The Dinner
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The darkly suspenseful tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives—all over the course of one meal. Now a major motion picture.
“Chilling, nasty, smart, shocking, and unputdownable.”—Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl
It’s a summer’s evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act—an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children, and as civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
“A European Gone Girl . . . A sly psychological thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Brilliantly engineered . . . The novel is designed to make you think twice, then thrice, not only about what goes on within its pages, but also the next time indignation rises up, pure and fiery, in your own heart.”—Salon
“You’ll eat it up, with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”—Entertainment Weekly
“[Koch] has created a clever, dark confection . . . absorbing and highly readable.”—New York Times Book Review
“Tongue-in-cheek page-turner.”—The Washington Post
“[A] deliciously Mr. Ripley-esque drama.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“Chilling, nasty, smart, shocking, and unputdownable.”—Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl
It’s a summer’s evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act—an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children, and as civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
“A European Gone Girl . . . A sly psychological thriller.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Brilliantly engineered . . . The novel is designed to make you think twice, then thrice, not only about what goes on within its pages, but also the next time indignation rises up, pure and fiery, in your own heart.”—Salon
“You’ll eat it up, with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”—Entertainment Weekly
“[Koch] has created a clever, dark confection . . . absorbing and highly readable.”—New York Times Book Review
“Tongue-in-cheek page-turner.”—The Washington Post
“[A] deliciously Mr. Ripley-esque drama.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
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Community Reviews
What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *The Dinner* is a dark, disturbing novel with morally complex, unlikeable characters and an unreliable narrator. Many appreciate its slow ...
I picked this up in Books-a-Million because it was on the literary book club shelf for January. I enjoyed it. It has a certain dark macabre writing style that eases its way out as the reader eases their way into a very private, but public dinner. The narrator of the text, Paul Lohman, is a detestable character, but one doesn't realize this at first. He lives in the shadow of his highly political, office holding, beautiful wife having, adopted son from Africa, two perfect biological children older brother and he hates him. Wow, he just really hates him. Resents him is more like it. And at first, the reader does, too. I mean, a politician is rarely a likable guy, but who says literary characters have to be likable - certainly not me. Throughout this dinner to discuss a very disturbing event of which their children were involved - cousins are just a step away from siblings - the book takes the reader on a journey through the conversation that begins light with appetizers and throttles full force by dessert and drinks after. I particularly liked the part of the novel where the narrator loses his shit teaching one day and tells off the kids, the principal, and some parents. Of course, he gets fired (or put on medical leave we'll say) but the release he must have felt. This is only a small snippet of Paul's descent into madness, but it was my favorite one.
But, as a parent this novel greatly disturbed me. These parents are doing what I LOATHE in parenting: fixing their children's mistakes. And I think I loathe it because I found myself wondering if I would do it? Would I go this far? A good question.
But, as a parent this novel greatly disturbed me. These parents are doing what I LOATHE in parenting: fixing their children's mistakes. And I think I loathe it because I found myself wondering if I would do it? Would I go this far? A good question.
Wow! But I'm not sure that's in a good way. Herman Koch is a Dutch author & I have wanted to read this book for so long that I don't remember why or when I first heard about it. Anyway, it is dark & disturbing but I would not compare it to Gone Girl as I have seen in many other reviews. It was a slow build. I knew something was going to be revealed at the dinner. I did not like any of the characters. None of them have any redeeming qualities. There were too many unbelievable things for me. 1) Why go to a fancy, expensive restaurant to discuss something so heinous? 2) Paul, the narrator, gets up & leaves the table no less than 3x during the course of the dinner (twice even to go outside). 3) Not even 1 person had any moral compass. I guess I like to think that everyone has a little goodness in them. Not these characters! It does pose some interesting questions. How far would you go to protect your child? At any cost? It was an uncomfortable, icky read.
"It's instinct. That which falls is weak. That which lies on the ground is prey."
Super disturbing and weird. Confusing and thought provoking. Moral bankruptcy is the star here.
How far would a parent go to protect their child? Should a parent become one just because they can? Is nature dominant over nurture?
Blech. Unlikeable characters (which is the point but still...). Unlikeable plot (also the point but still...) I think maybe if it gave me mroe to think about other than disgust for the whole thing then maybe it would be more redeemable.
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