The Dinner

The Dinner

by Herman Koch (Author), Sam Garrett (Translator)

Synopsis

A summer's evening in Amsterdam and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant. Between mouthfuls of food and over the delicate scraping of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of politeness - the banality of work, the triviality of holidays. But the empty words hide a terrible conflict and, with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened...Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. Together, the boys have committed a horrifying act, caught on camera, and their grainy images have been beamed into living rooms across the nation; despite a police manhunt, the boys remain unidentified - by everyone except their parents. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children and, as civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple shows just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Edition: Open Market
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 01 Aug 2012

ISBN 10: 0857897209
ISBN 13: 9780857897206
Book Overview: A phenomenon that has sent shockwaves across Europe, The Dinner will be the talking point of the summer. 'Funny, provocative and exceedingly dark, this is a brilliantly addictive novel that wraps its hands around your throat on page one and doesn't let go.' SJ Watson
Prizes: Shortlisted for Specsavers National Book Awards: International Author of the Year 2012.

Media Reviews
An essential summer read * Independent Magazine *
The talking point of the summer * Sunday Times *
I'm confidently predicting that The Dinner will become this summer's literary talk of the town... Order yours now -- Melanie McGrath * Evening Standard *
Rather like The Slap it is set to become a contentious must-read. It may thrill, chill or cheat, but it is undeniably riveting -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *
Shivers kept shooting up my backbone as I became engrossed in Koch's darkly disturbing tale of family life... As the dinner disintegrates into mayhem, we discover just how far the middle classes will go to protect their monstrous offspring -- Val Hennessy * Daily Mail *
The perfect undemanding, credible, terrifying beach read * Financial Times *
Proves how powerful fiction can be in illuminating the modern world... The best beach read of the season * Economist *
Author Bio
Herman Koch, born in 1953, is a Dutch writer. He was a renowned television actor on the series Jiskefet and a former columnist for the newspaper Volkskrant. The Dinner is his sixth novel and has already won the prestigious Publieksprijs Prize in 2009. Herman Koch currently lives in Amsterdam.