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The Dinner
On a summer evening in Amsterdam, two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. At first, the conversation is a gentle hum of polite small talk - the banality of work, the latest movies they've seen. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act - an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. When the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner is an internationally bestselling phenomenon that will leave you breathless.
Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act - an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. When the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner is an internationally bestselling phenomenon that will leave you breathless.
292 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Herman Koch
71 books1,536 followersHerman Koch (1953) is known as a television producer and a writer. The book 'Het diner', published in 2009, was his breakthrough in the Netherlands. It was published in 17 countries. It was partly based on a true story involving a homeless woman named, María del Rosario Endrinal Petit, in Barcelona (Spain), in December 2005.
Koch was born in Arnhem, and later moved to Amsterdam. He studied Russian for some months, and lived in Finland for a while. Nowadays he is married to the Spanish Amalia, and has a son, Pablo (1994).
Koch was born in Arnhem, and later moved to Amsterdam. He studied Russian for some months, and lived in Finland for a while. Nowadays he is married to the Spanish Amalia, and has a son, Pablo (1994).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 20,349 reviews
April 15, 2014
Hated this book! It felt contrived and stilted. I didn't like any of the characters. I couldn't identify with any of them. None of the dialogue was believable. The situation was farcical (why would you go to a super-expensive, elite restaurant to talk about such a private matter?). The whole book was about protecting the kids from their own actions - their was no sense of personal responsibility, no remorse, no soul searching. The narrator was a violent thug who just whined incessantly the whole way through the book. He was as big a bore as his brother.
I can't begin to describe how irritated and ripped off I felt by this book.
To compare it to The Slap (by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas) is such a joke. The characters in that book were so well written and, while not always likeable (in fact some were really icky), they were believable. And it explored the underlying issues and fallout from the "event" that the book gets its name from.
I felt like the The Dinner was a cheap stunt designed to make the reader feel like they had explored something deep, dark and dangerous. It is white-bread, middle class, lite-lit of the worst kind.
I can't begin to describe how irritated and ripped off I felt by this book.
To compare it to The Slap (by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas) is such a joke. The characters in that book were so well written and, while not always likeable (in fact some were really icky), they were believable. And it explored the underlying issues and fallout from the "event" that the book gets its name from.
I felt like the The Dinner was a cheap stunt designed to make the reader feel like they had explored something deep, dark and dangerous. It is white-bread, middle class, lite-lit of the worst kind.
December 4, 2013
I really detested every character in this book (with the exception of Serge, him I just disliked). I hated the ending with every fiber of my being. I found myself wanting to put it down numerous times, and I felt physically ill when I realized where the ending was going....and yet I didn't hate the book itself. I actually went back and forth about whether to give it three stars or four stars for quite awhile. If it was possible I would give it 3 1/2 stars, so lets just say I did.
I am going to leave my review simple for many reasons- 1) You don't need me to tell you what this book is about because there are lots of other people explaining the plot on Goodreads, and they will do it much better than me (writing down my thoughts has never been my forte)... 2) I have just started to voice my opinions on here, and my thoughts on this book would make me sound like a " raving, people hating, I weep for the future" kind of gal...and finally 3) If I get into my feelings of THE DINNER I will probably give something away (since I don't know how to use the spoiler warning yet). I feel to get the most enjoyment out of reading it, you really should go in blind.
I am going to leave my review simple for many reasons- 1) You don't need me to tell you what this book is about because there are lots of other people explaining the plot on Goodreads, and they will do it much better than me (writing down my thoughts has never been my forte)... 2) I have just started to voice my opinions on here, and my thoughts on this book would make me sound like a " raving, people hating, I weep for the future" kind of gal...and finally 3) If I get into my feelings of THE DINNER I will probably give something away (since I don't know how to use the spoiler warning yet). I feel to get the most enjoyment out of reading it, you really should go in blind.
June 25, 2018
so this is probably a safe bet for people who liked Gone Girl. in other words, not you, richard. but it is not nearly as twisty and satisfying as g.g., methinks.
it has the moral bankruptcy of Gone Girl, the shallow people, banal small talk and heavily-done descriptive elements of American Psycho, and the "we are here to talk about our delinquent kids but it isn't going to go well" scenario of The God of Carnage. and why yes, i have only seen the film adaptation, thank you for asking.
the whole thing takes place over a single dinner, with each section of the book corresponding to a course in the meal. the participants are two couples; a pair of resentful brothers and their wives, and the occasion is not a festive one, but a sit-down to discuss the horrific crime their sons have committed together, whether to tell the authorities, and how this will impact the one's plans in his campaign for prime minister of the netherlands.
the restaurant itself is a nightmare - the kind of place you have to wait three months for a table (unless you are serge lohman, beloved prime minister-to-be), and they serve you mostly plate and insist on telling you all about the ingredients and from whence they came, and how the little baby calves were petted and loved until they were turned into sweetbreads. so the story becomes this juxtaposition of the violence of their children against the trappings of the entitled bourgeoisie.
(oh, greg is going to be so proud of me)
but it's an odd little book. maybe it is the translation, but it is very stilted, whose characters seem like when aliens wear human faces, and not just because of how reprehensible some of them are in their little moral cesspool.
the storytelling itself is very skewed - there are amazingly minute details about the food and its cost, but it gleefully glosses over the important stuff. which is coy and intentional, but frustrating for the reader, who really wants to know what psychological disorder our increasingly unreliable narrator suffers from.
as the story goes on, the tension escalates, and with every course, as the waiter's finger comes closer and closer to the food as he relentlessly describes every element on the plate, you can feel the simmer of the unspoken building to a boil.
there is a lot of violence in this book. there is the crime itself, but there are also numerous flashback stories and memory sequences, where violence is alluded to and then celebrated in ever-increasing swathes of confession. while still doing the coy thing, the discreet turn away from the camera when it comes time to make with some of the details.
ultimately, the book is about protecting family vs doing what is right, but "right" in this case is subjective, and two of our subjects just don't have the same compass as us; they have a nick-and-amy compass. so things are going to get rough.
it's perfectly good, it just didn't make me see stars.
bon appetit!!
come to my blog!
it has the moral bankruptcy of Gone Girl, the shallow people, banal small talk and heavily-done descriptive elements of American Psycho, and the "we are here to talk about our delinquent kids but it isn't going to go well" scenario of The God of Carnage. and why yes, i have only seen the film adaptation, thank you for asking.
the whole thing takes place over a single dinner, with each section of the book corresponding to a course in the meal. the participants are two couples; a pair of resentful brothers and their wives, and the occasion is not a festive one, but a sit-down to discuss the horrific crime their sons have committed together, whether to tell the authorities, and how this will impact the one's plans in his campaign for prime minister of the netherlands.
the restaurant itself is a nightmare - the kind of place you have to wait three months for a table (unless you are serge lohman, beloved prime minister-to-be), and they serve you mostly plate and insist on telling you all about the ingredients and from whence they came, and how the little baby calves were petted and loved until they were turned into sweetbreads. so the story becomes this juxtaposition of the violence of their children against the trappings of the entitled bourgeoisie.
(oh, greg is going to be so proud of me)
but it's an odd little book. maybe it is the translation, but it is very stilted, whose characters seem like when aliens wear human faces, and not just because of how reprehensible some of them are in their little moral cesspool.
the storytelling itself is very skewed - there are amazingly minute details about the food and its cost, but it gleefully glosses over the important stuff. which is coy and intentional, but frustrating for the reader, who really wants to know what psychological disorder our increasingly unreliable narrator suffers from.
as the story goes on, the tension escalates, and with every course, as the waiter's finger comes closer and closer to the food as he relentlessly describes every element on the plate, you can feel the simmer of the unspoken building to a boil.
there is a lot of violence in this book. there is the crime itself, but there are also numerous flashback stories and memory sequences, where violence is alluded to and then celebrated in ever-increasing swathes of confession. while still doing the coy thing, the discreet turn away from the camera when it comes time to make with some of the details.
ultimately, the book is about protecting family vs doing what is right, but "right" in this case is subjective, and two of our subjects just don't have the same compass as us; they have a nick-and-amy compass. so things are going to get rough.
it's perfectly good, it just didn't make me see stars.
bon appetit!!
come to my blog!
April 29, 2015
“That’s the oppressive thing about happiness, the way everything is out on the table like an open book.”
When you look at the "rating details" for every widely-read book on Goodreads, you will almost always see most ratings being 5 or 4 stars. Even when it comes to divisive books like Fifty Shades of Grey, 60% of the ratings are for 4 or 5 stars.
Now look at the ratings for The Dinner. There are an overwhelming number of 3 star ratings (more than any other). And I get why. This is the kind of book that you remember as being "clever" and "twisted" but never rush out to recommend. It's a book you find it hard to say isn't "good", but at the same time you weren't blown away. And, though it may be about a dinner, it just isn't that delicious.
The whole story consists of one dinner at one of those overpriced restaurants where you get a tiny morsel of food in the centre of your plate. Two couples are at this meal - the narrator (Paul), his politician brother (Serge Lohman), and their wives (Claire and Babette). Through little flashbacks and side stories, details and vagueness, it becomes clear that there's a dark side to this get together and our narrator might not be so reliable.
It's a book about many things: mental illness, dehumanization, middle class people and the coveted notion of a "happy family". I particularly liked how Koch explored the ways in which subtle language changes can be used to dehumanize someone. Like calling a drunk person an "alcoholic" so that's what they become - defined by their drunken state, no longer human, deserving of everything they get.
It's a book that gets darker and darker. And, despite the scope of the novel being relatively small, it remains compelling. The narrator's disdain for his pretentious brother and the general faff of "posh" restaurants is amusing.
Though I think, most of all, this novel has a severe lack of believability and I found it hard to take seriously. Not because I don't believe people are this morally bankrupt - not that at all - but there's a certain farcical nature to the characters' actions. Would they really go out to eat at a restaurant when having a discussion like this? Would Claire really react the way she did at the end (before leaving the restaurant)?
The Dinner is thought-provoking. It's twisted. It's good. But there are just enough problems with it that I can't rate higher than 3 stars.
When you look at the "rating details" for every widely-read book on Goodreads, you will almost always see most ratings being 5 or 4 stars. Even when it comes to divisive books like Fifty Shades of Grey, 60% of the ratings are for 4 or 5 stars.
