreaming about Ewa, a young substitute teacher with an uncanny resemblance to the actress Kim Novak. The boys are having the time of their lives until a shocking discovery disrupts their world. Twenty-five years later, Erik comes across a newspaper article about unsolved crimes and is overwhelmed by memories and questions from that summer of his youth. What actually happened back then? The Summer of Kim Novak has all the tension and mystery of Nesser’s world-famous thrillers, combined with a coming-of-age tale of remarkable psychological precision.
166 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
92 people are currently reading
2027 people want to read
About the author
Håkan Nesser
142 books1,108 followersHåkan Nesser is a Swedish author and teacher who has written a number of successful crime fiction novels. He has won Best Swedish Crime Novel Award three times, and his novel Carambole won the Glass Key award in 2000. His books have been translated from Swedish into numerous languages.
Håkan Nesser was born and grew up in Kumla, and has lived most of his adult life in Uppsala. His first novel was published in 1988, but he worked as a teacher until 1998 when he became a full-time author. In August, 2006, Håkan Nesser and his wife Elke moved to Greenwich Village in New York.
Series:
* Inspector Van Veeteren
* Inspector Barbarotti
Håkan Nesser was born and grew up in Kumla, and has lived most of his adult life in Uppsala. His first novel was published in 1988, but he worked as a teacher until 1998 when he became a full-time author. In August, 2006, Håkan Nesser and his wife Elke moved to Greenwich Village in New York.
Series:
* Inspector Van Veeteren
* Inspector Barbarotti
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 292 reviews
March 17, 2020
I enjoyed reading this book, but it moved too slow for me. I rate it 3.5 stars rounded down. This book is written in the 1st person from the standpoint of Erik, a 14 yr old boy in 1957 rural Sweden. He spends a summer with his best friend, Edmund.
Henry is Erik's 22 yr old brother. Henry is a somewhat distracted person living in his own world, trying to write a book. The 3 of them spend the summer together at a rustic cabin on a remote lake in Sweden. Before they go to the cabin, a substitute teacher comes to Erik's school. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, and Erik and all his friends think Ewa Kaludis looks like Kim Novak.
Ewa is engaged to Berra Albertsson, a huge man and a bully.
In a very slow buildup, the story leads to Berra's murder. The killer is not revealed until the end, and I was not sure who the killer was until it was revealed. The translation was excellent.
Two quotes: Erik on Ewa: "She was just too beautiful. Like a goddess or a Kim Novak. You can't fly too close to the sun, and everyone who saw her that summer's eve knew it. "
Henry on people; "We'd be better off, us people, if we could keep our selves from always having to create a damn context. We should give ourselves over to the fleeting present instead."
Thanks to Penguin and the author for sending me the eARC through Edelweiss.
Henry is Erik's 22 yr old brother. Henry is a somewhat distracted person living in his own world, trying to write a book. The 3 of them spend the summer together at a rustic cabin on a remote lake in Sweden. Before they go to the cabin, a substitute teacher comes to Erik's school. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, and Erik and all his friends think Ewa Kaludis looks like Kim Novak.
Ewa is engaged to Berra Albertsson, a huge man and a bully.
In a very slow buildup, the story leads to Berra's murder. The killer is not revealed until the end, and I was not sure who the killer was until it was revealed. The translation was excellent.
Two quotes: Erik on Ewa: "She was just too beautiful. Like a goddess or a Kim Novak. You can't fly too close to the sun, and everyone who saw her that summer's eve knew it. "
Henry on people; "We'd be better off, us people, if we could keep our selves from always having to create a damn context. We should give ourselves over to the fleeting present instead."
Thanks to Penguin and the author for sending me the eARC through Edelweiss.
September 25, 2019
This is a beautifully written stand-alone novel that's both a mystery and a coming-of-age tale. Narrated by a grown-up Erik, the book hearkens back to a summer in the early 1960s, when Erik and his friend Edmund were 14, a summer that was idyllic until the Incident happened. No, Kim Novak isn't actually in this novel. The young woman referred to here is a substitute teacher at Erik's school who bears a strong resemblance to the actress. The story does not have a conventional whodunit reveal at the end, but is ambiguous enough that readers have to think and work things out for themselves.
July 17, 2023
Forget what you think about Scandinavian crime fiction and it’s dark, creepy, foggy marshes. A Summer With Kim Novak has a different kind of bounce to it. Expertly translated and well written, this book is at once an enchanted coming of age novel about a teenage boy growing into puberty and the summer he spent at a cabin on the lake with his older brother and his young friend. It’s also about the schoolboy crush he had on the young substitute schoolteacher who had more than a passing resemblance to Kim Novak, who at the time was a superstar. It ultimately is a murder mystery, but the rest of the story is so absorbing you don’t mind that it takes more than half the book to get there.
July 16, 2021
So it goes, it seems. Whatever we lose, there’s always something there to replace it – events, phenomena, even people. Your head is the only place where everything stays put, but even in there things can go missing.
There’s little chance that the memories of that summer in 1962 will fade away for Erik. So much has happened then, all those years ago, on the border between the innocence of childhood and the existential angst of maturity. Some people slip almost effortlessly from one to the other, but for Erik and for his friend Edmund this last summer of their school years has become memorable through traumatic events.
“There are no two ways about it, we’re looking at a rough summer,” my father said.
With a father who lost his regular job and works as a prison guard, struggling to make ends meet, a mother slowly dying from cancer in a hospital bed in the big city and a wild brother who came back from sailing around the world to moonlight as a freelance newshound, Erik has enough on his plate as the school year is winding down. But he is hot blooded enough to be knocked over, him and all the other teenage boys in the schoolyard, when a young woman shows up on a moped.
