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Loading... Het diner (original 2009; edition 2009)by Herman Koch
Work InformationThe Dinner by Herman Koch (2009)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. One of the few thrillers I've read. It was interesting start to finish, but not very special. ( ) 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. “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. Welsh is intrigued by a novel reminiscent of The Slap and Carnage Belongs to Publisher SeriesDwarsliggers (55) AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
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. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)839.31Literature German literature and literatures of related languages Other Germanic literatures Netherlandish literatures DutchLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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