crabbygirl reviewed The Dinner by Herman Koch
Review of 'The Dinner' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
people who hate this book may be reacting to the morals of the characters (who, yes, are horrible) instead of the skill with which the author lays out the plot. the stilted way the narrator talks reminds you continually that this is not a book set in our country, in our culture. we (the readers) lend the narrator a larger (than usual) portion of empathy as we try to settle into his life and HIS cadence for telling his story. and so we write off his quirkiness as cultural, and not mental illness, and so the first trap of the unreliable narrator is set.
another comment people have made is how shallow the story/characters are. but I would argue this is intentional for a variety of reasons. the narrator's over-sensitivity to the privacy of his son and his wife is continually demonstrated, and makes it difficult for the reader to …
people who hate this book may be reacting to the morals of the characters (who, yes, are horrible) instead of the skill with which the author lays out the plot. the stilted way the narrator talks reminds you continually that this is not a book set in our country, in our culture. we (the readers) lend the narrator a larger (than usual) portion of empathy as we try to settle into his life and HIS cadence for telling his story. and so we write off his quirkiness as cultural, and not mental illness, and so the first trap of the unreliable narrator is set.
another comment people have made is how shallow the story/characters are. but I would argue this is intentional for a variety of reasons. the narrator's over-sensitivity to the privacy of his son and his wife is continually demonstrated, and makes it difficult for the reader to land on hard facts. again, this approach masks the narrator's illness.
lastly, many have derided the novel's location: a public restaurant. and yet this setting is prefect to me: the obsession of appearances, the ridiculous interactions between human beings that know nothing about each other, class distinction and pretending you don't notice it, the continual dialogue in your head while sharing time with family and friends. and yes, a great gimmick of building up to the main course.
