Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

The Dinner by Herman Koch had been pretty steady on the best-seller’s list, so it made the cut of books for our summer adventure. I honestly wasn't entirely sure what to expect since the subject matter was hard to get a read on. The basic premise is that the story unfolds over the course of a dinner between two couples and that their children are somehow involved in something illegal. It turns out this is a very complex situation involving modern race relations, anchored by two well-off brothers, one of whom is a politician.

The twists and turns of navigating the modern world of over-exposure courtesy of technology and the issue of protecting children in cases of wrong-doing lie at the heart of this tale.  It frankly could have been ripped from the headlines: politics, money, race, blackmail, marital secrets and family drama all anchor this story in a realistic way. While the reader comes to know the full truth (or is given enough detail to feel like you've gotten the full story), the morality questions are not as clear even once the timeline has been pieced together. I appreciated this book as much for the issues it raised as the story it told, so if you are in the mood for something that will linger after you've finished, go ahead and crack the cover on The Dinner.



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