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Het diner by Herman Koch
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Het diner (original 2009; edition 2009)

by Herman Koch

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5,0193852,165 (3.4)341
Two couples meet for dinner at a fashionable restaurant in Amsterdam. Behind their polite conversation, 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. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.… (more)
Member:Rogier079
Title:Het diner
Authors:Herman Koch
Info:Amsterdam : Anthos 2009.
Collections:Your library
Rating:
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Work Information

The Dinner by Herman Koch (2009)

  1. 40
    The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (Nickelini)
    Nickelini: Both books center on a moral dilemma, both books feature unlikable characters behaving badly.
  2. 41
    We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (INTPLibrarian)
    INTPLibrarian: Disturbed child and parents dealing with it. Both with twists / unexpected parts.
  3. 20
    Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller (jayne_charles)
  4. 21
    The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (baystateRA)
    baystateRA: A first-person narration over a single long conversation with loads of backstory skillfully woven in.
  5. 10
    The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester (sturlington)
    sturlington: Similar dark subject matter and unreliable narrator.
  6. 00
    Bonita Avenue by Peter Buwalda (hste2011)
  7. 00
    Defending Jacob by William Landay (CarterPJ)
  8. 00
    Munich Airport: A Novel by Greg Baxter (RidgewayGirl)
    RidgewayGirl: Shares a sense of rising unease and the same style of narration, from close within the narrator's head.
  9. 00
    My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (baystateRA)
    baystateRA: Both are unsettling with characters who lack a normal sense of morality.
  10. 12
    The Circle by Dave Eggers (akblanchard)
    akblanchard: Both of these are novels of ideas.
  11. 02
    The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling (julienne_preacher)
    julienne_preacher: Good books, unlikeable characters.
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» See also 341 mentions

English (325)  Dutch (36)  Spanish (6)  Italian (5)  French (4)  German (2)  Swedish (1)  Hebrew (1)  Danish (1)  Norwegian (1)  All languages (382)
Showing 1-5 of 325 (next | show all)
One of the few thrillers I've read. It was interesting start to finish, but not very special. ( )
  jd7h | Feb 18, 2024 |
Well, there is certainly a lot to talk about in this book: family relationships, pretentious fine dining, hazards of keeping secrets, the state of education, homeless people, casual violence, abortion, the death penalty...the list goes on. Unfortunately, not a bit of it is pleasant to think about and it certainly isn't pleasant to read about. I think I have reached my saturation point on books about awful people behaving in awful ways.

I knew this was a dark book when I picked it up. I've seen it compared to Gone Girl (a book I hated myself for loving) but this was more like a boring story about scary people. The kind of scary people that could be hiding in plain sight at the table next to you at a restaurant. I'm afraid that there are more people in the world like these creeps than I care to imagine but the events of today's world make it seem likely.

For pleasure reading, I can't recommend this. For a book to prompt discussion, it will be excellent.

( )
  hmonkeyreads | Jan 25, 2024 |
Seems like there's not a lot of middle ground in opinions of this book. It's ridiculous to think a family would meet in public to discuss what these people need to discuss. That being said, I liked the way the characters spooled out over the course of the dinner. But really they are all so nasty it's hard to care what happens to them. I haven't disliked characters so much since The Ginger Man. And like that book I'm taking this one to Half Price just to get it out of my house. ( )
  dhenn31 | Jan 24, 2024 |
This one is a rather disturbing book.



Told from the first person perspective of one Paul Lohman, it is a story of a dinner event that he goes to with his wife, his brother and brother's wife. What starts as his monologue on petty habits and political standpoints of middle class (using his brother as a target) quickly escalates into something much much darker.

Paul's opinion on his brother, professional politician, and his view of his actions as simple PR acts soon transform into general aggressive stance to everything and anyone that Paul does not like. He is not above physical violence against anybody. when confronted with opposition of any kind he just ... snaps. Paul's monologue soon becomes more and more about his righteousness and high moral ground, high above everyone else. This escalation of violence that we begin to witness in Paul's story quickly gets replaced by vicious and completely psychopathic actions of his son and wife. In my opinion, especially his wife considering she was shown as a reasonable person through almost 3/4 of a book.