It was like in a movie. But better. The birdie who came roaring into the schoolyard on her moped really did look like Kim Novak. Big wheat-blond hair tied back with a foxy red headband. Dark foxy sunglasses and a full foxy mouth that made me weak at the knees. She wore slim black slacks, a black top that was tight against her chest, and a red-and-black checked Swanson shirt, open and billowing in the wind.
“Jesus Christ, what a fox,” said Balthazar Lindblom.
Circumstances will bring together Erik with Edmund, a reserved classmate with a passion for reading and carrying his own emotional baggage from an abusive, absent father. The boys are sent to a derelict cabin belonging to an aunt, on the shore of a lake in Northern Sweden, under the supervision of older brother Henry, to spent the summer months there. Ewa Kaludis, the substitute teacher who is haunting their dreams and her aggressive fiance, gym trainer Berra Albertsson, will also be visiting the resort nearby.
>>><<<>>><<<
The novel is promoted as a crime story, but most of the journey is about youth and friendship and growing up in a world that doesn’t shield the innocents from the darker shades of existence. A bittersweet vibe of nostalgia is permeating almost every page in the first person recollection of Erik, hanging in the balance between the joys of summer freedom, unexpected new friendship and worries about the future.
Henry could have given us a ride, of course, but leaving our bikes behind was out of the question. There were plenty of interesting places to explore in the forests around Lake Mockeln. Without our bikes, we’d be like cowboys without their trusty steeds; that’s what Edmund and I thought.
This fascination with the last moment of childhood has been tried before, and some of my favourite books share a similar premise, a superposition of innocence and trauma: “Boy’s Life” by Robert McCammon, “Ordinary Grace” by William Kent Krueger, “Summer of ’42” by Hermann Raucher, “The Go-Between” by L. P. Hartley, “Montana 1948” by Larry Watson, “The Bottoms” by Joe R Lansdale : I could go on and on, but there’s one that I read such a long time ago that it became mixed with my own rite of passage, one that is also coming from Sweden and is as authentic as moose meatballs and pickled herring : “Hon Dansade en sommar” [One Summer of Happiness] by Per Olof Ekstrom.
In a way, reading my first book by Hakan Nesser feels like revisiting those faraway summer days of carefree adventure.
“A book?” I said.
“Yup. It has to happen sometime.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Some people have to. I’m one of those people.”
I nodded. I was sure he was. I didn’t really know what to say.
“What’s it going to be about?”
He didn’t answer right away. He put his feet up on his desk, took a gulp of Rio Club from the bottle on the floor, and fished out a fresh Lucky Strike. “Life,” he said. “The real deal. Existentially speaking.”
Erik’s older brother Henry is an anchor to the story and an invitation to look beyond the immediate details of a crime heavily foreshadowed. Henry took time off from his newspaper in order to write a novel he feels he must release into the world. Into his own life comes the same Kim Novak alter-ego that has inflamed the minds of a school kids.
“Let’s not make life unnecessarily complicated. It should be like a butterfly on a summer day.”
Hakan Nesser threads a fine line here between the joys of bicycle riding and swimming in a remote forest lake and the worries of terminal illness, domestic violence and poverty. His prose is clear and direct without the gloominess expected from a Scandinavian author. His mastery of the finer points of real clues and red herrings in the investigation of the coming murder is impressive, in particular the long term view that covers more that twenty years of the life of Erik. I am not going to give away any more details about the specifics of the case, hoping I have said enough to tempt potential readers to give this special story a try.
“One last boat trip,” he said. “It’s too sad for words. It really was one hell of a good summer.”
“It was,” I said. “Yes, it was.”
There’s little chance that the memories of that summer in 1962 will fade away for Erik. So much has happened then, all those years ago, on the border between the innocence of childhood and the existential angst of maturity. Some people slip almost effortlessly from one to the other, but for Erik and for his friend Edmund this last summer of their school years has become memorable through traumatic events.
“There are no two ways about it, we’re looking at a rough summer,” my father said.
With a father who lost his regular job and works as a prison guard, struggling to make ends meet, a mother slowly dying from cancer in a hospital bed in the big city and a wild brother who came back from sailing around the world to moonlight as a freelance newshound, Erik has enough on his plate as the school year is winding down. But he is hot blooded enough to be knocked over, him and all the other teenage boys in the schoolyard, when a young woman shows up on a moped.
It was like in a movie. But better. The birdie who came roaring into the schoolyard on her moped really did look like Kim Novak. Big wheat-blond hair tied back with a foxy red headband. Dark foxy sunglasses and a full foxy mouth that made me weak at the knees. She wore slim black slacks, a black top that was tight against her chest, and a red-and-black checked Swanson shirt, open and billowing in the wind.
“Jesus Christ, what a fox,” said Balthazar Lindblom.
Circumstances will bring together Erik with Edmund, a reserved classmate with a passion for reading and carrying his own emotional baggage from an abusive, absent father. The boys are sent to a derelict cabin belonging to an aunt, on the shore of a lake in Northern Sweden, under the supervision of older brother Henry, to spent the summer months there. Ewa Kaludis, the substitute teacher who is haunting their dreams and her aggressive fiance, gym trainer Berra Albertsson, will also be visiting the resort nearby.
>>><<<>>><<<
The novel is promoted as a crime story, but most of the journey is about youth and friendship and growing up in a world that doesn’t shield the innocents from the darker shades of existence. A bittersweet vibe of nostalgia is permeating almost every page in the first person recollection of Erik, hanging in the balance between the joys of summer freedom, unexpected new friendship and worries about the future.
