Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Review: The Dinner

The Dinner The Dinner by Herman Koch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Synopsis:

An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives - all over the course of one meal.

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse - the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. 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. 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.

Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
 

My Thoughts:

This book was very different than what I am used to. The flashbacks were interesting as well as the lengths some people would go to just to hide something. I had a hard time getting into this book and it started off extremely slow for me. I had to push to get thru the book and it did get more interesting. I think I may have enjoyed it more had I been feeling better. I was honestly just not feeling it so I may re-read down the line.

View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment