erianarose's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
semiiii's review against another edition
2.0
Huh...
I guess I'll start by saying I appreciate the new viewpoint this book gave me - I haven't really read a book from the villain's perspective before. It was interesting to start the book thinking Serge and Babette were the wrongful characters but to quickly understand how sociopathic Claire and Paul actually turn out to be.
My issues with the book:
1. Having this all take place in a public restaurant took me out of the book several times. I understand that it raised the stakes by not being in a private location, but if you were trying to meet your family to discuss sensitive familial matters, would you REALLY think a public place would be the best setting? Every time someone blew up I was stunned that other people in the restaurant weren't able to hear them talking about murder or see that one of the women at the table was visibly disturbed.
2. There were two moments that didn't make sense to me. Firstly, what was the purpose for comparing the restaurant owner with the neighborhood pedophile? Just to show an occasion when Paul lost his temper and attacked someone? I had to read the paragraph several times to understand that Paul did not attack the waiter but that it was a memory he was recalling. Secondly, why did the author make Claire sick? We never really came back to it and it felt very disconnected from the rest of the story.
3. Overall, I think Koch had many great ideas about these characters but sloppily threw together to make this story. Not only are there pieces of narrative very loosely tied together, but there felt like too many rabbit holes of thought that were touched on but not properly seen through. Conversations of familial happiness, the complicated relationships between parents and their adopted children, classism, capital punishment.
So many moments of this book felt loosely tied to other pieces of the story but not put together in a strong enough way to really enjoy the story.
I guess I'll start by saying I appreciate the new viewpoint this book gave me - I haven't really read a book from the villain's perspective before. It was interesting to start the book thinking Serge and Babette were the wrongful characters but to quickly understand how sociopathic Claire and Paul actually turn out to be.
My issues with the book:
1. Having this all take place in a public restaurant took me out of the book several times. I understand that it raised the stakes by not being in a private location, but if you were trying to meet your family to discuss sensitive familial matters, would you REALLY think a public place would be the best setting? Every time someone blew up I was stunned that other people in the restaurant weren't able to hear them talking about murder or see that one of the women at the table was visibly disturbed.
2. There were two moments that didn't make sense to me. Firstly, what was the purpose for comparing the restaurant owner with the neighborhood pedophile? Just to show an occasion when Paul lost his temper and attacked someone? I had to read the paragraph several times to understand that Paul did not attack the waiter but that it was a memory he was recalling. Secondly, why did the author make Claire sick? We never really came back to it and it felt very disconnected from the rest of the story.
3. Overall, I think Koch had many great ideas about these characters but sloppily threw together to make this story. Not only are there pieces of narrative very loosely tied together, but there felt like too many rabbit holes of thought that were touched on but not properly seen through. Conversations of familial happiness, the complicated relationships between parents and their adopted children, classism, capital punishment.
So many moments of this book felt loosely tied to other pieces of the story but not put together in a strong enough way to really enjoy the story.
nlevesque27's review against another edition
3.0
I thought that this book was just okay. I didn't really like Paul's inner monologue most of the time and it just brought the enjoyment of the book down. Wish that things had been a little bit more clear at the end.
Book 8/30 (2021)
Book 8/30 (2021)
fictionfan's review against another edition
4.0
We need to talk about Michel...
Paul and Claire meet for dinner with Paul's brother Serge and his wife Babette quite often, and Paul usually finds them uncomfortable occasions, having a contempt born out of jealousy for his brother's successful political career. But on this occasion, things are more tense than usual because the two families need to talk about an incident involving their children. When it becomes obvious they're not going to agree on how to handle the situation, the tension begins to grow and the conventions of polite behaviour begin to fall apart. The question the book asks is – how far would you go to protect your children?
The book gets off to a flying start, with some great observational humour as Paul, the narrator, looks forward apprehensively to the evening ahead. Koch is great at 'showing' rather than 'telling' and we learn as much about Paul's relationship with his wife and brother from reading between the lines as from what he actually says. But this is only the first layer of the onion – as the book progresses, outward appearances are stripped away until eventually each character is laid bare to us in all their prejudices and flaws. And a pretty unsavoury bunch they are, with Paul himself turning out to be far more complex than he gives us to believe at the beginning. The whole thing slowly becomes very dark, and though it's clearly heading for a dramatic climax, it's not at all obvious what that will be until it arrives.
I read Koch's [b:Summer House with Swimming Pool|18594633|Summer House with Swimming Pool|Herman Koch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1384734826s/18594633.jpg|15210065] a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The twisted morality and dark storyline mixed with some great black humour to make an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. The focus was on the father and asked the same question – what would you do to protect your children? I've noticed that many people who read The Dinner first found Summer House a bit disappointing because it trod a similar path. Reading them in reverse, I found The Dinner a little disappointing for the same reason.
The Dinner is one of those books where it's important to know as little as possible going in to get the full effect of the various surprises, so I'll say no more about the plot. But there were a couple of other things that made me like it a little less than Summer House. Though there is some good observational humour in The Dinner, it doesn't have quite the edge as in Summer House. In it, the humour is often cruel, but wickedly close to what we maybe all think but don't say from time to time – and then feel appalled at ourselves for thinking it. In this one, I didn't get that feeling of delicious recognition and guilt – the humour was more straightforward. But the big difference – and I'll have to be a little oblique to avoid spoilers – is that there is some small degree of moral justification for the actions in Summer House, but absolutely none that I could accept in The Dinner. Therefore while I had some sympathy for some characters in Summer House, I had none at all for any of them in The Dinner.
