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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
The blatant misogyny in this book spoilt what could have been a rollicking good story. I'm disappointed so many female readers have liked it so much.
A totally plausible & confronting tale that challenges your thinking in an ethical decision-making context.
Hard to get into at first because (a) the topics are a bit ick and (b) the main character also has icky traits (but this is required to establish the direction of the plot). I had to put the book down a few times and walk away from it during the first half but then the 2nd half became compelling reading.
If you like a book that considers ethical issues (like The Slap) then give this one a whirl. If you don't like confronting literature, steer well clear.
Hard to get into at first because (a) the topics are a bit ick and (b) the main character also has icky traits (but this is required to establish the direction of the plot). I had to put the book down a few times and walk away from it during the first half but then the 2nd half became compelling reading.
If you like a book that considers ethical issues (like The Slap) then give this one a whirl. If you don't like confronting literature, steer well clear.
"Niemand wil die waarheid graag horen. Ik druk met mijn vingertoppen op de lever."
eerste keer gelezen in 2011.
eerste keer gelezen in 2011.
Koch is a brilliant writer and really knows how to weave a perfectly completed web. However, his characters are often repeated through his novels. I loved The Dinner and I recognized some of the same arrogance in this main character as well. Not a terrible thing but slightly off putting.
This was a wordy novel that felt almost too much until everything came together in the last 100 pages. If you can get through it, the payoff is huge.
This was a wordy novel that felt almost too much until everything came together in the last 100 pages. If you can get through it, the payoff is huge.
This book made me feel extremely uncomfortable and it will stick with me for a long time. I’m actually scared to visit my family doctor because of the main character (who is a doctor). If you’re looking for an unsettling thriller/mystery with elements of medicine and family drama, then this book is the one for you!
For review, from NetGalley.
Really good writing style. Just as vile characters as in "The Dinner" by Koch, that I really enjoyed. However, I didn't find this as engaging or interesting. Might be more interesting to read again in the future, with different perspective.
3/5
Really good writing style. Just as vile characters as in "The Dinner" by Koch, that I really enjoyed. However, I didn't find this as engaging or interesting. Might be more interesting to read again in the future, with different perspective.
3/5
I feel like this book had what I thought The Dinner was lacking. This book had a consistent plot/story line that flowed from the beginning to the end in a clear fashion. It had the characters that you couldn't tell if you could trust, if you could even like them in the first place. It also included the suspense and mystery that The Dinner didn't really provide for me. I was shocked by the who-done it part of the plot. Now those were all the positives. The negative is that some points got dull. When he was explaining what it was like to be a doctor, it got a bit repetitive throughout the book. It made the story line start to drag. If the author just stuck to telling the story and not the inner workings of his mind, I think I would have preferred it better. The dull points are why I couldn't give this book 5 stars.
If you don't mind reading about people with questionable-at-best moral compasses, you may enjoy Herman Koch's books. This one concerns Marc, who as the first line tells us, is a doctor. He's a general practitioner, so he listens to people's day-to-day troubles and reassures them that they are going to be all right. He doesn't really like looking at people's bodies, but he carries out his duty in the Dutch medical hierarchy as he sees it: he is the gatekeeper who prevents patients from swarming to specialists and toppling the entire healthcare system.
Marc's patients tend to be in the arts - this isn't surprising since he has a reputation for listening sympathetically and also for being liberal with prescriptions. One of his patients is the actor Ralph Meier, and this relationship is the one around which all of the conflict in the book revolves. Ralph likes Marc, and Marc finds himself drawn into Ralph's life against his better judgment. The summer house of the title belongs to Ralph, and Marc and his family spend some time there on vacation. Events there spiral out of control in a variety of directions. Since the story is told in a sort of start-at-the-end way, the first things you read about are given more context as you come back around in time to when they happen. Whether or not that context makes Marc's actions more reasonable is really up to you.
Koch likes to bring up big issues in a big way - it's not enough to have his characters muse about ethical matters in the hopes that readers will think about them too. The characters have to go out and cross lines, and Koch doesn't seem inclined to take any stand himself to show how he feels about them. His characters say things that may inspire the reader to judge them, but they're presented without additional commentary. I found myself jotting down thoughts about some of the topics raised by the book. A few I listed were: healthcare; human bodies perceived as merely organisms,; how men appear to those close to them, how they appear to strangers, and how the latter influence the former; where the threshold is for the transition from girlhood to womanhood, and what really triggers it.
Recommended for: people interested in social dynamics, the not-too-sensitive.
Quote: I could put it differently. You're a much bigger lush than Pablo Picasso ever was, I could say. The only thing is, you don't possess a tenth of his talent. When you look at things clearly, it's simply a waste. A waste of alcohol, that is.
Marc's patients tend to be in the arts - this isn't surprising since he has a reputation for listening sympathetically and also for being liberal with prescriptions. One of his patients is the actor Ralph Meier, and this relationship is the one around which all of the conflict in the book revolves. Ralph likes Marc, and Marc finds himself drawn into Ralph's life against his better judgment. The summer house of the title belongs to Ralph, and Marc and his family spend some time there on vacation. Events there spiral out of control in a variety of directions. Since the story is told in a sort of start-at-the-end way, the first things you read about are given more context as you come back around in time to when they happen. Whether or not that context makes Marc's actions more reasonable is really up to you.
Koch likes to bring up big issues in a big way - it's not enough to have his characters muse about ethical matters in the hopes that readers will think about them too. The characters have to go out and cross lines, and Koch doesn't seem inclined to take any stand himself to show how he feels about them. His characters say things that may inspire the reader to judge them, but they're presented without additional commentary. I found myself jotting down thoughts about some of the topics raised by the book. A few I listed were: healthcare; human bodies perceived as merely organisms,; how men appear to those close to them, how they appear to strangers, and how the latter influence the former; where the threshold is for the transition from girlhood to womanhood, and what really triggers it.
Recommended for: people interested in social dynamics, the not-too-sensitive.
Quote: I could put it differently. You're a much bigger lush than Pablo Picasso ever was, I could say. The only thing is, you don't possess a tenth of his talent. When you look at things clearly, it's simply a waste. A waste of alcohol, that is.