Now look at the ratings for The Dinner. There are an overwhelming number of 3 star ratings (more than any other). And I get why. This is the kind of book that you remember as being "clever" and "twisted" but never rush out to recommend. It's a book you find it hard to say isn't "good", but at the same time you weren't blown away. And, though it may be about a dinner, it just isn't that delicious.
The whole story consists of one dinner at one of those overpriced restaurants where you get a tiny morsel of food in the centre of your plate. Two couples are at this meal - the narrator (Paul), his politician brother (Serge Lohman), and their wives (Claire and Babette). Through little flashbacks and side stories, details and vagueness, it becomes clear that there's a dark side to this get together and our narrator might not be so reliable.
It's a book about many things: mental illness, dehumanization, middle class people and the coveted notion of a "happy family". I particularly liked how Koch explored the ways in which subtle language changes can be used to dehumanize someone. Like calling a drunk person an "alcoholic" so that's what they become - defined by their drunken state, no longer human, deserving of everything they get.
It's a book that gets darker and darker. And, despite the scope of the novel being relatively small, it remains compelling. The narrator's disdain for his pretentious brother and the general faff of "posh" restaurants is amusing.
Though I think, most of all, this novel has a severe lack of believability and I found it hard to take seriously. Not because I don't believe people are this morally bankrupt - not that at all - but there's a certain farcical nature to the characters' actions. Would they really go out to eat at a restaurant when having a discussion like this? Would Claire really react the way she did at the end (before leaving the restaurant)?
The Dinner is thought-provoking. It's twisted. It's good. But there are just enough problems with it that I can't rate higher than 3 stars.
November 23, 2019
Say you have a terrorist in the family. You see it on the news and then find irrefutable evidence in your own home. Would you protect the person from the police? Would you get together with your family to discuss the situation and all of you agree that further crimes will need to be committed by the family in order to protect their loved one? Would you encourage these crimes and even commit them yourself? Would you do all this in the certain knowledge that the person will do it again and again and again if you protect them? Shock, horror, right? But we see it must be happening.
What about if it was your son and he was a killer? We all know this happens in gangs too. We all wonder if it is what happens in the families of serial killers.
This is a hypothetical book, one of conjectures. It leads you slowly through the action, at each stage asking you to question yourself, do you find this acceptable, would you do this yourself, what kind of moral action do you expect (or not) from private and public citizens? It asks where responsibility lies and how much nurture v nature is responsible for our ethical conduct. It is an onion book, slowly slowly peeling the skin and the layers until you get to, through tears, the seed, the seed which could grow and form a new generation. A book of horrors. It's a what-if book and one very apposite for the times.
I started to read the book in print but it was very slow indeed. Later I understood why there was such a need for a big build-up but it was hard going and I gave it up for the audio book which had a wonderful narrator that brought the character of Paul, the raconteur and only voice of the story to life.
At first I thought the ending, a psychological excuse was a cop-out but then without it the book would have not involved the narrator (and his wife) quite so intimately.
People have said that the characters were not likeable, true. Well generally that does make it hard to enjoy a book, but not this one. If the characters had been likeable it wouldn't have been a 5-star read because then they would have been like us and this is never going to happen in our lives. I hope.
_______________
If you've read the book and thought nothing like that could ever really happen, read the news. It chilled me to the bone. If you haven't read it, it's not so much a spoiler because the book is different. Kind of.
Rewritten 23rd Nov 2019
What about if it was your son and he was a killer? We all know this happens in gangs too. We all wonder if it is what happens in the families of serial killers.
This is a hypothetical book, one of conjectures. It leads you slowly through the action, at each stage asking you to question yourself, do you find this acceptable, would you do this yourself, what kind of moral action do you expect (or not) from private and public citizens? It asks where responsibility lies and how much nurture v nature is responsible for our ethical conduct. It is an onion book, slowly slowly peeling the skin and the layers until you get to, through tears, the seed, the seed which could grow and form a new generation. A book of horrors. It's a what-if book and one very apposite for the times.
I started to read the book in print but it was very slow indeed. Later I understood why there was such a need for a big build-up but it was hard going and I gave it up for the audio book which had a wonderful narrator that brought the character of Paul, the raconteur and only voice of the story to life.
At first I thought the ending, a psychological excuse was a cop-out but then without it the book would have not involved the narrator (and his wife) quite so intimately.
People have said that the characters were not likeable, true. Well generally that does make it hard to enjoy a book, but not this one. If the characters had been likeable it wouldn't have been a 5-star read because then they would have been like us and this is never going to happen in our lives. I hope.
_______________
If you've read the book and thought nothing like that could ever really happen, read the news. It chilled me to the bone. If you haven't read it, it's not so much a spoiler because the book is different. Kind of.
Rewritten 23rd Nov 2019
September 28, 2013
This may have been one of the worst books I have ever read. I will confess that generally I want to have at least one character that I like. But it's not always necessary. If the plot or situation enthralls me in such a way that I am compelled to keep reading, then I'm happy to. This book however, I kept reading because every review that I read and every recommendation I got from friends said how fabulous this book was. I read to the end hoping it would get better. I hated it.
I hated the fact that these entitled kids hurt multiple people because they thought it was fun. I hated that the parents were willing to cover it up, even when they discovered it was a pattern. I hated that the father knew he had a mental illness, that had probably been passed on to his son, but he just found it funny. I hated that the one person who wanted to come clean and do the right thing was presented as an egocentric buffoon. Maybe it isn't that I need characters that I like. Maybe it's that I want to know that there is a moral compass out there. This book was filled with psychopaths with no redeeming qualities.
I absolutely cannot recommend it.
I hated the fact that these entitled kids hurt multiple people because they thought it was fun. I hated that the parents were willing to cover it up, even when they discovered it was a pattern. I hated that the father knew he had a mental illness, that had probably been passed on to his son, but he just found it funny. I hated that the one person who wanted to come clean and do the right thing was presented as an egocentric buffoon. Maybe it isn't that I need characters that I like. Maybe it's that I want to know that there is a moral compass out there. This book was filled with psychopaths with no redeeming qualities.
I absolutely cannot recommend it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2022
IL CONTO NON PAGATO
È olandese il primo adattamento cinematografico: ”Het diner” di Menno Meyjes, 2013.
Il romanzo ha un suo percorso, ho attraversato fasi diverse leggendolo: ho cominciato detestando abbastanza l’io narrante, saccente oltre misura, uno di quelli che sembrano misurarsi quotidianamente con dio (forse perché, come disse Woody Allen, se devi avere un modello da seguire, perché non scegliere il migliore? – più o meno era così, in un film di tanti anni fa, cito a memoria).
Però, è difficile superare il meccanismo d’identificazione, e quindi, come all’omodiegetico protagonista, mi stava particolarmente antipatico suo fratello, politico di facili sorrisi (come se ne conosce bene anche dalle nostre parti).
Poi, mi sono detto, oh che bello, le due donne ne vengon fuori bene, sono le vere figure positive.
Più avanti, ho pensato, ma come si permette 'sto qui di parlare in questo modo di un bambino africano adottato, com’è che è tanto razzista?
”I nostri ragazzi” di Ivano De Matteo, 2014, intelligente trasposizione e rilettura del romanzo di Koch. Con Alessandro Gassman, Luigi Lo Cascio, Barbara Bobulova, Giovanna Mezzogiorno.
Andando avanti, non si salva proprio nessuno, né gli uomini, né le donne, né tanto meno i ragazzi: sono tutti mostri.
Viene fuori un quadro abbastanza agghiacciante, senza nulla togliere al divertimento e alla piacevolezza della lettura.
La versione americana, del 2017, “The Dinner” di Oren Moverman, con Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan Rebecca Hall.
Perché, altra caratteristica di questo libro, è che si legge proprio bene, prende, spinge avanti: c’è qualche divagazione di troppo, ma non riduce il gusto.
Iniziare e finire in sole 24 ore è qualcosa che faccio molto di rado.
Probabilmente, più che le riflessioni, gli eventuali pensieri, resterà proprio il godimento della lettura.
Il film italiano è il più riuscito dei tre.
È olandese il primo adattamento cinematografico: ”Het diner” di Menno Meyjes, 2013.
Il romanzo ha un suo percorso, ho attraversato fasi diverse leggendolo: ho cominciato detestando abbastanza l’io narrante, saccente oltre misura, uno di quelli che sembrano misurarsi quotidianamente con dio (forse perché, come disse Woody Allen, se devi avere un modello da seguire, perché non scegliere il migliore? – più o meno era così, in un film di tanti anni fa, cito a memoria).
Però, è difficile superare il meccanismo d’identificazione, e quindi, come all’omodiegetico protagonista, mi stava particolarmente antipatico suo fratello, politico di facili sorrisi (come se ne conosce bene anche dalle nostre parti).
Poi, mi sono detto, oh che bello, le due donne ne vengon fuori bene, sono le vere figure positive.
Più avanti, ho pensato, ma come si permette 'sto qui di parlare in questo modo di un bambino africano adottato, com’è che è tanto razzista?
”I nostri ragazzi” di Ivano De Matteo, 2014, intelligente trasposizione e rilettura del romanzo di Koch. Con Alessandro Gassman, Luigi Lo Cascio, Barbara Bobulova, Giovanna Mezzogiorno.
Andando avanti, non si salva proprio nessuno, né gli uomini, né le donne, né tanto meno i ragazzi: sono tutti mostri.
Viene fuori un quadro abbastanza agghiacciante, senza nulla togliere al divertimento e alla piacevolezza della lettura.
La versione americana, del 2017, “The Dinner” di Oren Moverman, con Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan Rebecca Hall.
Perché, altra caratteristica di questo libro, è che si legge proprio bene, prende, spinge avanti: c’è qualche divagazione di troppo, ma non riduce il gusto.
Iniziare e finire in sole 24 ore è qualcosa che faccio molto di rado.
Probabilmente, più che le riflessioni, gli eventuali pensieri, resterà proprio il godimento della lettura.
Il film italiano è il più riuscito dei tre.