Henry could have given us a ride, of course, but leaving our bikes behind was out of the question. There were plenty of interesting places to explore in the forests around Lake Mockeln. Without our bikes, we’d be like cowboys without their trusty steeds; that’s what Edmund and I thought.
This fascination with the last moment of childhood has been tried before, and some of my favourite books share a similar premise, a superposition of innocence and trauma: “Boy’s Life” by Robert McCammon, “Ordinary Grace” by William Kent Krueger, “Summer of ’42” by Hermann Raucher, “The Go-Between” by L. P. Hartley, “Montana 1948” by Larry Watson, “The Bottoms” by Joe R Lansdale : I could go on and on, but there’s one that I read such a long time ago that it became mixed with my own rite of passage, one that is also coming from Sweden and is as authentic as moose meatballs and pickled herring : “Hon Dansade en sommar” [One Summer of Happiness] by Per Olof Ekstrom.
In a way, reading my first book by Hakan Nesser feels like revisiting those faraway summer days of carefree adventure.
“A book?” I said.
“Yup. It has to happen sometime.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Some people have to. I’m one of those people.”
I nodded. I was sure he was. I didn’t really know what to say.
“What’s it going to be about?”
He didn’t answer right away. He put his feet up on his desk, took a gulp of Rio Club from the bottle on the floor, and fished out a fresh Lucky Strike. “Life,” he said. “The real deal. Existentially speaking.”
Erik’s older brother Henry is an anchor to the story and an invitation to look beyond the immediate details of a crime heavily foreshadowed. Henry took time off from his newspaper in order to write a novel he feels he must release into the world. Into his own life comes the same Kim Novak alter-ego that has inflamed the minds of a school kids.
“Let’s not make life unnecessarily complicated. It should be like a butterfly on a summer day.”
Hakan Nesser threads a fine line here between the joys of bicycle riding and swimming in a remote forest lake and the worries of terminal illness, domestic violence and poverty. His prose is clear and direct without the gloominess expected from a Scandinavian author. His mastery of the finer points of real clues and red herrings in the investigation of the coming murder is impressive, in particular the long term view that covers more that twenty years of the life of Erik. I am not going to give away any more details about the specifics of the case, hoping I have said enough to tempt potential readers to give this special story a try.
“One last boat trip,” he said. “It’s too sad for words. It really was one hell of a good summer.”
“It was,” I said. “Yes, it was.”
September 19, 2015
The Summer of Kim Novak is a haunting and evocative novel, beautifully written to draw you into another place and time – a true coming of age tale with added mystery and I loved every moment of it.
Hakan Nesser weaves a magical web of intrigue around the reader, this is a tale of friendship, family, love and loss and from building the relationship between the two boys Erik and Edmund to the nuances of how much they can understand about what is going on around them, this is storytelling at it’s best, a reader’s dream.
The sense of place is truly stunning – the sights and sounds of Summer, the nolstagic sense of remembrance comes across in every part plus the story itself is highly compelling and unpredictably heart wrenching on occasion.
The mystery elements are cleverly woven into the plot and the ending was pitch perfect for me – all in all this was a really really excellent read and whilst I have not read Hakan Nesser before this I will certainly be looking for more now. No doubt.
Highly Recommended.
Happy Reading Folks!
Hakan Nesser weaves a magical web of intrigue around the reader, this is a tale of friendship, family, love and loss and from building the relationship between the two boys Erik and Edmund to the nuances of how much they can understand about what is going on around them, this is storytelling at it’s best, a reader’s dream.
The sense of place is truly stunning – the sights and sounds of Summer, the nolstagic sense of remembrance comes across in every part plus the story itself is highly compelling and unpredictably heart wrenching on occasion.
The mystery elements are cleverly woven into the plot and the ending was pitch perfect for me – all in all this was a really really excellent read and whilst I have not read Hakan Nesser before this I will certainly be looking for more now. No doubt.
Highly Recommended.
Happy Reading Folks!
August 26, 2019
A Summer with Kim Novak by Hakan Nesser.
Erik takes us through his early teen years before and after the incident. His mother in the hospital dying of cancer. His Dad trying to keep the family together. His older brother (by 8 years), Henry the freelance journalist. And Edmund. Erik and Edmund spent the summer of their young lives together in a cottage by a lake with Henry. Henry was writing his book and getting to know a beautiful woman. Ewa Kaludis was a teacher for a time at Erik's school, who later turned up at the cottage with Henry.
Erik and Edmund were coming of age and exploring the forest and the island around that cottage was a daily adventure. Then the incident happened and life was never the same.
This is one author I know can be relied upon to write a book/story that brings out the best in each character and gets added to my favorites list.
Erik takes us through his early teen years before and after the incident. His mother in the hospital dying of cancer. His Dad trying to keep the family together. His older brother (by 8 years), Henry the freelance journalist. And Edmund. Erik and Edmund spent the summer of their young lives together in a cottage by a lake with Henry. Henry was writing his book and getting to know a beautiful woman. Ewa Kaludis was a teacher for a time at Erik's school, who later turned up at the cottage with Henry.
Erik and Edmund were coming of age and exploring the forest and the island around that cottage was a daily adventure. Then the incident happened and life was never the same.
This is one author I know can be relied upon to write a book/story that brings out the best in each character and gets added to my favorites list.
November 1, 2016
This was a book steeped in traditions of coming of age tales; some of the innocence of childhood during one last endless Summer which is confronted with the illness of a parent; the violence of relationships and the finality of death.
Erik and his mate Edmund are spending their vacation by a lake with Erik's much older brother; he's a man of 22 years of age they're eight years his junior full of pranks and schemes. Out all day of their bikes, rowing across the lake or dreaming of girls for the first time.
