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The Dinner: A Novel Audiobook
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Plot Summary
"The Dinner" takes place during dinner at a fashionable restaurant, and is centered around a meeting between two brothers and their wives. Each couple has a 15-year-old son, and the pair of cousins have gotten into trouble together.
The two families at dinner are Paul Lohman and his brother Serge. Paul, the novel's narrator, is a former history teacher who has recently been laid off. Serge Lohman is a popular politician with great ambition. Paul is resentful of his brother, as well as the choice to dine at such a pretentious restaurant.
The book doesn't have chapters, it is instead broken into courses. As the dinner progresses, more and more of the past comes out between the brothers. Throughout the meal, writer Herman Koch slowly reveals details and issues that make the drama between the brothers grow even more intense.
It turns out there are not only issues with their teenage sons, but also growing issues from the past that begin to bubble to the surface. Long-hidden dissatisfaction and frustration slowly seep into the conversation at first, and then they begin to pour forth.
From the aperitif and appetizer, Paul discusses his judgment of his brother as fake and sexist. Paul seems to care little about his brother at the beginning, and his resentment is evident. It is hard, at least at the beginning, not to understand his point of view, though.
As dinner continues, you begin to see just what family means to each of the brothers. This includes both their sibling relationship and the families they have built with their wives. Paul, particularly, cherishes his son Michel and his wife Claire. He struggles, however, with anger management although he is self-aware enough to recognize the issues this can cause.
Herman Koch is a Dutch writer who is known for his short stories and novels, as well as his acting work on shows such as Borát and Jiskefet. The Dinner: A Novel was his sixth novel, released in 2009. As of 2013, it has sold more than one million copies in Europe and has been translated into more than 20 languages.
"We listen to the monologue of a husband and father, beginning at a (very) pleasant dinner and culminating in devastating revelations. As a book, this makes an excellent thriller. As an audiobook, I have slight (and very personal) reservations: I tend to miss details when I listen to a book, be it that I fall asleep, be it that I am distracted. This makes listening to thrillers problematic, as missing a detail can mean missing the entire point. If that's not an issue for you, I can recommend the book highly. Translation and reading are well done. If you suffer under the same condition, be prepared to listen to it twice. Which is not a bad thing at all."
— Matthias (4 out of 5 stars)
Publisher Summary
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 polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse—the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. 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. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
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Quotes
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“A European Gone Girl…The Dinner, a sly psychological thriller that hinges on a horrific crime and its consequences for two families, has become one of spring’s most anticipated suspense novels.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“The Dinner begins with drinks and dark satire, and goes stealthily and hauntingly from there. It’s chilling, nasty, smart, shocking, and unputdownable. Read the novel in one big gulp, and then make plans with friends—you’ll be desperate to debate this book over cocktails, appetizers, entrees, dessert…and then you still won’t be done talking about it.”
— Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl -
“This chilling novel starts out as a witty look at contemporary manners…before turning into a take-no-prisoners psychological thriller…With dark humor, Koch dramatizes the lengths to which people will go to preserve a comfortable way of life…this is a cunningly crafted thriller that will never allow you to look at a serviette in the same way again.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“A high-class meal provides an unlikely window into privilege, violence, and madness…Koch’s slow revelation of the central crisis is expertly paced, and he’s opened up a serious question of what parents owe their children and how much of their character is passed on to them…a chilling vision of the ugliness of keeping up appearances.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“You’ll eat it up, with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“American readers may demand access to all of Koch’s books. If they’re half as good as The Dinner, we’ll want to devour all of them.”
— USA Today -
“[A] deliciously Mr. Ripley-esque drama.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“Mantle’s delivery elevates the plot twists, moral dilemmas, and family relationships, making this a feast worth attending.”
— AudioFile -
“Rather like The Slap, it is set to become a contentious must-read. It may thrill, chill, or cheat, but it is undeniably riveting.”
— Independent (London) -
“Briskly paced and full of ingenious twists—a compulsive read…for those who can tolerate the unsavory company, The Dinner is a treat they’ll gulp down in one sitting.”
— Dallas Morning News -
“Koch’s ability to toy with the reader’s alliances while using one family’s distress to consider greater societal ills gives the novel a vital punch.”
— Daily Beast -
“A tart main course that explores how quickly the façade of civility can crumble. It’s hard to digest at times, but with a thought-provoking taste that lingers.”
— Cleveland Plain Dealer
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
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Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award
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A USA Today bestseller
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Selected for the February 2013 Indie Next List
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An Amazon Best Book of the Month, February 2013
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A Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Month, February 2013
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New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books, 2013
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A 2014 ALA Notable Book for Adult Fiction
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About Herman Koch
Herman Koch is the author of several novels and three collections of short stories. The Dinner has been published in twenty-five countries and was the winner of the Publieksprijs Prize in 2009. He currently lives in Amsterdam.
About Clive Mantle
Clive Mantle’s theater work includes Coming Clean, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Educating Rita. He has been nominated for an Olivier Award, and, for his performance as Lennie in Of Mice and Men, he was joint Best Newcomer in the Plays and Players Awards. He has also appeared in many films, including Alien 3 and White Hunter, Black Heart.