Review: The Dinner by Herman Koch

Genre: Mystery/thriller

Page Count: 292

Publication Year: 2009 (translated later and published in America 2013)

Publisher: Hogarth

Special Notes: This was translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Clive Mantle.

Summary:

One problem. Two couples. More than three courses. dun Dun DUN!

I don’t read fictional books to investigate someone's morals. I skip the section in books that ask dumb questions like, “Blank doesn’t want to share a secret that will save such’n’such’s life. What would you do?” Gee, lemme think about this.

As a result, when I found out after finishing this audiobook and reading other reviews that most of the characters are !SPOILERS!, I thought “Huh, totally missed that." Maybe I was too distracted by the narrator's excellently disdainful voice. I wasn’t; I just didn’t expect that angle and didn’t look for it.

You could call the book a character study and debate it for ages. I’d say it was a snazzy dinner (I always appreciate food descriptions) with a disagreement as the centerpiece.

Overall it made for a good few hours but I didn't love it. One of those worth-it-but-forget-it books.

If you like food, moral dilemmas and arguments, it might be worth your time.

Check out my rating here.