Herman Koch's The Dinner unfolds over a five-course meal at a posh restaurant in Amsterdam. Two Dutch couples engage in entirely banal conversation until it becomes apparent that something much bigger is being communicated. As the story unfolds, voice mails and flashbacks unveil an image of two families that is as compelling as it is disturbing. With carefully-revealed details, Koch forces readers to acknowledge the inherent manipulation that takes place within families. He also confronts the moral ambiguity about truths we withhold from each other, for each other. Be warned that this isn't a book full of characters you'll like and it might cause you to wonder about fellow diners next time you eat in a restaurant. But if you can get through the difficult subject and the deeply uncomfortable narration/point-of-view, you're in for an engaging read. In The Dinner, Koch has taken a simple meal and constructed a family drama that is dark, suspenseful and surprisingly well-crafted.
Now a major motion picture starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall, and Chlo Sevigny "A European Gone Girl." --The Wall Street JournalAn internationally bestselling phenomenon, the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives--all over the course of one meal. 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. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love. 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. Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader's guide and bonus content