The Dinner by Herman Koch

Author : Herman Koch 
Title : The Dinner
Published : 2013
Publisher : Hogarth Press
Genre : Mystery Thriller
Pages : 320

     An evening in Amsterdam and two couples meet for dinner to discuss their teenage sons. The boys have committed a horrifying crime, caught on CCTV, but so far they remain unidentified - except by their parents. Over the polite hum of restaurant conversation and the squeal of cutlery on plates, the couples have a question to answer: how far will they go to protect their children?

     I think this book asks a lot of the reader, How far would you go to protect those you hold dear. While I have seen this topic tackled in other books, but this comes across as a lot more cold-blooded. Could you arrange a dinner out when the whole topic will be just how far you a willing to go? When it comes to these loving couples I would start out by saying they are not really likable people before things start to spiral out of control. This is not to detract from the book, no one says that the heroes and heroines of a novel have to be. I can think of a couple of the bat that I really enjoyed despite their characters. 

     When it comes to this lot we I got to see how the each pushed each other, just to see how far they would go. They have a real darkness in them that bares its fangs as the story progresses. I have to wonder if they ever really did like each other all along or it was simply that they had been put together by blood or marriage. But it is within these bitter game of chess that I got to witness the animal nature of human nature. It also for me at least gave a good go at the nature versus nature debate as we have to question there children's motives. For as far as I can see these kids have a very shallow and selfish view of the world. They seem to have no real grasp of the ramifications of there acts.  AS I said they are not good people but it's interesting to see them twist and turn in there skins as they try and outmaneuver each other. It becomes a case of who will win when everything else has burnt down around them.

     This book was defiantly an interesting experience for me It raised questions that for some they may not want to answer. It felt to me like it was done with such a cold and surgical manner. It also works as a satire of the elite and how nothing is without its price. Whilst told from the first person. because it's set around a dinner party I was left feeling like I was a passive guest in this meal from hell. Whilst there was a lot I did enjoy about this book it was not without its faults, the trips back to the past to reveal what the boys did felt a little on the sloppy side at times. For me, at least with a little polish, I think I would have been left with a better taste in my mouth. The ending is a brutal remind as to the themes of the book, and while I can't say it came as a surprise to me it was none the less a horrific thing to read. 

     I have some mixed feelings about this book, and I think if pushed it would not be the easiest to recommend unless I knew they were really into these dark kinds of books. I did enjoy my time with it it's just I feel you would need to be in the right mood for this undertaking. So be warned, and if you do decide to give it a go I hope you enjoy it.