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Loading... The Dinner (edition 2013)by Herman Koch
Work detailsThe Dinner by Herman Koch
Such a simple book. But it is so upsetting. Not sure what mental illness was being described. Certainly no illness that responds to medication.  shazjhb | Jun 11, 2013 |  What a very strange book. It all takes place one evening at one dinner. I was not enjoying it, but also could not put it down. I kept reading and reading to see what would happen. I do have to give the author some credit, I was captivated. (  ) madcan | Jun 9, 2013 | This novel is structured around a dinner at a boutique restaurant in the Netherlands, starting at the aperitif and finishing with the after dinner drink. The narrator is a brother to Serge Lohman, a famous politician, and the other guests are their wives. The dinner was scheduled to discuss the troubles of their sons; the politician needs to clear his name at the expense of the young men, and the narrator and his wife are anxious to avoid exposure. This is a reflection on families, teenagers, impulsive and violent behavior, and the pretensions of restaurants and politicians. (  ) neurodrew | Jun 6, 2013 | Definitely not Gone Girl. That comparison sets you up for disappointment. ( ) Elizabeth-Bevins | Jun 6, 2013 | Holland: It isn't just tulips and windmills. Or bicycles and thrift. Or even the social tolerance that allows Amsterdam's red light district to flourish. Herman Koch's skillful novel, "The Dinner," exposes readers to a narrator who is both fascinating and repellent, and reminds them that the Netherlands is also a nation where euthanasia, eugenics, and xenophobia have reared their heads and posed difficult and sometimes shocking moral questions. Read the rest: http://thegrimreader.blogspot.com/2013/05/i-dine-with-herman-koch-in-holland.htm... ( ) nohrt4me2 | May 27, 2013 |
The Dinner, a suspense novel by Herman Koch, has sold over a million copies since it was published in Europe in 2009, and it's not difficult to understand the appeal. It's fast-paced and riveting. Written in cool, detached prose (deftly translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett), The Dinner is as theatrical and dramatic as a well-crafted play. It's also nasty. It starts off as social satire but shifts gears, and you find yourself in the middle of a horror story. . . . Mr. Koch delivers his revelations cleverly, by the spoonful. Issues of morality, responsibility and punishment are raised along the way, and a Pinteresque menace lurks under the surface. When savagery takes over, the reader is shocked. But some of Mr. Koch's conclusions are a bit too pat. In the end, the book sits on the digestion less like an over-indulgent "fine dining" experience than Chinese food, which, as we all know, leaves you feeling hungry a couple of hours later.
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