But the mild disappointment in this one is only because of the comparison. In itself, this is a good dark psychological thriller, where the quality of the writing and characterisation helps to get the reader past the lack of credibility at some parts of the story – for most of the time. Personally, I found the ending asked me to suspend my disbelief a little too much, but this didn't destroy my enjoyment of the book overall. The translation from the original Dutch is again by Sam Garrett, who does another very fine job with it. I'll be interested to see where Koch's dark imagination takes us in future...
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Paul and Claire meet for dinner with Paul's brother Serge and his wife Babette quite often, and Paul usually finds them uncomfortable occasions, having a contempt born out of jealousy for his brother's successful political career. But on this occasion, things are more tense than usual because the two families need to talk about an incident involving their children. When it becomes obvious they're not going to agree on how to handle the situation, the tension begins to grow and the conventions of polite behaviour begin to fall apart. The question the book asks is – how far would you go to protect your children?
The book gets off to a flying start, with some great observational humour as Paul, the narrator, looks forward apprehensively to the evening ahead. Koch is great at 'showing' rather than 'telling' and we learn as much about Paul's relationship with his wife and brother from reading between the lines as from what he actually says. But this is only the first layer of the onion – as the book progresses, outward appearances are stripped away until eventually each character is laid bare to us in all their prejudices and flaws. And a pretty unsavoury bunch they are, with Paul himself turning out to be far more complex than he gives us to believe at the beginning. The whole thing slowly becomes very dark, and though it's clearly heading for a dramatic climax, it's not at all obvious what that will be until it arrives.
I read Koch's [b:Summer House with Swimming Pool|18594633|Summer House with Swimming Pool|Herman Koch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1384734826s/18594633.jpg|15210065] a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The twisted morality and dark storyline mixed with some great black humour to make an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. The focus was on the father and asked the same question – what would you do to protect your children? I've noticed that many people who read The Dinner first found Summer House a bit disappointing because it trod a similar path. Reading them in reverse, I found The Dinner a little disappointing for the same reason.
The Dinner is one of those books where it's important to know as little as possible going in to get the full effect of the various surprises, so I'll say no more about the plot. But there were a couple of other things that made me like it a little less than Summer House. Though there is some good observational humour in The Dinner, it doesn't have quite the edge as in Summer House. In it, the humour is often cruel, but wickedly close to what we maybe all think but don't say from time to time – and then feel appalled at ourselves for thinking it. In this one, I didn't get that feeling of delicious recognition and guilt – the humour was more straightforward. But the big difference – and I'll have to be a little oblique to avoid spoilers – is that there is some small degree of moral justification for the actions in Summer House, but absolutely none that I could accept in The Dinner. Therefore while I had some sympathy for some characters in Summer House, I had none at all for any of them in The Dinner.
But the mild disappointment in this one is only because of the comparison. In itself, this is a good dark psychological thriller, where the quality of the writing and characterisation helps to get the reader past the lack of credibility at some parts of the story – for most of the time. Personally, I found the ending asked me to suspend my disbelief a little too much, but this didn't destroy my enjoyment of the book overall. The translation from the original Dutch is again by Sam Garrett, who does another very fine job with it. I'll be interested to see where Koch's dark imagination takes us in future...
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
molliemartin's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
trangham283's review against another edition
4.0
Creepy, dark, and dysfunctional. Highly recommended for those seeking to reaffirm their cynicism, and to lose that last shred of faith in humanity you're still clinging on to.
nicki_j's review against another edition
2.0
This was a very quick read (one delayed flight.) Like many, I read this book because it is heralded as this summer's Gone Girl. I guess because it allegedly has a plot twist akin to Gone Girl's? Well, it does not. I am not sure it has a plot twist at all. More like a slow, revolving, plot turn. I didn't really care for it. I thought Claire was too 2 dimensional to be convincing.
avalydia's review against another edition
3.0
More like 2.5.
This book was something all right. I don't know. Disturbing, definitely, especially once you realize. Something was missing for me, though. The narrator was kind of annoying (if only he were just that) and at one point gets self-conscious about ordering the same thing as someone else like... really? Is this a thing? Do people stress about this? Especially when
Also, given the subject of the conversation that needs to be had, why on earth is this taking place in a restaurant filled with other people...
This book was something all right. I don't know. Disturbing, definitely, especially once you realize
Spoiler
that Claire is just as fucked up as Paul... no wonder Michel turned out to be the kind of person who would attack and kill a homeless womanSpoiler
their son has just killed someone?Also, given the subject of the conversation that needs to be had, why on earth is this taking place in a restaurant filled with other people...
lorelleuad's review against another edition
1.0
I could not finish this book. I am fine with slow burns but this was not it.
The main character gets sidetracked by his thoughts so much that I did not care about the plot anymore. Reading this book made me mad.
Would not wish this upon my worst enemies
The main character gets sidetracked by his thoughts so much that I did not care about the plot anymore. Reading this book made me mad.
Would not wish this upon my worst enemies
christiek's review against another edition
3.0
interesting, but all the characters are awful, and it was a struggle to spend time with them.