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j_schley's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book will leave you feeling profoundly unsettled and very disturbed. Yet, it was almost impossible for me to put down. There’s a pervasive and thick feeling of unease from the first page, and any opinions you form of characters or situations will not hold true by the novel’s conclusion.
If you enjoy unreliable narrators, moral ambiguity, and questions of ethics, this is absolutely a story you’ll want to pick up. It’s grimy and gritty and dark but provokes many questions about the mercurial nature of human morality and the tenuous bonds of dysfunctional families.
I also don’t advise reading this book while eating, despite its innocuous title.
If you enjoy unreliable narrators, moral ambiguity, and questions of ethics, this is absolutely a story you’ll want to pick up. It’s grimy and gritty and dark but provokes many questions about the mercurial nature of human morality and the tenuous bonds of dysfunctional families.
I also don’t advise reading this book while eating, despite its innocuous title.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Blood, Racism, Rape, Classism, and Racial slurs
inhaledmocha's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
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
4.5
What a wild ride. I never expected anything that happened in this book. Fantastic read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Violence, Racism, and Mental illness
Moderate: Xenophobia and Classism
vantereads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Racism
sphinxofblackquartz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Racism and Car accident
Minor: Classism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Abortion, Mental illness, and Alcohol
jkar7's review against another edition
slow-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
0.5
I really did not like this. I should have DNFed. I did not like any of the characters. I thought the plot was stupid. I didn't enjoy the message (if there is one). And I really disliked the way Beau was discussed. I found the whole thing infuriating. I would never recommend this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, and Toxic relationship
juandb's review against another edition
dark
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
2.25
A novel whose most enticing element is its plot: two couples meeting at a restaurant to discuss what to do about the horrible act their sons have committed. The complex relationship between the four characters makes the whole affair very entertaining, and it definitely made me want to keep reading till the end. But at the end of the day, I think that's what I'll remember the most from it: that it was entertaining.
Don't get me wrong: the book absolutely accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to tell an entertaining story that mantains a tense atmosphere throughout. It's not a lifechanger, and it doesn't try to be one. I've read some other reviews that mention how it "makes you reconsider the sort of education we give to our children", and, while I see how one could get that impression, I just don't think the novel explores the subject enough to actually say anything about it. Sure, it describes how witnessing their father being violent could (what a surprise) make a child violent, but that's so obvious that it doesn't even feel like the book is actually saying anything. It feels like reading a book that describes how water freezes at 0°C: no one would call that a "comment on water mechanics"; it's just a fact. Maybe if it hadn't been so direct in how it describes the father's violence, it would have been more effective; but the episodes it narrates are so raw, so exaggeratedly violent, that it almost feels satirical.
Something that I want to mention about the book is how every single character in it (it feels wrong to make such an absolute statement, but I honestly couldn't leave out anyone) is sickeningly immoral. The narrator, his wife, his brother and his sister-in-law. His son as well, and his brothers' two sons. Every single character that has some role in the story is either repugnant from the beginning, or is revealed to be later on. At first I actually thought the narrator's smugness toward his brother would stem from a genuine dislike of his lifestyle and worldview, but both he and his wife are later revealed to be just as crooked. I honestly don't have a problem with reading books with loathsome characters, and this isn't the exception, especially since I got a strong impression that the author was well aware of how horrid they were. I saw the book almost as a window into a world of people with repulsive ideologies, like it was telling me "See? See how awful these people are? The narrator thinks his brother is bad, but in reality he's just as bad as him!"
Overall, as I said, the book is definitely interesting, and I would recommend it to anyone searching for something to grab their attention for a while.
Don't get me wrong: the book absolutely accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to tell an entertaining story that mantains a tense atmosphere throughout. It's not a lifechanger, and it doesn't try to be one. I've read some other reviews that mention how it "makes you reconsider the sort of education we give to our children", and, while I see how one could get that impression, I just don't think the novel explores the subject enough to actually say anything about it. Sure, it describes how witnessing their father being violent could (what a surprise) make a child violent, but that's so obvious that it doesn't even feel like the book is actually saying anything. It feels like reading a book that describes how water freezes at 0°C: no one would call that a "comment on water mechanics"; it's just a fact. Maybe if it hadn't been so direct in how it describes the father's violence, it would have been more effective; but the episodes it narrates are so raw, so exaggeratedly violent, that it almost feels satirical.
Something that I want to mention about the book is how every single character in it (it feels wrong to make such an absolute statement, but I honestly couldn't leave out anyone) is sickeningly immoral. The narrator, his wife, his brother and his sister-in-law. His son as well, and his brothers' two sons. Every single character that has some role in the story is either repugnant from the beginning, or is revealed to be later on. At first I actually thought the narrator's smugness toward his brother would stem from a genuine dislike of his lifestyle and worldview, but both he and his wife are later revealed to be just as crooked. I honestly don't have a problem with reading books with loathsome characters, and this isn't the exception, especially since I got a strong impression that the author was well aware of how horrid they were. I saw the book almost as a window into a world of people with repulsive ideologies, like it was telling me "See? See how awful these people are? The narrator thinks his brother is bad, but in reality he's just as bad as him!"
Overall, as I said, the book is definitely interesting, and I would recommend it to anyone searching for something to grab their attention for a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism
sarahbliss's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, and Murder
3eggomelet's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Murder, and Xenophobia
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Racism
laurenleigh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
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
4.0
This novel takes place over the course of a dinner between two brothers and their wives. The structure was quite interesting, and I thought Koch did a great job of putting us in the mindset of our narrator, one of the brothers. As the night progresses and as items or actions trigger the narrator’s memory, we get insights into the past and the events leading up to this dinner. As the story unfolds, the plot was almost like a thriller, even though the current action happening is just a dinner out. It was well executed, and Koch is a great writer. But I really dislike almost all of these characters. I was constantly shocked by their selfishness and lack of morals. I think it would probably make a good book club pick though, with lots of opportunities for questioning what you’d do in these situations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Xenophobia, Physical abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
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