The Dinner

What a whirlwind novel! The whole story is told from the point of view of Paul, a middle aged man on his way to dinner with his wife, his brother Serge and his sister-in-law. The quartet is meeting at a fancy restaurant and as dinner progresses we learn the reason for the gathering.

Without including any spoilers I can say that the book is dark, but so good. It plays with the ideas of nature vs. nurture and sibling rivalry in a fascinating way. Serge is expected to be the next Prime Minister and his fame attracts additional attention to their table. As Paul’s patience shortens and each new course is served the tension mounts. I loved the details of the book. The interactions with the waiter, the descriptions of the food, all of it show more added to the pleasure of reading.

It reminded me a bit of We Need to Talk About Kevin in the way that an unreliable narrator is talking about the present day and also flashing back to past action in the story. We learn things in bits and pieces. The reader has no idea if Paul is skewing the story to show his family in a better light. We also don’t fully understand his wife’s position on everything at first.

The relationship between the siblings is both tense and primal. We don’t ever really think our siblings have changed from those individuals we grew up with. We see our siblings in a completely different way than the rest of the world does. We know their secrets and their weaknesses. In some ways we see them more clearly, but we also bring our own immature prejudices to the relationship because we have a shared history when we were both sensitive and vulnerable.

There are books where the characters are not likeable and that ruins it, but I think often that just means the writing isn’t as good as it should be. This novel is full of unlikeable characters but that had no impact on my enjoyment.

BOTTOM LINE: I honestly couldn’t put it down. I read the whole thing in one day. Highly recommended for whenever you’re in the mood for a dark twisty look at family relationships. show less

Two couples meet in a chic restaurant, trading small talk over organic tidbits marooned on overly large porcelain platters. We view the evening through the eyes of Paul, who despises the pretensions of the restaurant and of his brother Serge, Danish politician thought to have a lock on becoming prime minister at the next election. At first, Paul's attitude seems reasonable, albeit a bit touchy - perhaps tinged with sibling rivalry. As the evening -and book - progress, we learn the chitchat is merely delaying the party's true purpose: discussing how to handle a painful situation involving their two 15 year old sons. The interminable prelude to this difficult conversation serves to ratchet up the anticipation and suspense, but also, show more through flashbacks, to explicate how we got to this point. With discovery comes a shifting perception of the character of our four diners.

There is plenty here to discomfit just about every reader. (My personal bugaboo concerns the depiction of mental illness, but there are many, many other matters which others will find troubling.) People who require a linear and coherent chronology will be disappointed. The narrator is 'unreliable', untrustworthy and ultimately unsympathetic (!) but then again, no one comes off as likable. Those who like a demanding read will be rewarded if they stick with the book to the end. show less

Yes the characters are unlikable but how else can one explore the very nature of evil without unlikable characters? I loved this book, which, in my opinion, would be best described as a psychological thriller. From the get go there is an insidious undercurrent of unease, of something gone awry. The build up of tension between the diners (two couples related by the husbands, who are brothers) is fantastic. The reveal is surprising and gratifying, insofar as it was terrible enough that I understood that there would be tension building (nothing worse than a unsatisyfing reveal!). I really enjoyed the exploration of the link between father and son and the potentially heritable nature of violence and the implications that that has for show more society. A riveting book with deliciously self-centered and unfeeling characters who will stop at nothing to protect their own interests. show less

Two couples meet in a posh restaurant for dinner. Paul and his wife Claire are not looking forward to spending time with Paul's brother, Serge, a candidate for prime minister, and his wife Babette. Told from Paul's perspective, a picture of Serge as a pompous ass emerges, even before he enters the room. But as Paul reveals more of his own background and the reason for the dinner - something awful their sons have done - his perspective becomes questionable and the reader discovers all is not as it seems. Herman Koch draws the reader along with luscious descriptions of the restaurant, food, and reactions of the dinner guests (all seen through Paul's eyes), while simultaneously peppering the tale with disturbing clues about what is really show more happening underneath the polite surface. He does it so well that the resolution is almost anti-climactic. The entertainment lies in the uncomfortable progression from aperitif to digestif. show less

I loved this beautifully written and perfectly paced novel. At the beginning, we meet the narrator Paul, a man with a chip on his shoulder the size of a small country, whose snippy observations about the world in general and his high-profile politician brother in particular, were an unmitigated delight. As the novel progresses, it becomes darker, and whilst it is still funny, it is also very unsettling. A masterclass in the unreliable-narrator genre, it was brilliant from start to finish. I hope some of this author’s other work has been translated into English – definitely one I’d read more by.

I liked this book, even though I thought it was strange and violent. The compelling narrative voice and frequent plot twists kept me reading, even when I was not sure exactly what was going on or how the plot would resolve. Many have compared it to Gone Girl, but the only resemblance I see, other than the twisting plot, is that none of the characters is all that sympathetic.

There's a lot of satire and critique of contemporary Dutch culture in The Dinner; I'm sure, not being Dutch, some of it went over my head, but not all of it. I didn't take it as a realistic narrative, as other readers did. I don't think the novel is meant to be read as a thriller, or as a horror or crime story. I think it is best taken as a fable about the limits of show more "tolerance". show less

Alternately repelling and compelling, The Dinner is primarily a character study and commentary on social mores. Two couples (two brothers and their wives) meet for dinner; from the beginning we know there is something specific on the agenda and it isn't good. The story is narrated by one brother, Paul, who - in typical unreliable narrator fashion - doles out background and specifics in small bits so that the whole picture is difficult to put together, and even once the reader has done so, there is no guarantee the picture is an accurate one.

A gruesome act, unlikeable characters, and amorality don't for a heartwarming read make. What Koch has done quite brilliantly is keep the reader constantly on her toes, shifting her sympathies, and show more questioning the nature of right and wrong and the responsibility of parents to their children but also to society as a whole. show less