August 30, 2016
The Wall Street Journal has tagged The Dinner as ‘the European Gone Girl’. I beg to differ and I think that this book should more appropriately be tagged ‘the European Defending Jacob'...but hey who am I to question The Wall Street Journal! The Dinner tells the story of two families, the parents of which meet each other over dinner one evening in an exclusive restaurant in Amsterdam. At the heart of the story is a horrific crime which both sons within each family hold equal responsibility.
Koch has managed to achieve an attention-grabbing, gripping and intriguing read in this book. It is very well written and translated. I was truly hooked from page one right up until the end. The setting, i.e. the restaurant, works exceptionally well...a setting which we think and imagine will provide intimacy and an appropriate platform for discussion. The setting is an extremely important aspect in this book, because as each course arrives for our diners, our own appetite, hunger and curiosity increase for the unfolding story. Consequently, as each course is served, we are faced with the interruption of the waiter on numerous occasions, explaining the dishes of choice to our four diners. Paul, the narrator of the story becomes increasingly impatient with these interruptions and we the reader do too, not because they are not highly complimentary and a necessary side dish to the story, they are, but they serve to prolong our suspense and anticipation and allow an extremely subtle tension to build . As a result, rather than receive the story in one great dish, we are served it in nibbles and sips, finger-food as such. For me, this was one of the best aspects of the book. This structure really worked superbly. There are no likeable characters in the book and our narrator is totally unreliable, two of my favourite features of a good read. The discussions at the dinner table incorporate a number of themes for debate both for our diners and for us, the reader, and are not only limited to the central crime. The plot in the story really brings to mind certain questions for the reader, how far would we go to protect our children, what actions and decisions would we take or what actions and decisions would we not take, in essence, how far would we go, as parents, to protect the ones we love and cherish? This is indeed dark and gritty but a wonderful and highly entertaining read.
Highly recommended if you like contemporary fiction, most especially books with unreliable narrators. This book is also an ideal choice for Book Clubs, providing most entertaining and interesting discussion and opinion topics. One of my favourite reads of 2013 so far!
Koch has managed to achieve an attention-grabbing, gripping and intriguing read in this book. It is very well written and translated. I was truly hooked from page one right up until the end. The setting, i.e. the restaurant, works exceptionally well...a setting which we think and imagine will provide intimacy and an appropriate platform for discussion. The setting is an extremely important aspect in this book, because as each course arrives for our diners, our own appetite, hunger and curiosity increase for the unfolding story. Consequently, as each course is served, we are faced with the interruption of the waiter on numerous occasions, explaining the dishes of choice to our four diners. Paul, the narrator of the story becomes increasingly impatient with these interruptions and we the reader do too, not because they are not highly complimentary and a necessary side dish to the story, they are, but they serve to prolong our suspense and anticipation and allow an extremely subtle tension to build . As a result, rather than receive the story in one great dish, we are served it in nibbles and sips, finger-food as such. For me, this was one of the best aspects of the book. This structure really worked superbly. There are no likeable characters in the book and our narrator is totally unreliable, two of my favourite features of a good read. The discussions at the dinner table incorporate a number of themes for debate both for our diners and for us, the reader, and are not only limited to the central crime. The plot in the story really brings to mind certain questions for the reader, how far would we go to protect our children, what actions and decisions would we take or what actions and decisions would we not take, in essence, how far would we go, as parents, to protect the ones we love and cherish? This is indeed dark and gritty but a wonderful and highly entertaining read.
Highly recommended if you like contemporary fiction, most especially books with unreliable narrators. This book is also an ideal choice for Book Clubs, providing most entertaining and interesting discussion and opinion topics. One of my favourite reads of 2013 so far!
October 8, 2018
This is a gourmet treat, with a bite.
I have to confess, I don't have a lot of patience with those who dismiss this book simply because of the unlikeable characters. Of course, it goes without saying that anyone's reason for not liking a book is valid. You're allowed to not like the book for this or any other reason. But if you need likeable characters, and a comeuppance for all bad characters, well, frankly, you are in the WRONG SECTION OF THE LIBRARY.
Ahem. Now that I got that out of the way...
The book is clever, created in the framework of a dinner at a fine dining restaurant. The sections of the book follow the courses, from Aperitif all the way to Digestif. It takes place in Amsterdam, in an overpriced, hoity-toity restaurant, with two couples who are there to discuss their misbehaving sons.
The narrator is funny, snarky, and is our tour guide through the evening. Koch uses delightful sleight of hand throughout the book until the final reveal of what's what, and who's who. He turns the reader into a voyeuristic snoop - I mean, don't we all thrill a little when watching a nasty scene erupt at someone else's table? No? Just me?
There are a few weaknesses here, worth mentioning. I found it a little hard to believe that the couples would decide to discuss their sons in a public place, given the 'delicate' subject matter. Also, there are biological explanations given for bad behaviour that I didn't 100% buy. (Later, I came to realise that the "syndrome" described in the book is a metaphor for pathological entitlement which gets passed down from parent to child by a lifetime of examples.) But Koch's writing was strong enough to make me take a morsel, and then another, and before I knew it, I'd finished all courses a pretty happy customer.
Many compare this to Gone Girl. From where I sit, this book borrows more from Crime and Punishment - shining a light on the moral elitism of those who believe they can decide that some lives are worth more than others. The entitlement of some people to do as they please, regardless of the consequences. Those who respond with a frightening smile or laugh in the face of a ghastly deed done to someone who "deserved it". And, even more chilling, enabling the next generation to be this way.
It's dark and it's awful, but it didn't take my appetite away... I'm sure to read more by Herman Koch.
I have to confess, I don't have a lot of patience with those who dismiss this book simply because of the unlikeable characters. Of course, it goes without saying that anyone's reason for not liking a book is valid. You're allowed to not like the book for this or any other reason. But if you need likeable characters, and a comeuppance for all bad characters, well, frankly, you are in the WRONG SECTION OF THE LIBRARY.
Ahem. Now that I got that out of the way...
The book is clever, created in the framework of a dinner at a fine dining restaurant. The sections of the book follow the courses, from Aperitif all the way to Digestif. It takes place in Amsterdam, in an overpriced, hoity-toity restaurant, with two couples who are there to discuss their misbehaving sons.
The narrator is funny, snarky, and is our tour guide through the evening. Koch uses delightful sleight of hand throughout the book until the final reveal of what's what, and who's who. He turns the reader into a voyeuristic snoop - I mean, don't we all thrill a little when watching a nasty scene erupt at someone else's table? No? Just me?
There are a few weaknesses here, worth mentioning. I found it a little hard to believe that the couples would decide to discuss their sons in a public place, given the 'delicate' subject matter. Also, there are biological explanations given for bad behaviour that I didn't 100% buy. (Later, I came to realise that the "syndrome" described in the book is a metaphor for pathological entitlement which gets passed down from parent to child by a lifetime of examples.) But Koch's writing was strong enough to make me take a morsel, and then another, and before I knew it, I'd finished all courses a pretty happy customer.
Many compare this to Gone Girl. From where I sit, this book borrows more from Crime and Punishment - shining a light on the moral elitism of those who believe they can decide that some lives are worth more than others. The entitlement of some people to do as they please, regardless of the consequences. Those who respond with a frightening smile or laugh in the face of a ghastly deed done to someone who "deserved it". And, even more chilling, enabling the next generation to be this way.
It's dark and it's awful, but it didn't take my appetite away... I'm sure to read more by Herman Koch.
June 7, 2018
This is a book that polarises opinion.
In some respects it could be viewed as being provocative, voyeuristic and dark; in other ways it could be seen as being unpleasant and incredibly dull.
I, for instance, love the movie Lost in Translation and consider it to be a masterpiece. My wife, on the other hand, finds it ponderous and aimless.
As an inveterate people watcher, I love witnessing families having bust-ups in restaurants and other public places, as long as I'm not anywhere near them.
I also watch cringeworthy social gaffes on TV through my fingers, all the while groaning with embarrassment, yet continuing to gawp.
So, if (like me) you love to eavesdrop while fragile relationships unravel in restaurants, then this might be your thing.
If you prefer your main characters to all be agreeable and charming, then this definitely won't suit!
In some respects it could be viewed as being provocative, voyeuristic and dark; in other ways it could be seen as being unpleasant and incredibly dull.
I, for instance, love the movie Lost in Translation and consider it to be a masterpiece. My wife, on the other hand, finds it ponderous and aimless.
As an inveterate people watcher, I love witnessing families having bust-ups in restaurants and other public places, as long as I'm not anywhere near them.
I also watch cringeworthy social gaffes on TV through my fingers, all the while groaning with embarrassment, yet continuing to gawp.
So, if (like me) you love to eavesdrop while fragile relationships unravel in restaurants, then this might be your thing.
If you prefer your main characters to all be agreeable and charming, then this definitely won't suit!
April 10, 2017
what a vile little book.
