I’ve been exploring a lot of new-to-me writers, with somewhat mixed results. I am really looking for good, contemporary British fiction in the light reading genre. A tightly plotted mystery, or an easy-going chick-lit, I want to expand my range beyond the likes of Tana French and Marion Keyes. Sadly, the results are mixed, and The Swimming Pool in particular was difficult to get through.
About The Swimming Pool
It’s summer when Elm Hill lido opens, having stood empty for years. For Natalie Steele, wife, mother, and teacher, it offers freedom from the tightly controlled routines of work and family. Especially when it leads her to Lara Channing, a charismatic former actress with a lavish bohemian lifestyle, who seems all too happy to invite Natalie into her elite circle.
Soon, Natalie is spending long days at the pool, socializing with new friends and basking in a popularity she didn’t know she’d been missing. Real life, and the person she used to be, begin to feel very far away.
But is such a change in fortunes too good to be true? Why are dark memories of a summer long ago now threatening to surface? And, without realizing, could Natalie have been swept dangerously out of her depth?
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
I’ll start with what I liked. I loved the tight-knit, gossipy atmosphere of the Lido (a generic name for local swimming pools in the UK, but also serving as an informal club/hangout for the neighborhood). I liked how new friendships and interests can sometimes impact a long-term marriage. The scene setting is great.
Where it falters is the characters. I couldn’t root for anyone. Natalie, the main character, is unlikeable. I mean, I found no redeemable quality at all. She’s a bully, a social climber, and has absolutely zero self-restraint. Her husband Ed is stodgy and boring. When the villains in the book are more likable than the heroes, you know there’s a writing problem.
The writing itself is tedious and overly wordy. The story goes on and on repetitively until what I admit was an unpredictable and surprising climax.
However, there were also too many loose ends left, and as a reader, I was still left wondering about some of the events that occurred.
Another issue with the book is that it feels like a thriller, reads like a thriller, but there is actually nothing at all there. No murder, no threats, nothing. It’s all a buildup to essentially a sad accident. I would say this is more of a book about class, sexual shenanigans (without any actual sex), and bullying than a psychological thriller.
A slow boil of a book. It’s ok, one of those books you might actually like while sitting at a pool in the summer – one of those summer reads. But it’s not something I would recommend.
