Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Dinner by Herman Koch

11 reviews

kaitidid's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A nice, tense, unreliable narrator read. Had some uncomfortable undertones (racism, classism) that were definitely there to show what kind of people the characters were, but I’d caution against it if that will make you uncomfortable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Murder, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Racism, Gaslighting, Blood, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail

lisettela's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Classism

h4ppycupcake's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This read like a Dutch take on American Psycho. Not for the faint hearted. I didn’t find any of the characters particularly interesting and I didn’t end up feeling satisfied with how the story concluded. There was some interesting commentary regarding how society judges who can be considered an “innocent victim,” but it was not a pleasant character revelation. Truth be told, there were no pleasant parts of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Death, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol and Cursing

noemi_qu's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

While I *do* like how the timeline was told/author chose how to reveal things, and that I sat a bit with the book as a whole for a good amount of time afterwards... but I still dislike this story. 
No one in this book is redeemable and that's fine, they are written very well like that and leaves you uncomfortable on purpose.
At least for me, the climax and conclusion felt flat. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Torture

beklovesbooks's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

3.75

Well done. Dark, creepy, sometimes hard to relate to. I like that it all takes place over one long dinner with flashbacks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcohol, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Torture, and Cursing

chlorai's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Torture

gabgeh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

An interesting concept; peculiar execution. Slow at times, but creative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture

brookey8888's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I was just bored and I didn’t like any of the characters,which is fine, but there weren’t even unlikable in a good way. Like the plot wasn’t interesting to me. You know what happens like early on in the book so then it’s just nothing after. Also it started like going into the past and a certain character and I just didn’t care about that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, and Death

hollymich's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Racial slurs, and Hate crime

Moderate: Mental illness, Torture, Classism, Medical trauma, and Medical content

smac11299's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Murder, and Torture