Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Dinner by Herman Koch

35 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

sophiaroesler's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, and Classism

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

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. 

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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

maria_luciani's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Fire/Fire injury

isabellew27'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

imandubose's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Hate crime

megwhitlock's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The characters being so unlikeable and the story being so beyond belief reprehensible is what made this book so good. Hard disagree with those who say you have to identify with the characters or enjoy the plot to love a book. Great dark comedy

(plus an unreliable narrator is always a bonus

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Classism, and Racism

afabbi's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

The writing is great, the story is interesting and told from an interesting perspective, but the characters are bad people who don't have any development throughout the story

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Classism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, and Child death

graceehobbss's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

like father like son

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Violence