April 2, 2022
The Dinner, Herman Koch
The story is narrated by Paul Lohman, a former history teacher. He and his wife Claire meet at a fancy restaurant in Amsterdam with his elder brother Serge, a prominent politician and contender for the position of Dutch prime minister, and his wife Babette. The plan is to discuss over dinner how to handle a crime committed by their teenage sons, Michel and Rick, respectively. The violent act of the two boys had been filmed by a security camera and shown on TV, but, so far, they have not been identified. The parents have to decide on what to do. They debate over dinner causing tension throughout the evening. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و هفتم ماه اکتبر سال2018میلادی
عنوان: شام مخصوص؛ نویسنده: هرمان کخ؛ مترجم: مهرنوش گلشاهیفر؛ ویرایش: مریم سعیدی؛ تهران ستاک، سال1396؛ در284ص؛ شابک9786009641864؛ چاپ دیگر سال1397؛ در295ص؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان هلند - سده21م
فهرست: «نوشیدنی قبل از غذا»؛ «غذای اصلی»؛ «نوشیدنی بعد از غذا»؛ «انعام»؛
داستان از آنجایی آغاز میشود، که در یک عصر تابستان دو برادر، به همراه همسران خویش، بر سر میز شامی بنشسته اند، و در تلاش هستند یکی از مهمترین تصمیمات زندگی خود را بگیرند، این چهار تن درباره ی واقعیتی، که ذهن آنها را به خود درگیر کرده، گفتگو میکنند
نقل نمونه متن: (یکشنبه بعد از ظهر، پنج روز بعد از شروع اثر داروها، روی مبل سالن خانه دراز کشیده بودم، و روزنامه میخواندم؛ از در شیشه ای که به حیاط باز میشد، میتوانستم ببینم که باران شروع به باریدن کرده است؛ آسمان آن روز آبی با ابرهای سفید لکه ای بود؛ باید بگویم که این اواخر از اینکه در خانه ی خودم، در سالن، روی مبل نشسته باشم ترس برم میداشت؛ ترسم ناشی از حسی بود، که نسبت به افراد دیگر در شرایط مشابه به خودم داشتم؛ اینکه صدها نفر دیگر مثل من در خانه شان روی مبل دراز کشیده اند؛ بیشتر وقتها در تاریکی به این فکر میکردم، که حالا که همه ی آدمها در خانه شان هستند، چه اتفاقی میافتد؛ از جاییکه روی مبل دراز کشیده بودم، نمیتوانستم کسی را ببینم، چون بوته های سبزی جلوی پنجره بودند؛ ولی همین حسی که پشت این بوته ها، خانه های دیگری بودند، و پشت پنجره های دیگر هم آدمهایی مثل من دراز کشیده اند، و یا نشسته اند، حس خفقان خاصی را به من منتقل میکرد؛ باید بگویم از مردم و یا بهتر بگویم آدمها ترس نداشتم؛ از داشتن شرایط مشابه هراس داشتم؛ از تکرار وضعیت همانندمان میترسیدم؛ به هر صورت قبل از استفاده از این داروها، آدمی نبودم که بخواهم در جشنها، و یا دورهمیهای دوستانه، خودنمایی بکنم، و یا مجلس را با خوش صحبتیم بچرخانم؛ بیشتر شبیه کسی بودم که دلش میخواهد گوشه گیری بکند، جایی بنشیند و با کسی حرف نزند؛ باید بگویم اینجوری متفاوت بودم.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 01/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 12/01/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The story is narrated by Paul Lohman, a former history teacher. He and his wife Claire meet at a fancy restaurant in Amsterdam with his elder brother Serge, a prominent politician and contender for the position of Dutch prime minister, and his wife Babette. The plan is to discuss over dinner how to handle a crime committed by their teenage sons, Michel and Rick, respectively. The violent act of the two boys had been filmed by a security camera and shown on TV, but, so far, they have not been identified. The parents have to decide on what to do. They debate over dinner causing tension throughout the evening. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و هفتم ماه اکتبر سال2018میلادی
عنوان: شام مخصوص؛ نویسنده: هرمان کخ؛ مترجم: مهرنوش گلشاهیفر؛ ویرایش: مریم سعیدی؛ تهران ستاک، سال1396؛ در284ص؛ شابک9786009641864؛ چاپ دیگر سال1397؛ در295ص؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان هلند - سده21م
فهرست: «نوشیدنی قبل از غذا»؛ «غذای اصلی»؛ «نوشیدنی بعد از غذا»؛ «انعام»؛
داستان از آنجایی آغاز میشود، که در یک عصر تابستان دو برادر، به همراه همسران خویش، بر سر میز شامی بنشسته اند، و در تلاش هستند یکی از مهمترین تصمیمات زندگی خود را بگیرند، این چهار تن درباره ی واقعیتی، که ذهن آنها را به خود درگیر کرده، گفتگو میکنند
نقل نمونه متن: (یکشنبه بعد از ظهر، پنج روز بعد از شروع اثر داروها، روی مبل سالن خانه دراز کشیده بودم، و روزنامه میخواندم؛ از در شیشه ای که به حیاط باز میشد، میتوانستم ببینم که باران شروع به باریدن کرده است؛ آسمان آن روز آبی با ابرهای سفید لکه ای بود؛ باید بگویم که این اواخر از اینکه در خانه ی خودم، در سالن، روی مبل نشسته باشم ترس برم میداشت؛ ترسم ناشی از حسی بود، که نسبت به افراد دیگر در شرایط مشابه به خودم داشتم؛ اینکه صدها نفر دیگر مثل من در خانه شان روی مبل دراز کشیده اند؛ بیشتر وقتها در تاریکی به این فکر میکردم، که حالا که همه ی آدمها در خانه شان هستند، چه اتفاقی میافتد؛ از جاییکه روی مبل دراز کشیده بودم، نمیتوانستم کسی را ببینم، چون بوته های سبزی جلوی پنجره بودند؛ ولی همین حسی که پشت این بوته ها، خانه های دیگری بودند، و پشت پنجره های دیگر هم آدمهایی مثل من دراز کشیده اند، و یا نشسته اند، حس خفقان خاصی را به من منتقل میکرد؛ باید بگویم از مردم و یا بهتر بگویم آدمها ترس نداشتم؛ از داشتن شرایط مشابه هراس داشتم؛ از تکرار وضعیت همانندمان میترسیدم؛ به هر صورت قبل از استفاده از این داروها، آدمی نبودم که بخواهم در جشنها، و یا دورهمیهای دوستانه، خودنمایی بکنم، و یا مجلس را با خوش صحبتیم بچرخانم؛ بیشتر شبیه کسی بودم که دلش میخواهد گوشه گیری بکند، جایی بنشیند و با کسی حرف نزند؛ باید بگویم اینجوری متفاوت بودم.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 01/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 12/01/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
March 29, 2016
I thought about one of my favorite scenes from STRAW DOGS. What would this artificial voice sound like if its owner were to be dragged into a barn by a pair of French bricklayers? So drunk they could no longer tell the difference between a woman and the ruins of a cottage with only the walls still standing? Would she still be shooting off her mouth...
The sequel to GONE GIRL. Two white, rich, soulless, violent sociopaths have a child and that child is growing up to become a soulless, violent sociopath as well.
You get the idea that something is wrong with our narrator, Paul, early on. He loves the movies DELIVERANCE and STRAW DOGS and he often fantasizes about punching people and killing them.
It's only later that you realize that he has put multiple people in the hospital.
And it's not until very close to the end of the novel that you realize his wife is just as bad as he is. Until then you have a hope or a sympathy that perhaps she is a good person.
The son they create is exactly the kind of son you'd think would be created by the union of and then raising by two monsters. The kind of rich kid who sets a homeless woman on fire and thinks it's funny and is actually a favor to society.
I can't say this book is very fun to read.
"Mr. Lohman," he said. Then I punched him squarely in the nose. Right away there was blood, lots of blood: it sprayed from his nostrils and splattered across his shirt and the desktop, and then on the fingers with which he pawed at his nose.
By that time I had come around the desk and hit him in the face again, lower down this time. His teeth hurt my knuckles as they broke off. He screamed.
I know GONE GIRL shocked and titillated the world by putting two horrible protagonists in the book, and that was fine. But now I feel like this is not only old hat, but rather painful to read. There's no resolution. No one gets their comeuppance or punishment. Good people are murdered and maimed and the soulless go on with their existence, happy and rich and complete. THE END. Does this satisfy anyone? It might be fun in a shocking way if it's the first book of this kind you've ever read, but if you've read GONE GIRL then this is going to be more of the same for you.
It's realistic.
I'm laughing at how many people defend this kind of novel by saying, "Well, it's realistic." or "That's just how life is." Evil people do evil things and get away with them, feel no remorse and are never caught or punished. Great, fine. It's realistic. That's not why I read fiction, emphasis on 'fiction.' I certainly don't need everything neat and tidy, but if you expect me to be happy with this kind of novel, you are wrong.
What I feel when I shut this book is despair, disappointment, and apathy. That's NOT the way I want a book to make me feel. I am very disinterested in this burgeoning subgenre called "sick fucks kill and hurt people, then live happy and long lives being sick fucks and raising other sick fucks." That's not appealing to me on any level.
Tl;dr - Did you love GG and hope another book would be JUST LIKE THIS?!!?! Here's your fix. However, if you are tired and annoyed of MCs with no shred of humanity, not even the tiniest shred - stay far away from this, which seems like a tired re-hash of ideas already hashed.
P.S. Also, this book purports that being a soulless sick fuck is an inherited genetic trait. And that you can sense this disease - be tested for it when you are in utero, amniotic fluid test - and if your fetus has this disease you should abort it. It's strongly hinted in the book that Koch's talking about Asperger's. What a bunch of shit. All of this is shit. What is this, The Bad Seed, where some people are born soulless, and just "Oh, well." Nurture has nothing to do with it, I mean, you're either born a sick fuck or someone with normal feelings. AND ANOTHER THING. People with Asperger's are fine. What is this author implying? If you are on the autism spectrum or not neurotypical that you are a murdering asshole who maims and kills people when things don't go your way?
I wish this whole "I have a disorder, we should have aborted my now-15-year-old-son in the womb because people with this neurological disorder are soulless and will probably become serial killers" was left out. I mean, what the fuck, dude? If you just realized the dad (the main character) was fucked up, and then got to toy around with the idea in your mind like, "Nature or nurture? Is his son soulless because he inherited his dad's no-soul gene, or did growing up with a dad who literally bashed people's faces into a bloody pulp when they got in his way make his child think such behavior was acceptable?" this would be more palatable to me. But no, Koch has to make Paul (the MC dad) go to a psychologist who informs him that if they had had in-utero testing 30 or 40 years ago, Paul himself would've been aborted. Because being a soulless killer is an "illness" that can be detected in the womb and preemptively stopped.
Fuck this shit. Koch comes off as an ableist jerk here, demonizing autism and Asperger's and thinking he can get away with it because he doesn't say "the A-word," as my friend calls it.
This book is really angering me on many levels. Isn't it difficult enough to navigate a neurotypical world without having people write books about autistic killers who go around murdering people? I'm very angry.
P.P.S. People keep saying "This book is about the lengths you'll go to protect your family" and to me that is not what this book was about, AT ALL. I guess every reader does read a different book.
RELATED BOOKS:
Gone Girl
A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey from Hopeless to Humanitarian
The sequel to GONE GIRL. Two white, rich, soulless, violent sociopaths have a child and that child is growing up to become a soulless, violent sociopath as well.
You get the idea that something is wrong with our narrator, Paul, early on. He loves the movies DELIVERANCE and STRAW DOGS and he often fantasizes about punching people and killing them.
It's only later that you realize that he has put multiple people in the hospital.