The book has been criticised in some reviews for the inadequate translation but I disagree; I welcome the efforts made as I couldn't read it in Swedish and the story was one I wouldn't wish to miss reading.
At times I thought two boys were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn as the story recounts their boyhood adventures. The story resonates with me as a child of the sixties and the crush the lads have for a supply teacher who appears like a film star.
The idea of writing fiction and adventure stories also features in this wonderful tale, as does a love of crime drama and detective books. I loved the thought that being grown up was repeating adult idioms or sayings and by quoting Perry Mason life was enriched.
As a reader my ability to lose myself in this story was complete and the mystery of the Incident that curtails their fun is a mystery worth considering. For me this author is a natural writer, with the greatest of all talents to share stories.
Erik and his mate Edmund are spending their vacation by a lake with Erik's much older brother; he's a man of 22 years of age they're eight years his junior full of pranks and schemes. Out all day of their bikes, rowing across the lake or dreaming of girls for the first time.
The book has been criticised in some reviews for the inadequate translation but I disagree; I welcome the efforts made as I couldn't read it in Swedish and the story was one I wouldn't wish to miss reading.
At times I thought two boys were Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn as the story recounts their boyhood adventures. The story resonates with me as a child of the sixties and the crush the lads have for a supply teacher who appears like a film star.
The idea of writing fiction and adventure stories also features in this wonderful tale, as does a love of crime drama and detective books. I loved the thought that being grown up was repeating adult idioms or sayings and by quoting Perry Mason life was enriched.
As a reader my ability to lose myself in this story was complete and the mystery of the Incident that curtails their fun is a mystery worth considering. For me this author is a natural writer, with the greatest of all talents to share stories.
June 26, 2021
Really enjoyed this coming of age whodunnit which was impossible to put down once I got to the so called “incident”. Loved the way that the boys’ idyllic summer holiday was described and how the book followed what happened to all the characters in later life. I found the ending clever as well.
Just too many unbelievable coincidences to merit five stars but a thoroughly enjoyable read and I will definitely seek out other books by this author.
Just too many unbelievable coincidences to merit five stars but a thoroughly enjoyable read and I will definitely seek out other books by this author.
November 15, 2022
Simple and effective writing. I’m not sure if it’s the style of writing that some Scandinavian authors adopt or whether it’s how the writing is translated into English but it’s very enjoyable. Quite a short book which also makes a pleasant change as without doubt too many books are stretched and drawn out far too much. Less is definitely more, as they say.
January 14, 2016
I've always been impressed by Hakan Nesser's fiction. His detective and police procedural fiction tends to be more intellectually challenging and more literary than most books in the genre. His characters, motifs and allusions are meticulously and beautifully crafted. Until now, I've read his Van Veeteren series, but I have avidly followed his bibliography of works, hoping that more of his books would soon be available in English translation. The book that I've been anticipating the most was Summer with Kim Novak, which has finally been translated into English and published.
The book was worth waiting for. It is set in 1962 in Sweden. It tells the story of Erik Wasser's 14th summer -- the summer that his mother was dying a slow death from cancer; that his father sent him to live with his 22 year-old brother in the family's lakeside vacation home. His father's co-worker is also having a family health crisis. The co-worker's wife is entering a rehabilitation hospital to dry out from chronic alcoholism, so the co-worker asks if his 14 year- old son, Edmund, can go along with Erik. Edmund is a quirky, strange lad, but Erik and Edmund hit it off and have what starts out as the best summer of their lives -- biking, swimming, boating, getting into trouble and pulling off escapades as only a pair of unsupervised young boys can.
Both Erik and his older brother have an existential philosophical bent, and both have writing aspirations. The older brother is a journalist who is taking the summer off to write his first novel. Erik, meanwhile, draws what he calls cartoons, but what is really the prototype of a graphic novel.
The woman of the title, 24 year-old Ewa, is a substitute teacher in Erik's junior high school. She bears a striking, uncanny resemblance to Kim Novak, the film star. All the boys in school have crushes on her, but she is engaged to a professional handball player, Bertil Albertsson, who is so strong and brutish that he is known as Super Berra. Both Super Berra and Ewa spend the summer hanging around the lakeside resort town where Erik and Edmund are staying. The boys witness a brawl between Super Berra and another young man at the local amusement park. Super-Berra does not fight fair and continues to beat his opponent's face and head after he has fallen and lost consciousness. This disturbs the boys.
Ewa embarks upon an affair with Erik's brother, and Super-Berra assaults and batters Ewa. He comes by the lake house to confront Erik's brother, but ends up talking only to Erik, letting him know that he intends to return to deal with his brother. He does indeed return in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep but he never makes it out of the car park. His dead body is discovered next to his car in the parking area shared by a few of the homeowners in the area. His skull is cracked, apparently by blunt object.
The case is never solved. The final two sections of the book cover Erik's emotions and thoughts about the case, first 15 and then almost 30 years later. Erik does some investigating on his own, despite his closeness to the case and all kinds of emotional conflicts. There are two possible interpretations of what really happened in this book. The reader has to work through all the ambiguities, read between the lines and make a choice between them. The book is beautifully written and, in the end, is a bit of an intellectual exercise.
The book was worth waiting for. It is set in 1962 in Sweden. It tells the story of Erik Wasser's 14th summer -- the summer that his mother was dying a slow death from cancer; that his father sent him to live with his 22 year-old brother in the family's lakeside vacation home. His father's co-worker is also having a family health crisis. The co-worker's wife is entering a rehabilitation hospital to dry out from chronic alcoholism, so the co-worker asks if his 14 year- old son, Edmund, can go along with Erik. Edmund is a quirky, strange lad, but Erik and Edmund hit it off and have what starts out as the best summer of their lives -- biking, swimming, boating, getting into trouble and pulling off escapades as only a pair of unsupervised young boys can.
