A Touch of Southern Grace : The Dinner

Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Dinner

Back at the beginning of April I started reading the novel, The Dinner, by Herman Koch. I hadn’t read a book by Herman Koch before and after reading the inside of the book jacket I thought The Dinner was just going to be an average book at best. About three pages into the novel the writing was so good that I knew the story was bound to be a good one. I can honestly say this is one of the best books I have read so far this year and one of the best book recommendations of the year so far.

Admittedly, I usually read books of a lighter nature, storyline wise, and The Dinner airs on the side of being somewhat of a dark story but in a way that makes the novel interesting. The Lohman brothers, ex-teacher Paul and politician Serge, along with their wives, Claire and Babette, meet at an upscale restaurant in Amsterdam to discuss an undesirable situation involving both of their teenage sons. The dinner conversations between the two couples starts out with the basic, polite dinner conversation, but with each course the conversations and atmosphere created by the characters’ moods becomes more and more intense.

The main thing I enjoyed about this book was how skillfully Koch was able to use the back flash effect to relay a history of the characters and the dynamic of the family. Koch was able to do this in such a way that story never strayed too far from the actual dinner that was going on or the critical characters of the book. With all the twist and turns along with the how well-written this story is I think it is safe to say that The Dinner is without a doubt a page turner and a book I would highly recommend.