And it's not until very close to the end of the novel that you realize his wife is just as bad as he is. Until then you have a hope or a sympathy that perhaps she is a good person.
The son they create is exactly the kind of son you'd think would be created by the union of and then raising by two monsters. The kind of rich kid who sets a homeless woman on fire and thinks it's funny and is actually a favor to society.
I can't say this book is very fun to read.
"Mr. Lohman," he said. Then I punched him squarely in the nose. Right away there was blood, lots of blood: it sprayed from his nostrils and splattered across his shirt and the desktop, and then on the fingers with which he pawed at his nose.
By that time I had come around the desk and hit him in the face again, lower down this time. His teeth hurt my knuckles as they broke off. He screamed.
I know GONE GIRL shocked and titillated the world by putting two horrible protagonists in the book, and that was fine. But now I feel like this is not only old hat, but rather painful to read. There's no resolution. No one gets their comeuppance or punishment. Good people are murdered and maimed and the soulless go on with their existence, happy and rich and complete. THE END. Does this satisfy anyone? It might be fun in a shocking way if it's the first book of this kind you've ever read, but if you've read GONE GIRL then this is going to be more of the same for you.
It's realistic.
I'm laughing at how many people defend this kind of novel by saying, "Well, it's realistic." or "That's just how life is." Evil people do evil things and get away with them, feel no remorse and are never caught or punished. Great, fine. It's realistic. That's not why I read fiction, emphasis on 'fiction.' I certainly don't need everything neat and tidy, but if you expect me to be happy with this kind of novel, you are wrong.
What I feel when I shut this book is despair, disappointment, and apathy. That's NOT the way I want a book to make me feel. I am very disinterested in this burgeoning subgenre called "sick fucks kill and hurt people, then live happy and long lives being sick fucks and raising other sick fucks." That's not appealing to me on any level.
Tl;dr - Did you love GG and hope another book would be JUST LIKE THIS?!!?! Here's your fix. However, if you are tired and annoyed of MCs with no shred of humanity, not even the tiniest shred - stay far away from this, which seems like a tired re-hash of ideas already hashed.
P.S. Also, this book purports that being a soulless sick fuck is an inherited genetic trait. And that you can sense this disease - be tested for it when you are in utero, amniotic fluid test - and if your fetus has this disease you should abort it. It's strongly hinted in the book that Koch's talking about Asperger's. What a bunch of shit. All of this is shit. What is this, The Bad Seed, where some people are born soulless, and just "Oh, well." Nurture has nothing to do with it, I mean, you're either born a sick fuck or someone with normal feelings. AND ANOTHER THING. People with Asperger's are fine. What is this author implying? If you are on the autism spectrum or not neurotypical that you are a murdering asshole who maims and kills people when things don't go your way?
I wish this whole "I have a disorder, we should have aborted my now-15-year-old-son in the womb because people with this neurological disorder are soulless and will probably become serial killers" was left out. I mean, what the fuck, dude? If you just realized the dad (the main character) was fucked up, and then got to toy around with the idea in your mind like, "Nature or nurture? Is his son soulless because he inherited his dad's no-soul gene, or did growing up with a dad who literally bashed people's faces into a bloody pulp when they got in his way make his child think such behavior was acceptable?" this would be more palatable to me. But no, Koch has to make Paul (the MC dad) go to a psychologist who informs him that if they had had in-utero testing 30 or 40 years ago, Paul himself would've been aborted. Because being a soulless killer is an "illness" that can be detected in the womb and preemptively stopped.
Fuck this shit. Koch comes off as an ableist jerk here, demonizing autism and Asperger's and thinking he can get away with it because he doesn't say "the A-word," as my friend calls it.
This book is really angering me on many levels. Isn't it difficult enough to navigate a neurotypical world without having people write books about autistic killers who go around murdering people? I'm very angry.
P.P.S. People keep saying "This book is about the lengths you'll go to protect your family" and to me that is not what this book was about, AT ALL. I guess every reader does read a different book.
RELATED BOOKS:
Gone Girl
A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey from Hopeless to Humanitarian
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
January 12, 2020Edit :: added spoiler alert per GR member request.
August 18, 2016
Wow! What a fun dinner experience that was!
Everything was going so well during drinks and appetizers. Just a nice meal in a super fancy restaurant. Luckily, Serge knew people since he was a politician and all, maybe even the next prime minister! The first third of the book was just that... appetizers, whetting my appetite for the delicious main course. Pages and pages of beautiful descriptions, subtle humor, not so subtle humor, and casual conversation. The whole book could have stayed right there and I wouldn't have minded at all.
But, ohhh what happened.... We gotta talk about the children. And that's when the main course got really, really dark and you got to know everyone a little too well, more details than you ever wanted to know, stories of the past that shouldn't really be unearthed. Not here, not at dinner.
People will say, "Ugh, I didn't like any of the characters. They were all so awful. Boo hoo hoo." I didn't like any of these people either. I was never rooting for anyone. I don't think that's the point of the book. Yeah, it seems absurd that these parents had to make what we may see as easy decisions, right? But, man, we're not running for prime minister, and aren't we all selfish at our core anyway? Doesn't this maybe point out that we're probably always going to look out for ourselves, and isn't that worse? How different am I from these people? Ahhhh!!
I loved the twists and turns of the novel, diving into Paul's past and his relationship with his brother. It didn't turn these people into anti-heroes or make me feel for them, but it made them three dimensional even if they were still pretty awful. The way this book took a sharp turn and didn't lay off the brakes from there was fantastic. I didn't think there was a moment wasted, and I loved each section of the meal. I would even argue that it ended a little too abruptly after the slow climb to get there. I would have liked a few more pages, maybe an epilogue or something. I don't know.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I knocked out most of it in a day. I would definitely recommend it for something a little darker, but please, for the love of God...
Don't compare this to Gone Girl.
Everything was going so well during drinks and appetizers. Just a nice meal in a super fancy restaurant. Luckily, Serge knew people since he was a politician and all, maybe even the next prime minister! The first third of the book was just that... appetizers, whetting my appetite for the delicious main course. Pages and pages of beautiful descriptions, subtle humor, not so subtle humor, and casual conversation. The whole book could have stayed right there and I wouldn't have minded at all.
But, ohhh what happened.... We gotta talk about the children. And that's when the main course got really, really dark and you got to know everyone a little too well, more details than you ever wanted to know, stories of the past that shouldn't really be unearthed. Not here, not at dinner.
People will say, "Ugh, I didn't like any of the characters. They were all so awful. Boo hoo hoo." I didn't like any of these people either. I was never rooting for anyone. I don't think that's the point of the book. Yeah, it seems absurd that these parents had to make what we may see as easy decisions, right? But, man, we're not running for prime minister, and aren't we all selfish at our core anyway? Doesn't this maybe point out that we're probably always going to look out for ourselves, and isn't that worse? How different am I from these people? Ahhhh!!
I loved the twists and turns of the novel, diving into Paul's past and his relationship with his brother. It didn't turn these people into anti-heroes or make me feel for them, but it made them three dimensional even if they were still pretty awful. The way this book took a sharp turn and didn't lay off the brakes from there was fantastic. I didn't think there was a moment wasted, and I loved each section of the meal. I would even argue that it ended a little too abruptly after the slow climb to get there. I would have liked a few more pages, maybe an epilogue or something. I don't know.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I knocked out most of it in a day. I would definitely recommend it for something a little darker, but please, for the love of God...
Don't compare this to Gone Girl.
May 20, 2018
Update :
I got the dvd of the movie of this book, and just as I was about to play it I said to myself hold on, I already watched this movie; and then I wasn't sure - had I already seen it or not? What a puzzle! but then myself answered back and said that the only way to find out was to watch it, so I did and I hadn't seen the movie at all.
But the book had instilled such strong scenes and dialogues within the portals of my brain that I thought I had.
I think that deserves another half star. And I do recommend the dvd, a very bitter affair, less hideously funny than the book, and arguably better. Except for Steve Cogan pretending to be an American - I don't know why they do that. It's like Dr Johnson's dog walking on two legs.
*******
Original review :
They say, do they not, that The Dinner is the European Gone Girl. Mais non! I say. I threw GG at the wall after around page 100 with some force, but I finished The Dinner with a distinct smacking of the chops and dabbing of the napkin, so that’s a big difference. Both books are about extremely irritating people, it must be admitted. But the plot swerves in GG are more than a little ridiculous and there for the standard lo-cal thriller effect, whereas I thought the disturbed and frankly nasty personalities on display here were just this side of plausible and therefore gave me a frisson, which sounds like something you could eat but isn’t.
It’s hard to discuss the plot. You know it’s all about one single dinner in a very posh restaurant so the whole book is one evening from around 8 to around 1 am but with copious flashbacks. The ultra-sophistication of the restaurant brought me out in a cold sweat all by itself, with the maître d’ hovering by each dish and explaining what is on the plate – “The goat’s cheese comes from the Rarata-Monteoru region of Romania. It is an organic farm established by monks in 1459. Each goat has a nominated chef to attend its dietary needs etc etc”. So all that is quite amusing.
It is two brothers and their wives who are eating this dinner. Or actually pecking at it then jumping up and rushing outside to make a mysterious phone call. Gradually the ghastly family secrets are unveiled. Each brother has a 15 year old son and the two of them have been spoiler-oiler which is enough to put a person off his escargots. It turns out that the brother who is narrating is spoiler-spoil so you just don’t know what a guy like that will do. So very spoilerish things have happened and indeed will happen. And I cannot say any more than that.
I rattled through this and as I did the movie was already forming in my brain. I see fluid camerawork swirling round and round the table and many revolting close-ups of the fancy grub. IMDB says it will be out next year starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Steve Coogan. What? Steve Coogan? Is there time to change that?
Three stars. Kind of sort of slightly recommended. Haute cuisine is what they eat in this novel but The Dinner is strictly burger and fries.
I got the dvd of the movie of this book, and just as I was about to play it I said to myself hold on, I already watched this movie; and then I wasn't sure - had I already seen it or not? What a puzzle! but then myself answered back and said that the only way to find out was to watch it, so I did and I hadn't seen the movie at all.
But the book had instilled such strong scenes and dialogues within the portals of my brain that I thought I had.
