02 January 2014

The Dinner ~ Herman Koch

*** LIKE ***

Leaves a nasty taste ...
Thoughts will linger like indigestion

The reveal is teased out over the course of dinner and along the way there are provocative thoughts on everything from inter-racial adoption to capital punishment.  The unreliable narrator guides us through the meal with his observations and opinions.

Ultimately though, it its is a book about mental illness and it pushes all the buttons to provoke disquiet with more than a touch of revulsion.   No one says you have to like the characters and in this they are just about all plain nasty!

A compact piece of storytelling.