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A review by kerameia
The Dinner by Herman Koch
3.0
How to put this...did I really like it?
The beauty of this book is the eloquence with which it is written and the clever fitting together of pieces to the puzzle of *what happened,* related during a 4 course dinner at a lavish Dutch restaurant. Served along with the aperitif, main course, dessert, and digestif are insights and memories of past experiences involving the four dinner guests, building up the context in which the reader finds the characters, who are at present faced with a dilemma as to what to do about their children's situation.
I have to say, right off, that further into the story the details are disturbing. Initially I couldn't believe many of the things that the narrator, Paul Lohman, was thinking and doing/had done. However, similarly to Crime and Punishment in which the reader finds themselves slipping (whether or not they want to) into the perspective of Rodion Raskolnikov, the protagonist's voice is so well developed that we can't help but believe it to be real, which sicken us all the more.
The plot is simple, the twists are unexpected yet woven smoothly into the unfolding of events, but all in all it's a disturbing concept at play that leaves you wondering what you are to make of all this.
The beauty of this book is the eloquence with which it is written and the clever fitting together of pieces to the puzzle of *what happened,* related during a 4 course dinner at a lavish Dutch restaurant. Served along with the aperitif, main course, dessert, and digestif are insights and memories of past experiences involving the four dinner guests, building up the context in which the reader finds the characters, who are at present faced with a dilemma as to what to do about their children's situation.
I have to say, right off, that further into the story the details are disturbing. Initially I couldn't believe many of the things that the narrator, Paul Lohman, was thinking and doing/had done. However, similarly to Crime and Punishment in which the reader finds themselves slipping (whether or not they want to) into the perspective of Rodion Raskolnikov, the protagonist's voice is so well developed that we can't help but believe it to be real, which sicken us all the more.
The plot is simple, the twists are unexpected yet woven smoothly into the unfolding of events, but all in all it's a disturbing concept at play that leaves you wondering what you are to make of all this.