I think that deserves another half star. And I do recommend the dvd, a very bitter affair, less hideously funny than the book, and arguably better. Except for Steve Cogan pretending to be an American - I don't know why they do that. It's like Dr Johnson's dog walking on two legs.
*******
Original review :
They say, do they not, that The Dinner is the European Gone Girl. Mais non! I say. I threw GG at the wall after around page 100 with some force, but I finished The Dinner with a distinct smacking of the chops and dabbing of the napkin, so that’s a big difference. Both books are about extremely irritating people, it must be admitted. But the plot swerves in GG are more than a little ridiculous and there for the standard lo-cal thriller effect, whereas I thought the disturbed and frankly nasty personalities on display here were just this side of plausible and therefore gave me a frisson, which sounds like something you could eat but isn’t.
It’s hard to discuss the plot. You know it’s all about one single dinner in a very posh restaurant so the whole book is one evening from around 8 to around 1 am but with copious flashbacks. The ultra-sophistication of the restaurant brought me out in a cold sweat all by itself, with the maître d’ hovering by each dish and explaining what is on the plate – “The goat’s cheese comes from the Rarata-Monteoru region of Romania. It is an organic farm established by monks in 1459. Each goat has a nominated chef to attend its dietary needs etc etc”. So all that is quite amusing.
It is two brothers and their wives who are eating this dinner. Or actually pecking at it then jumping up and rushing outside to make a mysterious phone call. Gradually the ghastly family secrets are unveiled. Each brother has a 15 year old son and the two of them have been spoiler-oiler which is enough to put a person off his escargots. It turns out that the brother who is narrating is spoiler-spoil so you just don’t know what a guy like that will do. So very spoilerish things have happened and indeed will happen. And I cannot say any more than that.
I rattled through this and as I did the movie was already forming in my brain. I see fluid camerawork swirling round and round the table and many revolting close-ups of the fancy grub. IMDB says it will be out next year starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Steve Coogan. What? Steve Coogan? Is there time to change that?
Three stars. Kind of sort of slightly recommended. Haute cuisine is what they eat in this novel but The Dinner is strictly burger and fries.
September 18, 2019
If Alfred Hitchcock and Vladmimir Nabokov collaborated on a novel, this book could be the result.
I love it. It's an ambitious and awesome blend of suspense, social commentary and satire.
Koch is a terrific writer. While he doesn't write with the briliant wordplay of Nabokov (that's not Koch's style) there's a tone and a way with the material that reminds me of Nabokov. And he creates suspense with the skill of Hitchcock, who also had that wink-wink thing going while he was terrifying the audience. They also both excelled at the unreliable narrator, as does Koch with his unforgettable Paul.
And it's relevant. Even more relevant today than when it was originally published in 2009. And it's probably going to take on greater relevance with time, like "A Clockwork Orange" or "Lord of the Flies."
It's a page-turner that lives up to its promise as well as its publicity -- a surprising and thought-provoking, totally unique read. I can't stop thinking about it.
I love it. It's an ambitious and awesome blend of suspense, social commentary and satire.
Koch is a terrific writer. While he doesn't write with the briliant wordplay of Nabokov (that's not Koch's style) there's a tone and a way with the material that reminds me of Nabokov. And he creates suspense with the skill of Hitchcock, who also had that wink-wink thing going while he was terrifying the audience. They also both excelled at the unreliable narrator, as does Koch with his unforgettable Paul.
And it's relevant. Even more relevant today than when it was originally published in 2009. And it's probably going to take on greater relevance with time, like "A Clockwork Orange" or "Lord of the Flies."
It's a page-turner that lives up to its promise as well as its publicity -- a surprising and thought-provoking, totally unique read. I can't stop thinking about it.
December 24, 2012
I'm a huge fan of books that explore how far we'll go for those we love, particularly our children. When Hogarth Publishers agreed to send me the e-galley of The Dinner I was ecstatic. It's due to be published in the states in February 2013.
This is a book that begs eating metaphors so I'll try to spare you but it won't be easy.
The Dinner is laid out in courses, from aperitif to digestif and is excellently plotted. You learn early on that this dinner is not the typical happy family outing. Brothers Serge and Paul and their wives have met to discuss their children and some trouble the boys, cousins Rick and Michel have gotten themselves into. It's not immediately apparent whether this trouble is the usual stuff the poor judgment of teens produces or if it's something more serious. The tension at the table is evident from the get-go. The rivalry between Paul and Serge is palatable. Serge picked the restaurant, over priced and showy where only someone with his celebrity status could hope to get a table. He's running for and likely to become the next Prime Minister. In contrast, Paul is an out of work former teacher carrying lots of baggage. Between apertif and dessert, with the in-between courses going from civilized to acrid hostility, the no good deed is revealed. What lengths will these parents go to in order to save their child?
When I last picked up my napkin, dabbed my lips and placed it on the table, I wish there were a character I liked. None were appetizing and I was left feeling a bit nauseous. Not quite content and yet, wanting no more, even though some morsel was missing. Call for the check and let me out of here.
Given time to digest, I relished in the deliciousness of the plot and this serving of evil. There's enough to chew on here for a good book discussion.
3.5 stars with a look for more from this author.
This is a book that begs eating metaphors so I'll try to spare you but it won't be easy.
The Dinner is laid out in courses, from aperitif to digestif and is excellently plotted. You learn early on that this dinner is not the typical happy family outing. Brothers Serge and Paul and their wives have met to discuss their children and some trouble the boys, cousins Rick and Michel have gotten themselves into. It's not immediately apparent whether this trouble is the usual stuff the poor judgment of teens produces or if it's something more serious. The tension at the table is evident from the get-go. The rivalry between Paul and Serge is palatable. Serge picked the restaurant, over priced and showy where only someone with his celebrity status could hope to get a table. He's running for and likely to become the next Prime Minister. In contrast, Paul is an out of work former teacher carrying lots of baggage. Between apertif and dessert, with the in-between courses going from civilized to acrid hostility, the no good deed is revealed. What lengths will these parents go to in order to save their child?
When I last picked up my napkin, dabbed my lips and placed it on the table, I wish there were a character I liked. None were appetizing and I was left feeling a bit nauseous. Not quite content and yet, wanting no more, even though some morsel was missing. Call for the check and let me out of here.
Given time to digest, I relished in the deliciousness of the plot and this serving of evil. There's enough to chew on here for a good book discussion.
3.5 stars with a look for more from this author.
December 14, 2018
If the word didn't exist prior to this book, we would've had to create "acerbic." The writing is sooooo good. The structure is fascinating. The people are deliciously awful.
August 2, 2017
A delicious, twistalicious book you will want to devour. A definite worthy contender for my TWISTER HALL OF FAME at www.booksbejeweled.com
"Sometimes things come out of your mouth that you regret later on. Or no, not regret. You say something so razor-sharp that the person you say it to carries it around with them for the rest of their life."
— Herman Koch (The Dinner)
This is one of my favorite books in the domestic noir genre. It is not a book for everyone. It is biting, raw and the darkest humor you can imagine. Almost the entire story is set at a restaurant table.
There are two unhappy couples having dinner together and acting as if everything is fine. As we go from appetizers to dessert, the reader gets a sense that something is very wrong here. A simmering beneath the surface kind of tension. It continues to build until all the secrets are exposed. I could not put this book down except for minutes at a time and then I was constantly wondering "what in the world is going on here?"
Each couple has a son. These sons are cousins to each other, because their dads are brothers. The sons have done something horrible. Really bad. And the parents are here not just to eat dinner at a fancy restaurant, but to work out how this situation their sons are in should be handled. All four members at the table have a different agenda, a different perspective, a different personality flaw.
The narrator, Paul, is sarcastic and funny and relatable. He could be someone you know. But when you find out the true Paul, who he is when no one is watching, you realize you probably don't know anyone like him and you certainly don't want to.
To me, this book is a rare find. It is very well written, even though it is translated from Dutch to English. Amazing, the English major in me rejoices! A brilliant and literary, domestic suspense story.
"Sometimes things come out of your mouth that you regret later on. Or no, not regret. You say something so razor-sharp that the person you say it to carries it around with them for the rest of their life."
— Herman Koch (The Dinner)
This is one of my favorite books in the domestic noir genre. It is not a book for everyone. It is biting, raw and the darkest humor you can imagine. Almost the entire story is set at a restaurant table.
There are two unhappy couples having dinner together and acting as if everything is fine. As we go from appetizers to dessert, the reader gets a sense that something is very wrong here. A simmering beneath the surface kind of tension. It continues to build until all the secrets are exposed. I could not put this book down except for minutes at a time and then I was constantly wondering "what in the world is going on here?"
Each couple has a son. These sons are cousins to each other, because their dads are brothers. The sons have done something horrible. Really bad. And the parents are here not just to eat dinner at a fancy restaurant, but to work out how this situation their sons are in should be handled. All four members at the table have a different agenda, a different perspective, a different personality flaw.
The narrator, Paul, is sarcastic and funny and relatable. He could be someone you know. But when you find out the true Paul, who he is when no one is watching, you realize you probably don't know anyone like him and you certainly don't want to.
To me, this book is a rare find. It is very well written, even though it is translated from Dutch to English. Amazing, the English major in me rejoices! A brilliant and literary, domestic suspense story.
March 19, 2023
Hasta poco antes del final el libro es de esos que te da rabia tener que dejar de leer. Al final terminó siendo uno que te da rabia haber leído. La razón del cambio: un final cobarde.
El relato tiene mucha fuerza, eso es indiscutible, el narrador es un impresentable, con un trastorno de superioridad (o de inferioridad, nunca he sabido si no son en el fondo lo mismo), racista y clasista, con una aversión patológica hacia la debilidad de los demás, pero sin complejos, directo, crudo. Uno siente una intranquilidad desconcertante durante todo el relato, te pone de los nervios la impudicia de sus opiniones y argumentaciones, quizás porque te enfrenta a pensamientos que alguna vez han pasado por tu cabeza, los hayas después descartado o no. Temas como la pena de muerte, el aborto, la solidaridad con los supuestamente débiles o indeseables, la impiedad hacia los posibles hijos con taras, temas que la novela solo enuncia, pero que te golpean y te remueven por dentro, temas de muy difícil solución moral.
