After "The Dinner", still hungry
I'm guilty of chasing after this book after Rayna and Megs reviewed the book. It took me a while to get around to this book, so when I found myself with a 4 hour flight layover and a bookstore across the gate, I grabbed a copy and read through it in one sitting.
The book is split into 5 sections pertaining to each course: Apertif, Appetizer, Main Course, Dessert, and Digestif. The Lohman brothers and their wives meet for dinner at a fancy restaurant to discuss an extremely heinous crime committed by their sons. However, they don't cut to the chase - they play around the situation as one would make small talk over the apertif and appetizer. Even when the main course comes, they don't tuck in to their meal nor their conversation, but things do get meaty when you start second-guessing off-hand comments and re-analyzing the flashbacks Paul (the narrator) has of his interactions with the son and nephew. The 'innocent' calls Claire makes to check up on their son takes a sinister meaning as you realize what exactly has happened and has yet to happen.
The Dessert and Digestif sections finally play out the plot twist as everyone's motivations for even meeting for dinner at that particular time are revealed and I realized that I was pointing a finger at the wrong people (or person? slightly spoilerish). However, there were too many plot holes and unreliable stories that I felt were a cop-out to getting some closure. It was a really great premise, but I had wished that the author had added some substance to a certain character's motivations instead of defaulting to the cliched "devoted mother's love" (again, spoilerish).
Ah, sorry you didn't like this one as much as the others of us did. Did you at least read it on the way to or from someplace fun? (
ReplyDeleteI was reading it on the way home from a job interview, so I wanted a thriller, but The Dinner was very subdued. It didn't have the gasp!-inducing twist I had expected, but was still a pretty decent book to 'snack' on :)
ReplyDeleteIf it's any consolation, your edition is WAY prettier than ours:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dinner-Herman-Koch/dp/1848873832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384902119&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dinner+koch
I really do want a copy of this, although it'll have to wait until after Christmas now. It sucks that you didn't like it as much as you hoped to - don't you hate when you expect to really love a book and then it falls flat?
I just read this while on vacation last week and I do not get all the love for it. And I especially don't get the Gone Girl comparisons! I found so many aspects of this book annoying - just tell us what "psychological illness" the narrator had, or why Claire was in the hospital, etc! Why was Paul so forthcoming with other information, but then not other bits? I also found the characters so unlikeable. Which doesn't mean one can't also like the book. And I had a hard time buying into the fact that this family would choose an upscale restaurant to discuss a crime their sons committed! Why would you want to discuss that in public, under the watchful eyes and ears of the staff and other diners?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, needless to say, this book was a huge disappoint for me, although I did read it quickly. The author did keep me wanting to find out what was going to happen next.
Yep, the Gone Girl comparison is so weak! Paul is a 'bit' mad, yes, but he's got nothing on Amy in terms of narration. I wish I had known more about Claire, and the lack of information was just mystery fluff and the plot had more holes than swiss cheese :( However, it was a quick read and I was on the edge of my seat at some points.
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