Both Erik and his older brother have an existential philosophical bent, and both have writing aspirations. The older brother is a journalist who is taking the summer off to write his first novel. Erik, meanwhile, draws what he calls cartoons, but what is really the prototype of a graphic novel.
The woman of the title, 24 year-old Ewa, is a substitute teacher in Erik's junior high school. She bears a striking, uncanny resemblance to Kim Novak, the film star. All the boys in school have crushes on her, but she is engaged to a professional handball player, Bertil Albertsson, who is so strong and brutish that he is known as Super Berra. Both Super Berra and Ewa spend the summer hanging around the lakeside resort town where Erik and Edmund are staying. The boys witness a brawl between Super Berra and another young man at the local amusement park. Super-Berra does not fight fair and continues to beat his opponent's face and head after he has fallen and lost consciousness. This disturbs the boys.
Ewa embarks upon an affair with Erik's brother, and Super-Berra assaults and batters Ewa. He comes by the lake house to confront Erik's brother, but ends up talking only to Erik, letting him know that he intends to return to deal with his brother. He does indeed return in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep but he never makes it out of the car park. His dead body is discovered next to his car in the parking area shared by a few of the homeowners in the area. His skull is cracked, apparently by blunt object.
The case is never solved. The final two sections of the book cover Erik's emotions and thoughts about the case, first 15 and then almost 30 years later. Erik does some investigating on his own, despite his closeness to the case and all kinds of emotional conflicts. There are two possible interpretations of what really happened in this book. The reader has to work through all the ambiguities, read between the lines and make a choice between them. The book is beautifully written and, in the end, is a bit of an intellectual exercise.
December 29, 2020
This book, though a mystery by a Swedish crime writer, works not as dark and brooding Nordic Noir but as something different: a coming-of-age story with an unsolved murder in its wake. The story starts in 1962 Sweden. Fourteen-year-old Erik's mother has a terminal cancer. To get him away, his father sends Erik and his older brother Henry and friend Edmund to lake house near a forest. The two younger boys spend much of their time daydreaming about a voluptuous young substitute teacher who bears a striking resemblance to Kim Novak. Their fun is interrupted one day by the discovery of a murder near the lake house. The crime is never solved. Over the years, each of the three boys is powerfully affected by this event. The culmination provides a jarring solution to the killing. Although the book feels a bit slow for a mystery, it feels more lyrical and thus more haunting. A short book that can be enjoyed even by people who do not read many whodunits.
July 11, 2021
I don't think 14 year-olds think about sex more than, say, 44 year-olds, but because of its MYSTERY at that age, the thinking is more intense and magical. Erik is a 14 year-old boy in Hakan Nesser's amazing 1998 crime novel The Summer of Kim Novak. If you are 14, and your mother is dying of cancer, and you don't understand it, and you don't know what to do about it, and your dad decides this summer would be a good time for you and your friend Edmund to spend with your 22 year-old brother at a family house on the lake, 25 kilometers outside of town, summer takes on a whole new appearance. Escape! Escape from the fear of visiting your sick mother in the hospital. Escape from living with your stricken Dad. Escape from another boring summer at home. And, when you find out that your brother is dating the glamorous new teacher from your school, escape into a new world of teenage fantasies.
But a terrible thing happens that summer. And therein lies a tale.
Entering the world of 14 year-old Erik reminded me a bit of Stephen King's Stand By Me. I read The Summer of Kim Novak with Goodread's Pulp Fiction group, but I have to admit that the mention of Kim Novak held personal interest for me. Even though I grew up in the 60's, I actually know very little about her and I'm not sure I've even seen any of her films. However, one of my teenage friends in St. Louis was a cousin of hers. To my knowledge, she never visited our street, but the idea that she might was intriguing!
The Summer of Kim Novak is largely a story about how we deal with the harsh realities of life. At times we my have temporary escapes that last an hour or a week or even two months, but then we have to face painful things again.
But a terrible thing happens that summer. And therein lies a tale.
Entering the world of 14 year-old Erik reminded me a bit of Stephen King's Stand By Me. I read The Summer of Kim Novak with Goodread's Pulp Fiction group, but I have to admit that the mention of Kim Novak held personal interest for me. Even though I grew up in the 60's, I actually know very little about her and I'm not sure I've even seen any of her films. However, one of my teenage friends in St. Louis was a cousin of hers. To my knowledge, she never visited our street, but the idea that she might was intriguing!
The Summer of Kim Novak is largely a story about how we deal with the harsh realities of life. At times we my have temporary escapes that last an hour or a week or even two months, but then we have to face painful things again.
November 16, 2020
2-1/2*
Set in Sweden. In the 1990’s Erik is recounting the fateful summer of 1962 that changed his life.
In the beginning Erik refers to “The Incident” that happened that summer.
First, a substitute teacher arrived at his school and set Erik’s 14 year old heart and mind on fire – she was a double for Kim Novak.
Erik, his older brother Henry and his friend Edmund are sent off to spend the summer at the lake.
It takes quite a while before the reader finds out what “The Incident” was and not until the very end does the reader learn who the culprit &/or culprits were.
I was not particularly taken with the writing – it is replete with what I thought were western proverbs, repeated until it got tiresome.
However, this line was special: “Life should be like a butterfly on a summer’s day.”
Set in Sweden. In the 1990’s Erik is recounting the fateful summer of 1962 that changed his life.
In the beginning Erik refers to “The Incident” that happened that summer.
First, a substitute teacher arrived at his school and set Erik’s 14 year old heart and mind on fire – she was a double for Kim Novak.