Y sin embargo, al final, lo más enervante de todo es esa justificación, esa fácil y cobarde excusa al terrible hecho cometido, punto central de todo lo narrado. Una cobardía mucho más llamativa después de vérnoslas con Claire y su atroz falta de piedad o el planteamiento sin medias tintas de algo que muchos piensan y callan, tan de moda hoy en día en el tema de las mujeres pero extensible a cualquier otro problema social, que es esa idea de que las víctimas en el fondo se lo merecen, de que no son del todo inocentes.
No sé si esto es o no es literatura, pero la estructura del libro, el estilo seco, directo, se amolda perfectamente a lo narrado. Pena de esa fallida guarnición del segundo plato de la cena, por lo demás, tan políticamente incorrecta, aunque para muchos será un descanso, una salida a lo atroz que es toda la novela, impactante por encima de todo.
August 20, 2024
I devoured THE DINNER...
THE DINNER by Herman Koch
No spoilers. 5 stars. Paul Lohman and his wife Claire are meeting Paul's brother, Serge, and his wife Babette for a posh dinner at a restaurant with a seven month waiting list...
No problem there for Serge, a well-known politician running for Prime Minister...
Paul, our narrator, kvetches straight away about the high prices, the lack of food on each plate, and the wait staff...
But...
We really get the impression that he is secretly envious of his competitive brother's fame and the obnoxious way he flaunts it...
As each course is served, we are slowly let in on the real purpose of the dinner...
Excellent novel! I devoured THE DINNER in 2 days. I've read some pretty scathing Amazon customer reviews about this remarkable little book. I guess everyone has his own opinion, but I found this story to be a real page-turner, especially the last 50%. It was controversial and thought-provoking ...and not in a lofty, boring way.
THE DINNER by Herman Koch
No spoilers. 5 stars. Paul Lohman and his wife Claire are meeting Paul's brother, Serge, and his wife Babette for a posh dinner at a restaurant with a seven month waiting list...
No problem there for Serge, a well-known politician running for Prime Minister...
Paul, our narrator, kvetches straight away about the high prices, the lack of food on each plate, and the wait staff...
But...
We really get the impression that he is secretly envious of his competitive brother's fame and the obnoxious way he flaunts it...
As each course is served, we are slowly let in on the real purpose of the dinner...
Excellent novel! I devoured THE DINNER in 2 days. I've read some pretty scathing Amazon customer reviews about this remarkable little book. I guess everyone has his own opinion, but I found this story to be a real page-turner, especially the last 50%. It was controversial and thought-provoking ...and not in a lofty, boring way.
August 9, 2015
I can consider this one of the few messed up novels that amazed me by its darkness. Some of the other ones were Gone Girl and Dark Places, so I guess I do have to agree with the blurb from Wall street journal stating that this is a European Gone Girl.
This is one of those circumstances wherein I'm glad I didn't listen to the bad reviews, and the low overall rating of the novel. Opinions vary, so stick with your gut. If the novel seems like something you'd enjoy, then don't hesitate to give it a read.
Halfway through the novel I decided to consider this as the epitome of contemporary fiction, among all the novels that I've read so far. It's weird how endless ramblings regarding random things in life kept my attention for more than 100+ pages. Palahniuk tried that style with me, but failed miserably. Koch on the other hand managed to make me like the novel even more because of the rambling. I cared about what he was trying to point out, and everything the main character said only made me like him better.
This novel, like I said, was messed up. If you're not a fan of dark fiction, then I'd suggest you avoid this. It's not gut-wrenching in the same way as some gore-y horror movies, but the outcome would make you question the sanity of the characters, or even the author himself. I'm a fan of out of norm fiction, so that means I don't mind if the author tackles on topics that are profane and socially unacceptable. I'm not one to promote such activities, of course, because I'm against them, but writing about those doesn't mean that the author automatically thinks that it's supposed to be right.
The plot took a while for it to develop. Halfway through I honestly still didn't know what was the main focus of the novel. The secret wasn't revealed then and I was impatiently waiting for it to be discussed further. At first I thought that the novel was going to have a terrible plot because of its seemingly nonexistent development, but thankfully I was proven wrong.
The characters were the main reason why this novel was messed up. Let me add in the fact though that messed up doesn't mean it was bad. I mean messed up in a positive way. Psychologically challenged characters are the best to read about, at least for me. Paul, Claire, Serge, and Babette were all amazing, and fully developed in the end. One or two of the four truly shocked me in the end of the novel. I didn't expect them to develop the way they did but the author knew what he was doing.
In the end one may ask, "What was this truly about?". In my opinion, it was about how one would do anything to keep their family safe, no matter what the consequences may be. The love of a couple for their child, and how nothing can stand against that.
4.5/5 stars. Why round it down? It's because I needed more. The novel felt like it was cut short too early. The ending was not ambiguous, and I liked what happened in the end. It does feel like a European Gone Girl, so get ready for messed up to the tenth power. Highly recommended for psychological thriller fans, because this felt like a mixture of contemporary and psycho-thriller.
This is one of those circumstances wherein I'm glad I didn't listen to the bad reviews, and the low overall rating of the novel. Opinions vary, so stick with your gut. If the novel seems like something you'd enjoy, then don't hesitate to give it a read.
Halfway through the novel I decided to consider this as the epitome of contemporary fiction, among all the novels that I've read so far. It's weird how endless ramblings regarding random things in life kept my attention for more than 100+ pages. Palahniuk tried that style with me, but failed miserably. Koch on the other hand managed to make me like the novel even more because of the rambling. I cared about what he was trying to point out, and everything the main character said only made me like him better.
This novel, like I said, was messed up. If you're not a fan of dark fiction, then I'd suggest you avoid this. It's not gut-wrenching in the same way as some gore-y horror movies, but the outcome would make you question the sanity of the characters, or even the author himself. I'm a fan of out of norm fiction, so that means I don't mind if the author tackles on topics that are profane and socially unacceptable. I'm not one to promote such activities, of course, because I'm against them, but writing about those doesn't mean that the author automatically thinks that it's supposed to be right.
The plot took a while for it to develop. Halfway through I honestly still didn't know what was the main focus of the novel. The secret wasn't revealed then and I was impatiently waiting for it to be discussed further. At first I thought that the novel was going to have a terrible plot because of its seemingly nonexistent development, but thankfully I was proven wrong.
The characters were the main reason why this novel was messed up. Let me add in the fact though that messed up doesn't mean it was bad. I mean messed up in a positive way. Psychologically challenged characters are the best to read about, at least for me. Paul, Claire, Serge, and Babette were all amazing, and fully developed in the end. One or two of the four truly shocked me in the end of the novel. I didn't expect them to develop the way they did but the author knew what he was doing.
In the end one may ask, "What was this truly about?". In my opinion, it was about how one would do anything to keep their family safe, no matter what the consequences may be. The love of a couple for their child, and how nothing can stand against that.
4.5/5 stars. Why round it down? It's because I needed more. The novel felt like it was cut short too early. The ending was not ambiguous, and I liked what happened in the end. It does feel like a European Gone Girl, so get ready for messed up to the tenth power. Highly recommended for psychological thriller fans, because this felt like a mixture of contemporary and psycho-thriller.
June 24, 2021
رواية مزعجة, لكن واقعية وتثير كتير من التساؤلات والموضوعات
أربع أشخاص يجتمعوا على عشاء فاخر, وما بين المقبلات والسَلطات والطبق الرئيسي يحكي الراوي عن حياتهم وأبنائهم ويكشف بالتدريج الخفايا والأسرار
إلى أي حد ممكن أن يصل الأهل في حماية أولادهم مهما ارتكبوا من جرائم, ومسئولية الآباء عن الأخلاقيات والسلوكيات التي يكتسبها الأبناء
والأهم ...هل العنف والعداونية في التفكير والسلوك ناتج عن خلل جيني وراثي أم قوة كامنة داخل الانسان تظهر إذا توفرت لها البيئة والظروف
حتى المفاهيم الواضحة مُختلف عليها وكل يراها من وجهة نظره, العنصرية والتمييز, القوانين وعقوبات الجرائم اللي بتحقق العدالة, تصرفات السياسيين والأثرياء...
عجبتني جدا الطريقة التي نسج بها هيرمان كوخ خيوط روايته, وتركيبة الشخصيات وتنقلات الراوي بين الأحداث والأزمان
أسلوب السرد مميز تشعر معه باضطراب نفسية الراوي وخاصةً في بعض الأحداث التي لم يفسرها أثناء الحكي
أربع أشخاص يجتمعوا على عشاء فاخر, وما بين المقبلات والسَلطات والطبق الرئيسي يحكي الراوي عن حياتهم وأبنائهم ويكشف بالتدريج الخفايا والأسرار
إلى أي حد ممكن أن يصل الأهل في حماية أولادهم مهما ارتكبوا من جرائم, ومسئولية الآباء عن الأخلاقيات والسلوكيات التي يكتسبها الأبناء
والأهم ...هل العنف والعداونية في التفكير والسلوك ناتج عن خلل جيني وراثي أم قوة كامنة داخل الانسان تظهر إذا توفرت لها البيئة والظروف
حتى المفاهيم الواضحة مُختلف عليها وكل يراها من وجهة نظره, العنصرية والتمييز, القوانين وعقوبات الجرائم اللي بتحقق العدالة, تصرفات السياسيين والأثرياء...
عجبتني جدا الطريقة التي نسج بها هيرمان كوخ خيوط روايته, وتركيبة الشخصيات وتنقلات الراوي بين الأحداث والأزمان
أسلوب السرد مميز تشعر معه باضطراب نفسية الراوي وخاصةً في بعض الأحداث التي لم يفسرها أثناء الحكي
May 15, 2013
I understand comparing a book to Gone Girl will push sales, so yay for that comparison plastered on every The Dinner reference. But seriously, motherfuckers, this novel is more like Flynn's Sharp Objects and, in my eyes, better than Gone Girl. So let's stop talking about Gone Girl, even though I liked that book, because, you know, there are other books in the goddamn universe and I'm trying to review one as we speak.
