The Dinner

a novel

Paperback, 310 pages

English language

Published Jan. 6, 2013 by Hogarth.

OCLC Number:
847833665

View on OpenLibrary

(20 reviews)

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 scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. 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 show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel …

15 editions

I hated this book and everyone in it

Content warning This review gives away the ending.

Review of 'The Dinner' on 'Goodreads'

Un bon roman qui m'a un peu rappelé l'excellent "Defending Jacob" que j'avais lu et adoré en début d'année. Le découpage en 5 parties au rythme du dîner (apéritif, entrée, plat principal, dessert, digestif) est un peu artificiel, d'autant que la partie la plus longue ("plat principal") donne lieu à de nombreuses diggressions avec des flash-backs qui sans être inintéressants donnent l'impression d'être présents pour prolonger le suspense. Les personnages sont détestables mais on se laisse prendre au jeu par le récit.

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Subjects

  • Violence
  • Families
  • Fiction

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