Erik, his older brother Henry and his friend Edmund are sent off to spend the summer at the lake.
It takes quite a while before the reader finds out what “The Incident” was and not until the very end does the reader learn who the culprit &/or culprits were.
I was not particularly taken with the writing – it is replete with what I thought were western proverbs, repeated until it got tiresome.
However, this line was special: “Life should be like a butterfly on a summer’s day.”
June 22, 2021
The oft quoted expression is that you cannot judge a book by its cover.
Truer words have never been spoken.
Two of the cooler things about this book: the title (which definitely is intriguing) and the lovely cover (which seems to portray an ominous mystery to unfold).
It is a pity, then, that these aspects were about all I liked from The Summer of Kim Novak, a book that turned out to be a huge letdown.
First, I think calling this book a crime book is a tad misleading. It felt more like a coming-of-age young adult fiction masquerading as a crime/mystery. But that was not the problem at all.
At points, in the early stages, this book has almost a nostalgic vibe to it, like a Swedish version of The Wonder Years or something. The crux of the plot is what is that an “incident” (commonly referred to as The Incident) happens that affects not only the narrator (14-year-old Erik), but those around him in one infamously memorable summer in the 1960s.
It takes awhile for the us to get to this Incident, and beforehand much of the focus is on Erik detailing and explaining his family, their history and background and his meeting up with friend, Edmond, who will join him during this summer adventure. At point while Erik is in school, he become infatuated with a long-term substitute teacher, Ewa Kalundis, who has a striking resemblance to actress Kim Novak.
I suppose what annoyed me about this book is what I find irritating about many similar “young adult” type books in the same variety: unlikable principle characters, stilted dialogue, superficial storytelling, unnecessary crudeness, and a somewhat aimless plot.
The narration (from 14-year-old?) Erik’s point of view is sophomoric and juvenile. There is just too many points of “potty” jokes, unnecessary language, and teenage hormones running rampant. I guess this is supposed to add something to the book or be cute or funny or provide some comic relief. Alongside this, Erik is just not a likeable protagonist/narrator at all: he immature and petty and his is revealed through his narration. Things do pick up in the latter portions, but we must wade through so much of this tediousness and nonsense.
Moreover, the mystery, considering the build up to it, is unremarkable. Not to mention that there are some amazing and convenient coincidences and points where we must suspend a little disbelief.
And, while there are some moments of genuine intrigue in the book’s second half, I thought the conclusion disappointing as well.
I had high hopes, but it never really happened. I guess it is what it is.
Truer words have never been spoken.
Two of the cooler things about this book: the title (which definitely is intriguing) and the lovely cover (which seems to portray an ominous mystery to unfold).
It is a pity, then, that these aspects were about all I liked from The Summer of Kim Novak, a book that turned out to be a huge letdown.
First, I think calling this book a crime book is a tad misleading. It felt more like a coming-of-age young adult fiction masquerading as a crime/mystery. But that was not the problem at all.
At points, in the early stages, this book has almost a nostalgic vibe to it, like a Swedish version of The Wonder Years or something. The crux of the plot is what is that an “incident” (commonly referred to as The Incident) happens that affects not only the narrator (14-year-old Erik), but those around him in one infamously memorable summer in the 1960s.
It takes awhile for the us to get to this Incident, and beforehand much of the focus is on Erik detailing and explaining his family, their history and background and his meeting up with friend, Edmond, who will join him during this summer adventure. At point while Erik is in school, he become infatuated with a long-term substitute teacher, Ewa Kalundis, who has a striking resemblance to actress Kim Novak.
I suppose what annoyed me about this book is what I find irritating about many similar “young adult” type books in the same variety: unlikable principle characters, stilted dialogue, superficial storytelling, unnecessary crudeness, and a somewhat aimless plot.
The narration (from 14-year-old?) Erik’s point of view is sophomoric and juvenile. There is just too many points of “potty” jokes, unnecessary language, and teenage hormones running rampant. I guess this is supposed to add something to the book or be cute or funny or provide some comic relief. Alongside this, Erik is just not a likeable protagonist/narrator at all: he immature and petty and his is revealed through his narration. Things do pick up in the latter portions, but we must wade through so much of this tediousness and nonsense.
Moreover, the mystery, considering the build up to it, is unremarkable. Not to mention that there are some amazing and convenient coincidences and points where we must suspend a little disbelief.
And, while there are some moments of genuine intrigue in the book’s second half, I thought the conclusion disappointing as well.
I had high hopes, but it never really happened. I guess it is what it is.
May 10, 2015
This is probably one of the best coming of age novels that I have come across. I've always struggled with book by Nesser and have never enjoyed them as much as I had expected, however this has made me think againa about giving him another try. The voice of a teenage boy trying to act like a grown up comes through really really effectively here. It really does sound like a genuine voice of a 14 year old. I had a few inklings about the final twist, but have to say that I had dismissed them, so it still managed to come as something of a surprise when we had the final reveal of the story. I would certainly recommend this as a summer read this year.
November 6, 2025
Jag hade börjat tro att mina recensioner med enbart en stjärna som betyg skulle evigt förbli reserverade för Lena Andersson - men nej! Jag kunde visst bli överraskad. Yay… Håkan Nesser skriver på ett bra sätt och med ett underhållande språk för det mesta, men vad fan var det där för en handling?!?! Okej spoilers nu, men varför i helvete blev han killen kåt medan han var vid den där kvinnan som blivit misshandlad och helt blåslagen av sin ex-man??? Varför målas det hela med att hans mamma hade cancer upp som en viktig del av boken medan huvudpersonen bara k-bry jag skiter i om hon är döende jag vill ligga??? Och VARFÖR kändes det som att hela vitsen med boken var att vi skulle få se hur den där 14 åriga killen typ var en misslyckad person men sen i slutet vann han över alla andra bara för att han till sist fick den där kvinnan som han har sett på som ett sex-objekt genom hela bokens gång och så ”Snipp snapp snut, han fick knulla en massa och så var sagan slut”.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2022
An incident occurs one Summer at a lake house and the lives of four people are never the same again. Sounds mysterious doesn’t it.