The Dinner's main character is an angry, reflective guy out at a restaurant with his wife, brother, and sister-in-law. The action unfolds over the evening and through flashbacks. I suppose one of comparisons between The Dinner and the Gillian Flynn-novel-that-will-not-be-named emerges from the fact I couldn't write a review of either without fearing revealing spoilers. Koch's novel is tighter, however, in its focus on familiar relationships, whether they be father/son, mother/son, father/mother, or brother/brother. The narrators gets to articulate the terrific hatred and frustration inherent in minor interactions and (perhaps) over-sensitivity to slights and manipulation when one's mind isn't quite in the right place. And the deep darkness connects to the question of whether or not families can retain a semblance of normalcy or even grow closer when the stakeholders lie, scheme, and withhold, sometimes to each other, sometimes for each other.
I very much enjoyed The Dinner. I don't re-read much but I could see myself re-reading the novel in a month or two because the elegant structure deserves a second look. This book is better than its the "European Gone Girl or "topic of countless dinner party debates" horseshit tag lines. Read The Dinner on its own terms.
The Dinner's main character is an angry, reflective guy out at a restaurant with his wife, brother, and sister-in-law. The action unfolds over the evening and through flashbacks. I suppose one of comparisons between The Dinner and the Gillian Flynn-novel-that-will-not-be-named emerges from the fact I couldn't write a review of either without fearing revealing spoilers. Koch's novel is tighter, however, in its focus on familiar relationships, whether they be father/son, mother/son, father/mother, or brother/brother. The narrators gets to articulate the terrific hatred and frustration inherent in minor interactions and (perhaps) over-sensitivity to slights and manipulation when one's mind isn't quite in the right place. And the deep darkness connects to the question of whether or not families can retain a semblance of normalcy or even grow closer when the stakeholders lie, scheme, and withhold, sometimes to each other, sometimes for each other.
I very much enjoyed The Dinner. I don't re-read much but I could see myself re-reading the novel in a month or two because the elegant structure deserves a second look. This book is better than its the "European Gone Girl or "topic of countless dinner party debates" horseshit tag lines. Read The Dinner on its own terms.
August 14, 2017
The folks in this book got under my skin from the get go. The pretentiousness was mind boggling. These are people for whom it's important who arrives last for a dinner reservation, for whom appearance is all. They meet at a restaurant that reminds me of The Emperor's New Clothes. Will no one admit to the laughingly almost empty plates of unique ingredients? And it goes downhill from there. These aren't people you're going to like. Those opening chapters give you an inkling of how these folks will deal with the horrendous thing their boys have done.
We see everything through the eyes of Paul, but that doesn't mean you like him.
I can't see this book being made into a movie. So much of the “dialog” is Paul talking directly to the reader, giving you his opinion on events. And as the book goes on, you start questioning the man's sanity.
I am reading this for book club and am anxious for the discussion. This is definitely one of those books where you don't care for the characters but there's lots of meat to discuss. It's not an easy read, definitely not a feel good. But it does grip you and force you to think how you would act in a similar situation. Hopefully not like these four parents…
We see everything through the eyes of Paul, but that doesn't mean you like him.
I can't see this book being made into a movie. So much of the “dialog” is Paul talking directly to the reader, giving you his opinion on events. And as the book goes on, you start questioning the man's sanity.
I am reading this for book club and am anxious for the discussion. This is definitely one of those books where you don't care for the characters but there's lots of meat to discuss. It's not an easy read, definitely not a feel good. But it does grip you and force you to think how you would act in a similar situation. Hopefully not like these four parents…
April 1, 2015
This is the book that should have said, "If you liked Gone Girl..." And, after reading some reviews, maybe it did, and I just never saw it. For me, this book is a top notch psychological thriller.
Two couples meet at a posh restaurant for dinner, arriving to discuss some type of problem with their children. The two couples are Paul, and his wife Clair, and Serge (Paul's brother), and his wife Babette. Paul is the single narrator of this story and he recounts much of his past as each course of dinner arrives. I don't think I'll ever get their waiters pointy little finger out of my head, as he uses it to point to each item of food as it arrives. You know, those fancy restaurants who call three slices of cheese on a plate the most extraordinary cuisine, with each described meticulously.
Sorry, the story...The first 20% or so focuses on Paul's memories and how he, and each of the characters have interacted in the past. It seems to plod along a bit, however, later, the fleshing out of these characters proves vital.
Here's what happened after the first 20%, BAM!! WHAT? WHAT JUST HAPPENED? The "problem" related to their children, begins to be reveled, and I was in complete shock. From this point on, I was riveted to my chair, reading at record speed, with a lot of OMG's! What the children were involved in, and the parent's ideals and backgrounds really come into play now with how the situation will be handled.
What I liked so much is the extremely uncomfortable questions the author wants us to ponder, such as: Do our moral responsibilities lie with the protection of our family, or with the larger picture of societies morals? Can violence be hereditary? Do we all have a private and a public face? Are "real" families only those with similar genes? Is a happy family one that sticks together at all costs? Are certain people valued more because of their social standing or intelligence? Do we have a secret vigilante wish to kill those who cannot be rehabilitated, and where do we draw that line?
I love that this book took me down the dark side. I didn't like a single character, but sure did love the book. So, if you'd like your Gone Girl a little darker, you won't be disappointed!
Two couples meet at a posh restaurant for dinner, arriving to discuss some type of problem with their children. The two couples are Paul, and his wife Clair, and Serge (Paul's brother), and his wife Babette. Paul is the single narrator of this story and he recounts much of his past as each course of dinner arrives. I don't think I'll ever get their waiters pointy little finger out of my head, as he uses it to point to each item of food as it arrives. You know, those fancy restaurants who call three slices of cheese on a plate the most extraordinary cuisine, with each described meticulously.
Sorry, the story...The first 20% or so focuses on Paul's memories and how he, and each of the characters have interacted in the past. It seems to plod along a bit, however, later, the fleshing out of these characters proves vital.
Here's what happened after the first 20%, BAM!! WHAT? WHAT JUST HAPPENED? The "problem" related to their children, begins to be reveled, and I was in complete shock. From this point on, I was riveted to my chair, reading at record speed, with a lot of OMG's! What the children were involved in, and the parent's ideals and backgrounds really come into play now with how the situation will be handled.
What I liked so much is the extremely uncomfortable questions the author wants us to ponder, such as: Do our moral responsibilities lie with the protection of our family, or with the larger picture of societies morals? Can violence be hereditary? Do we all have a private and a public face? Are "real" families only those with similar genes? Is a happy family one that sticks together at all costs? Are certain people valued more because of their social standing or intelligence? Do we have a secret vigilante wish to kill those who cannot be rehabilitated, and where do we draw that line?
I love that this book took me down the dark side. I didn't like a single character, but sure did love the book. So, if you'd like your Gone Girl a little darker, you won't be disappointed!
August 23, 2023
four varyingly loathsome pieces of upper-middle class trash go out to an expensive dinner; eventually they get around to discussing the antics of their sociopathic kids. what could have been a scathing indictment of amoral bourgeois complacency becomes a tense yet eyerolling thriller that blames evil on heritable psychopathy with a side serving of insane enablement. upper-middle class readers can enjoy uncomfortable laughs over the pretensions of their peers, but are ultimately let off the hook because ain't no one seeing themselves in a violent basket case or Lady Macbeth. "undemanding..." gushed Financial Times. too true!
October 29, 2015
There’s a bit too much on the menu in this wickedly fun psychological thriller from bestselling Dutch author Herman Koch.
But he’s such a good writer (which comes through in the smooth translation), and his narrator is so savagely funny, insightful and demented that the entire thing goes down like an excellent meal – with a slightly nasty aftertaste because of the subject matter.
Two middle-aged couples dine out at an expensive Amsterdam restaurant. As they go through each extravagant, rather absurd course (presided over by a memorable restaurant worker who points at things with his pinky!), we flash back to scenes involving their children. The quartet are dining out to discuss an incident that may affect everyone’s future.
Despite the contrived setting – I doubt they would meet in such a public way to talk about such a sensitive, private matter – the book is cleverly constructed. And narrator Paul, a former history teacher who resents his boorish older brother Serge’s political success, plays with our sympathies.
At first we’re on Paul’s side; he’s amusing, self-deprecating and his cutting social observations (about the restaurant, about his brother) seem as sharp as a chef's knife. But as the night goes on and he fills us in on his past – and that of his wife, Claire, and his son, Michel – things become more sinister. Then they become downright creepy.
The disturbing act at the centre of the book brings up lots of ethical and moral questions, and Koch handles the teasing out of this incident brilliantly. He’s less successful near the end, where he practically rushes through to the denouement.
But the jagged little pieces of this narrative fit together into one horrific portrait of family life. I’m definitely going to read Koch’s Summer House With Swimming Pool.
But he’s such a good writer (which comes through in the smooth translation), and his narrator is so savagely funny, insightful and demented that the entire thing goes down like an excellent meal – with a slightly nasty aftertaste because of the subject matter.
Two middle-aged couples dine out at an expensive Amsterdam restaurant. As they go through each extravagant, rather absurd course (presided over by a memorable restaurant worker who points at things with his pinky!), we flash back to scenes involving their children. The quartet are dining out to discuss an incident that may affect everyone’s future.
Despite the contrived setting – I doubt they would meet in such a public way to talk about such a sensitive, private matter – the book is cleverly constructed. And narrator Paul, a former history teacher who resents his boorish older brother Serge’s political success, plays with our sympathies.
At first we’re on Paul’s side; he’s amusing, self-deprecating and his cutting social observations (about the restaurant, about his brother) seem as sharp as a chef's knife. But as the night goes on and he fills us in on his past – and that of his wife, Claire, and his son, Michel – things become more sinister. Then they become downright creepy.
The disturbing act at the centre of the book brings up lots of ethical and moral questions, and Koch handles the teasing out of this incident brilliantly. He’s less successful near the end, where he practically rushes through to the denouement.
But the jagged little pieces of this narrative fit together into one horrific portrait of family life. I’m definitely going to read Koch’s Summer House With Swimming Pool.
November 27, 2015
I enjoyed this unique adventure into the mind . As the story progresses, his neurosis becomes clearer and clearer. Also, the bizarre stories of all the characters and the lengths they will go to to "protect" their family had me drawn in and shaking my head the whole time.
In the end, who is more unstable, ?
In the end, who is more unstable, ?
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