The Dinner by Herman Koch

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The Dinner by Herman Koch



                Paul Lohman is at a very prestigious restaurant with his wife Claire, his brother Serge and his Sister-In-Law Babette. Serge, who will be running for Prime Minister in seven months, has invited Paul and Claire to dinner in this unnamed upscale restaurant. This is no ordinary dinner. This dinner has to do with the future of the Lohman family, and not just Serge and his career but the future of Michel, Paul and Claire’s son, and Rick, Serge and Babette’s son. The fifteen year old boys are in the middle of an extremely harmful situation that will severely affect everyone’s lives. It’s time to lay everything on the table to find a solution to their family problem.
                The Dinner was an intense novel filled with family secrets and unimaginable choices. When the unimaginable happens and it involves your child, how should you as a parent react? It’s a very complex question and it is discussed within the pages of this novel. Paul was an extremely well developed and expressive character. He serves as the narrator, and at times reflects on the past, giving the reader a more balanced view of the situation as a whole. His relationships with the other characters, who were also very well developed, were complicated and believable. There were many layers to the story that gradually peeled themselves away and increased the depth of the story.
                Koch created a novel where it was easy to question the motivations of every single character. I enjoyed this book but the decisions that were made and the decision making process baffled me. If I was in the middle of a political campaign and needed to discuss extremely harmful information with anybody I definitely would have chosen a more discreet location than a fashionable restaurant where I would be easily recognized.  This book was full of questionable decisions and it was interesting and mind blowing the decisions that were made throughout this novel. I definitely questioned what I would do in a similar situation and it did not at all correlate with the decisions that were made in The Dinner. But I liked that about this novel. I liked hearing the rationalizations and reading the thought process of the characters. The plot was done well. It kept me involved in the story and I was kept guessing. As each secret unfolded and each choice was made I felt myself drawn deeper to the story. I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars and suggest it to anyone who wants a new or interesting outlook on the family dynamic. 

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