Well, two of the four are fourteen year old boys sent to the lake house for the Summer because of the absence of both of their mothers. Their fathers work together and decide this is the answer for their sons for the Summer. The older brother of one of the boys will also be at the Summer house writing his novel and will be there to hand out money for food shopping and that’s about it.
The first few weeks are idyllic with boating, swimming and riding their bikes around the lake but then things change. They sneak into a local fair and while there they witness an incident, not the incident, which is the first hint of what is to come.
I was still guessing right to the end of the book. What was I guessing, why whodunnit of course. Did I not tell you the book sounded mysterious, well it is and I completely enjoyed it.
This is a very well written story driven book that seems so innocuous at first and then suddenly pulls you into a mystery. Well done!
I won this ebook in a First Reads giveaway. Thank you to World Editions and the author Håkan Nesser.
Well, two of the four are fourteen year old boys sent to the lake house for the Summer because of the absence of both of their mothers. Their fathers work together and decide this is the answer for their sons for the Summer. The older brother of one of the boys will also be at the Summer house writing his novel and will be there to hand out money for food shopping and that’s about it.
The first few weeks are idyllic with boating, swimming and riding their bikes around the lake but then things change. They sneak into a local fair and while there they witness an incident, not the incident, which is the first hint of what is to come.
I was still guessing right to the end of the book. What was I guessing, why whodunnit of course. Did I not tell you the book sounded mysterious, well it is and I completely enjoyed it.
This is a very well written story driven book that seems so innocuous at first and then suddenly pulls you into a mystery. Well done!
I won this ebook in a First Reads giveaway. Thank you to World Editions and the author Håkan Nesser.
January 3, 2016
Stand alone. A Summer with Kim Novac. 1998/2015. iBook. .....4/5 **** √
Interesting read. Two teenage boys and an older brother of one, spend a very wonderful summer at a cottage by the lake doing what teenage boys do. Both mothers are ill, both fathers coping the best they can, sending the kids off for the summer under the guardianship of the older brother trying to write his first book. Adventures and quiet times combined with the re appearance of a stunning looking temp teacher resembling Kim Novac their last months of school, now at the lake too and events all wind up rather dramatically when a murder takes place in the night. Years pass and the parties go their separate ways to meet up again later still curious ...... Fabulous twist ending.
Actually a very interesting storyline approach. Good read, as are most of this writers books.
Interesting read. Two teenage boys and an older brother of one, spend a very wonderful summer at a cottage by the lake doing what teenage boys do. Both mothers are ill, both fathers coping the best they can, sending the kids off for the summer under the guardianship of the older brother trying to write his first book. Adventures and quiet times combined with the re appearance of a stunning looking temp teacher resembling Kim Novac their last months of school, now at the lake too and events all wind up rather dramatically when a murder takes place in the night. Years pass and the parties go their separate ways to meet up again later still curious ...... Fabulous twist ending.
Actually a very interesting storyline approach. Good read, as are most of this writers books.
October 26, 2009
It was an ok book, I read it in Swedish and found it a pretty enjoyable read but the ending totally sucked in my opinion...
August 19, 2017
"Jag kom att tänka på att när min bror skrattade, var det som att bli kliad på ryggen"
Så fin och mysig bok. Genialisk skildring av sommarsverige, så rolig tonårsdialog. Jag tyckte verkligen om den och den är helt klart en värdig klassuppsättningsroman.
Så fin och mysig bok. Genialisk skildring av sommarsverige, så rolig tonårsdialog. Jag tyckte verkligen om den och den är helt klart en värdig klassuppsättningsroman.
April 26, 2025
spannend
August 25, 2021
Mysig sommarläsning!
December 1, 2021
I got to say that Hakan Nesser has a lot of memories that come close to meeting the ones that I have of my youth, not the drastic one he had though. Erik's story was one of love for his brother that was 8 years older than he was and also for Ewa Kaludis, who he saw through a window making love to his brother, with his friend Edmund who was staying with them. Ewa was the fiancee of Bertil "Berra" Albertsson who was a handball legend and who beat up a drifter in an uneven fight. All these things were described by Erik as they unfolded. Hakan takes us through the rest of he story with funny snippets that keep you reading. You are jerked wide awake when you realize that Erik marries Ewa Kaludis and finally gives up the answer. Hakan wrote with a fourteen year olds type of language as close as one could come which made it believable. I really like it and recommend it to everyone.
January 6, 2013
"Det blir en hård sommar" ("It's going to be a hard summer")
Chose it as my "must-read-during-the-course" while studying Swedish.
Can't say it was easy for me to read it since I'm not that good at Swedish and it contains a bit specific language, some swear words and common sayings/proverbs.
But the book itself is good and it was interesting to follow the development of the story of one summer in 1960-s, told by a grown-up man but through the eyes of the 14-year-old boy. It's a bit daring when it comes to revealing the awakening of teenager's sexual attraction.
It's in some ways sad and amusing in others. It's full of thoughts, reflections about life and death, "light" loneliness and moments which change lives and which one can never forget.
And it has an open end. I loved the way Nesser didn't give an exact answer. He made the reader wonder and make own assumptions.
Personally I still wonder...
