Each family has a son, and both sons were involved in a disturbing crime.

The four are there to discuss a family problem. Ever the political wife, though, Babette puts on a happy face.Īs the diners traverse a pretentious five-course meal, from aperitif to digestif, any façade of happiness begins to fade. His wife Babette, who arrives with red and blotchy eyes, fresh from crying, is quiet and subdued. Serge is big, charismatic and gregarious - the sort of politician who would adopt an African child to further his political career (literally). Of course I’m well aware that, in the better restaurants, quality takes precedence over quantity, but you have voids and then you have voids”) to his brother. Paul is a lovable sort of misanthrope, critiquing everything from the food (“The first thing that struck you about Claire’s plate was the vast emptiness.

The reader immediately finds sympathy with Paul’s longing to eat in the unassuming dive across the street. Paul is a retired high school teacher Serge is a successful politician. The diners are two couples: Paul and Claire Lohman, Serge and Babette Lohman. It is set in an offputtingly fancy Dutch restaurant, the kind of place in which it takes months to reserve a table. “The Dinner” is the story of two families, each unhappy in its own way. Nevertheless, it is a delight and a necessity to read. Not rich and delicious like Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” (to which “The Dinner” is frequently compared), “The Dinner” is rather sour and unforgiving. “The Dinner,” published to international acclaim (and revulsion) in the Netherlands in 2009, has finally reached the States, and our calloused palates are now being challenged by its dry and acid taste. “All happy families are alike every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This first line from Tolstoy’s immortal “Anna Karenina” is frequently on the mind and lips of the narrator of “The Dinner” by Herman Koch.

The dinner by herman koch