I couldn't decide between 3 and 4 stars, and then I read some of the negative reviews here, with which I agreed on many points, so settled on 3. The subject matter -- how far would you go to protect your child from the consequences of his own actions -- has been done before. Defending Jacob, Before and After. So that was familiar territory, nothing all that new here. What makes this book somewhat more interesting is the slow revelation that everyone is not exactly as we think they are when the book opens. And pretty much ever character is pretty awful and unlikable. So I get the comparisons with Gone Girl, but Gone Girl is much better, in my opinion. This book contrives to tell this story over the course of a single dinner in a restaurant between two couples, two brothers and their wives, with some visits from one of the couple's son between courses. The contrivance didn't really work, or make sense. The conversation these couples need to have would be best carried out in a more private setting. And with all the lengthy interruptions to go out and cry or have conversations with the son etc. the dinner would have taken so long, the restaurant would have closed for the night long before they got to dessert. The more I write, the better I feel about my 3 star rating. The review sounds more like a 2 star, though, doesn't it? This was a book club book, and the member who chose it kept apologizing for it. I told her she didn't need to. It was engrossing and surprising in the best ways.What I liked most about it was that it kept overthrowing the reader's expectations. The characters I expected to hate or like at the beginning of the book were not in the same position by the end, thanks to some very canny writing and the author's "unreliable narrator." Do not read this book intending to get the warm fuzzies about the story or anyone in it. I suppose that's why the woman who suggested the book was so nervous about it -- pretty much everyone involved is despicable in some way. There is some comic relief, but it's mostly a stressful story about a very small group of related people, and their shared secret.Try it.
What do You think about The Dinner (2009)?
Great writing, horrifying characters- couldn't put this down. Grim & disturbing.
—Julia