Chose it as my "must-read-during-the-course" while studying Swedish.
Can't say it was easy for me to read it since I'm not that good at Swedish and it contains a bit specific language, some swear words and common sayings/proverbs.
But the book itself is good and it was interesting to follow the development of the story of one summer in 1960-s, told by a grown-up man but through the eyes of the 14-year-old boy. It's a bit daring when it comes to revealing the awakening of teenager's sexual attraction.
It's in some ways sad and amusing in others. It's full of thoughts, reflections about life and death, "light" loneliness and moments which change lives and which one can never forget.
And it has an open end. I loved the way Nesser didn't give an exact answer. He made the reader wonder and make own assumptions.
Personally I still wonder...
December 18, 2016
Was mir daran gefallen hatte: die sehr einfühlsame Schilderung des Erwachsenwerdens eines jungen Mannes, der einen "schweren Sommer" erlebt. Die Mutter liegt im Sterben, der normale Sommeraufenthalt der Familie im Ferienhaus in Genezereth findet daher anders statt: der ältere Bruder und dessen Freundin sollen sich ein wenig um ihn kümmer, ein Freund kommt mit... und es ist nett da, Sommer eben, Gespräche, Schwimmen, erste Freiheit und Selbständigkeit.... bis dann das Schlimme geschieht. ein Mann wird ermordet, sein Bruder verdächtigt.
Ab hier fing es dann an, mir etwas unbehaglich zu werden, ich fand das Verhalten nicht mehr plausibel oder interssant, sondern.... eigenartig.
Die Auflösung bringt dann auch den Grund dafür ans Licht, und es spukt mir auch seither immer wieder im Kopf herum. Auf jeden Fall eine interessante Erfahrung...
Ab hier fing es dann an, mir etwas unbehaglich zu werden, ich fand das Verhalten nicht mehr plausibel oder interssant, sondern.... eigenartig.
Die Auflösung bringt dann auch den Grund dafür ans Licht, und es spukt mir auch seither immer wieder im Kopf herum. Auf jeden Fall eine interessante Erfahrung...
July 20, 2016
An intriguing murder mystery told by 14 year old Erik as he and his friend Edmund spend the summer by a Swedish lake, fantasising about their new teacher (Ewa), who all the boys think looks like Kim Novak. When Erik's elder brother starts to date Ewa, who is engaged to an international handball player and all-round bruiser, the stage is set for a confrontation, which Erik and his friend refer to as The Incident. 25 years on, Erik's recollections are brought to the fore by a cold case review and finally the truth is revealed. Great writing and good characterisation - 9/10.
September 19, 2017
I have only recently come across this author through his detective novels. The Summer with Kim Novak was a wonderful book, humorous, thoughtful and philosophical. A book I would like to possess and read again.
June 5, 2025
Tatsächlich ist es kein Krimi der üblichen Sorte, wie ich erst dachte!
Es gibt zwar einen Mord, aber hauptsächlich ist es ein Coming-of-Age-Roman, sage ich mal. Drei Jungs verbringen die Sommerferien in einem Haus am See in Schweden und werden so langsam erwachsen / fangen an über das Leben nachzudenken.
Klar, ist dann manches derb, rau und auch an manchen Wörter habe ich mich gestört, wie das Z-Wort. Allerdings dafür, dass das Buch hauptsächlich in den 60er Jahren spielt, finde ich es dann doch sehr realistisch und gelungen.
Es fängt diese Zeit und auch die generelle Stimmung, wenn Jungs anfangen werden zu Männern zu werden, sehr gut ein, wie ich finde.
Nun zum Mordfall: während des Buchs hat sich wie eine Geschichte in der Geschichte entwickelt und endet offen sowie überraschend für mich.
Es gibt zwar einen Mord, aber hauptsächlich ist es ein Coming-of-Age-Roman, sage ich mal. Drei Jungs verbringen die Sommerferien in einem Haus am See in Schweden und werden so langsam erwachsen / fangen an über das Leben nachzudenken.
Klar, ist dann manches derb, rau und auch an manchen Wörter habe ich mich gestört, wie das Z-Wort. Allerdings dafür, dass das Buch hauptsächlich in den 60er Jahren spielt, finde ich es dann doch sehr realistisch und gelungen.
Es fängt diese Zeit und auch die generelle Stimmung, wenn Jungs anfangen werden zu Männern zu werden, sehr gut ein, wie ich finde.
Nun zum Mordfall: während des Buchs hat sich wie eine Geschichte in der Geschichte entwickelt und endet offen sowie überraschend für mich.
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July 2, 2020Hakan Nesser is one of Sweden’s most beloved authors and a much-lauded writer of crime fiction — most notably an addictive series starring the cunning Inspector Van Veteeren and another pair of thrillers with Inspector Barbarotti. A prolific writer, Nesser was awarded the European Crime Fiction Star Award and has been awarded the prize for Best Swedish Crime Novel three times.
Read our full review here:
https://booktrib.com/2020/06/the-summ...
Read our full review here:
https://booktrib.com/2020/06/the-summ...
December 28, 2021
Kul. Osäker på om jag skulle sätta 3/5 eller 4/5 (känner att jag alltid är så jävla hård). Inte en enda bok jag själv skulle valt att läsa men den flöt på. Ganska lite handling och vänligt lite om mordgåtan, så det passade väl mig som inte är så into deckare.
Läste allt utom första kapitlet under en dag och det påverkade nog läsningen till det bättre. Kul att inte kunna lägga ner en bok. Lite förutsägbart slut menmen.
Läste allt utom första kapitlet under en dag och det påverkade nog läsningen till det bättre. Kul att inte kunna lägga ner en bok. Lite förutsägbart slut menmen.
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