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desertblues · 10-21-2013, 04:20 AM

I would like to nominate The Dinner, by the Dutch writer Herman Koch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Koch
At first sight it looks like a rather light read of 300 pages, but thinking this book over, you'll find it rather disturbing.
A film is being made of this book; Cate Blanchett will direct it.

Spoiler:

“The Dinner,” the newly translated novel by the Dutch writer Herman Koch, has been a European sensation and an international best seller. (...)The success of “The Dinner” depends, in part, on the carefully calibrated revelations of its unreliable and increasingly unsettling narrator, Paul Lohman. Whatever else he may be, likable he is not. There is a bracing nastiness to this book that grows ever more intense with the turning of its pages. It will not please those who seek the cozy, the redemptive or the uplifting. If you are such a reader, you may stop right here. (NY Times)
------
An 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 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 show 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. (Amazon.com)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Dinner-Her...an+koch+kindle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dinner-H...ds=herman+koch

http://www.amazon.ca/The-Dinner-eboo...ds=herman+koch

http://www.amazon.com/The-Dinner-Her...ds=herman+koch

10-21-2013, 04:20 AM	#21
desertblues Home for the moment Posts: 5,127 Karma: 27718936 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: travelling Device: various	I would like to nominate The Dinner, by the Dutch writer Herman Koch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Koch At first sight it looks like a rather light read of 300 pages, but thinking this book over, you'll find it rather disturbing. A film is being made of this book; Cate Blanchett will direct it. Spoiler: “The Dinner,” the newly translated novel by the Dutch writer Herman Koch, has been a European sensation and an international best seller. (...)The success of “The Dinner” depends, in part, on the carefully calibrated revelations of its unreliable and increasingly unsettling narrator, Paul Lohman. Whatever else he may be, likable he is not. There is a bracing nastiness to this book that grows ever more intense with the turning of its pages. It will not please those who seek the cozy, the redemptive or the uplifting. If you are such a reader, you may stop right here. (NY Times) ------ An 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 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 show 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. (Amazon.com) http://www.amazon.com/The-Dinner-Her...an+koch+kindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dinner-H...ds=herman+koch http://www.amazon.ca/The-Dinner-eboo...ds=herman+koch http://www.amazon.com/The-Dinner-Her...ds=herman+koch Last edited by desertblues; 05-06-2015 at 11:22 AM.