The Dinner
by Herman Koch
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- VG/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0770437850
- ISBN 13
- 9780770437855
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
HERMAN KOCH is the author of seven novels and three collections of short stories. The Dinner , his sixth novel, has been published in twenty-five countries, and was the winner of the Publieksprijs Prize in 2009. He currently lives in Amsterdam.
Reviews
The Dinner is the sixth novel by Dutch actor, television and radio producer, newspaper columnist and author, Herman Koch, and the first book to be translated into English. Two brothers and their wives meet for dinner at an expensive restaurant to discuss the management of the recent, shocking activities of their teenaged sons. Serge Lohman is the charismatic leader of an opposition party poised to take power at the next election, a few months away, making him a strong candidate for the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands. His younger brother, Paul, has little respect for his brother’s position and posturing, instead being focussed on the happiness of his own small family. The events of the evening are narrated by Paul and are interspersed with flashbacks to incidents that occurred months or years previously. Koch is a master craftsman when it comes to building his main character: Paul starts out as a reasonable, upstanding citizen, although his antagonism towards his brother is immediately apparent. As the story progresses, a different person begins to be revealed by glimpses, at first fleeting but gradually more sustained, and the reader starts to wonder about Paul’s reliability as a narrator. In fact, none of the characters is quite what they first appear to be. Koch uses his novel to comment on Dutch tourists, pretentious restaurants, politics, marriage, parental control and adolescent right to privacy, youth violence and the internet, eugenics, and the instinct to protect one’s young. Koch manages to include blackmail, a hereditary disorder, You Tube clips, quite a bit of violence, some hilarious descriptions of restaurant practices, a plot twist that will leave readers gasping and a chilling climax. This compelling, thought-provoking novel is flawlessly translated by Sam Garrett.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Magus Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1073300
- Title
- The Dinner
- Author
- Herman Koch
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - VG
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0770437850
- ISBN 13
- 9780770437855
- Publisher
- Hogarth
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- February 2013
- Pages
- 304
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About Magus Books
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