Very, very dark story that shows that you cannot ever truly know anyone, even your own child, spouse or sibling.



Recommended for all fans of thrillers but keep in mind that most probably you wont like any of the characters in the book. ( )
  Zare | Jan 23, 2024 |
Too quirky for me--and, the nail in the coffin--I didn't care about any of the characters. ( )
  fmclellan | Jan 23, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 325 (next | show all)
If you want to enjoy Herman Koch’s new novel, don’t read a single thing about it. To do so seriously reduces its power. Don’t read the blurbs on its dust jacket — an impressive list of authors that includes Gillian Flynn and S.J. Watson — nor the synopsis on the inside flap. Don’t even read this review. Actually, forget that — come back! It’s spoiler-free, I promise. . . . The Dinner is the kind of book I wish could be translated into English more often.
added by Nickelini | editNational Post, JC Sutcliffe (Feb 15, 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.
 
“The Dinner,” Herman Koch’s internationally popular novel, is an extended stunt. Mr. Koch confines his story to one fraught restaurant meal, where malice, cruelty, craziness and a deeply European malaise are very much on the menu.
"The Dinner” has been wishfully compared to Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” (and enthusiastically endorsed by Ms. Flynn) for its blackhearted deviltry. But her book, with its dueling narrators, had two vicious but sympathetic voices. Her sneaky spouses were delectable in their evil genius. The Lohmans are indigestible.
added by sneuper | editNew York Times, Janet Maslin (Feb 6, 2013)
 
“The Dinner,” Herman Koch’s internationally popular novel, is an extended stunt. Mr. Koch confines his story to one fraught restaurant meal, where malice, cruelty, craziness and a deeply European malaise are very much on the menu. The four diners can leave the table occasionally, headed to the restrooms or the garden or the handy room of flashback memories. But mostly they sit and seethe at one another as a miserable night unfolds.
This book has been widely described as both thriller and chiller, but it really is neither.
But it’s the morality of the story that’s really sickening.
added by sneuper | editNew York Times, Janet Maslin (Feb 6, 2013)
 
Welsh is intrigued by a novel reminiscent of The Slap and Carnage
added by Nickelini | editthe Guardian, Louise Welsh (Aug 17, 2012)
 

» Add other authors (31 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Herman Kochprimary authorall editionscalculated
Anželj, StanaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Andreu, Maria RosichTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Arguilé Bernal, MartaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Becker, Paulsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Brand, ChristopherCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Duman, BurcuTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Furuseth, Ola G.secondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Garrett, SamTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gomes, Maria Leonor Ravensecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hoefnagel, MarianAdaptersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Holmer, PerTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Król, Joachimsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Leeuwen, Sanna vanKÄÄnt.secondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lundsgaard, BirtheTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mantle, CliveNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Maras, Matesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pimenoff, VilmaFotograafsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Raven Gomes, Maria LeonorTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rosich Andreu, MariaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rosselin, IsabelleTraductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tergem, KertiTõLkijasecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Testa, GiorgioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Triebels, RoaldCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vormeland, HeddaOvers.secondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
קוך, הרמןsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
NICE GUY EDDIE
C'mon, throw in a buck.
MR. PINK
Uh-huh, I don't tip.
NICE GUY EDDIE
Whaddaya mean, you don't tip?
MR PINK
I don't believe in it.

Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs
Dedication
First words
We were going out to dinner.
Quotations
If I had to give a definition of happiness, it would be this: happiness needs nothing but itself; it doesn't have to be validated.
A fixed appointment for the immediate future is the gates of hell; the actual evening is hell itself.
The stupid woman is the one who thinks she doesn't need any help.
It's like a pistol in a stage play; when someone waves a pistol during the first act, you can bet your bottom dollar that someone will be shot with it before the curtain falls. That's the law of drama. The law that says no pistol must appear if no one's going to fire it.
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.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Two couples meet for dinner at a fashionable restaurant in Amsterdam. Behind their polite conversation, 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. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

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Book description
Haiku summary
Soap opera. Cast:
The Jukes family. (What's the
Dutch for 'OTT'?)

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