The Dinner: A Novel

Written by:
Herman Koch
Narrated by:
Clive Mantle

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
22
Narrator
8
Release Date
February 2013
Duration
8 hours 53 minutes
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.
Reviews
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Jessi Pacetti

Ok...I have an hour and a half of this book left. I'm not sure if it is the narrator making the book so slow or the text. I find myself thinking I would interpret the lines without the added cynicism in tone.

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Elizabeth Bosque

I'm not sure why other people didn't like this book. But I definitely did. It's one of Stephen King and Gillian Flynn's recommended books. I really enjoyed it

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Holly Harrison

I completely disagree with whomever suggested that this was this year`s Gone Girl! Although an interesting concept with the entire book taking place over dinner with a series of flashbacks filling in the blanks, I found the dialogue that rich. The brain teasers that were included in the novel weren`t wrapped up as neatly or in some cases at all. A decent read but not what I was expecting!

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Jacob Keith

Couldn't follow the book at all. Would not read this author again

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Michelle Kaatz

A slowly unfurling story that leads you, unsuspecting, into an entirely different kind of book from what you started. Koch looks at the dark state of humanity through a very current and relevant lens. The slow start gives you just enough tiny glimpses of what's to come to keep you engaged, and then delivers.

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