Personally, after venturing down a winding reading road lined with exits exclusively featuring deviant deeds and disastrous outcomes, I like to treat myself to the occasional Summer House. Here in particular, is a coming-of-age respite occupied by a young architect-in-training apprenticing under the tutelage of his hero, whose firm avoids the Tokyo summer heat by retreating to the titular volcano-side cottage. The well-known awkwardness of being thrown into the hip kids’ arena is instantly squelched by a cast of welcoming coworkers, each with their own scenic, hikable memory lanes. Not to say this is a completely drama-free chillax tract, but look: it inspired a “chillax” from this curmudgeon, frankly, a Lloyd Wrightean feat.
The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie, (List Price: $18.99, Other Press, 9781635425178, June 2025)
Reviewed by Ian McCord, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia