The Dinner Discussion

Hey everyone.  It’s Lisa from Lisa’s Yarns!  I’m taking a turn at coming up with some questions for our latest book club read, “The Dinner” by Herman Koch.  This book had actually been recommended to me by a co-worker so I had already bought it on my nook before it was selected for our book club.  I read it in the span of days, which says a lot these days since I am pretty busy between work and studying.

 

Without further adieu, here are some discussion questions!

 

1. How did you experience the book? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to "get into it"? How did you feel reading it—amused, sad, disturbed, confused, bored?

 

2. Do the main characters change by the end of the book? Do they grow, or come to learn something about themselves and how the world works?

 

3. Let’s talk about the book’s structure.  The author jumped around from present day to past time and back again quite a bit and the flashbacks at times seemed superfluous.  Did you like the structure of the books?  Or did it confuse or distract you?

 

4. The characters in the book, for the most part, are not very likeable.  Do you need to like the characters in order to like the book?  Or can you like a book despite not liking the characters?

 

5. Were you surprised by how far the parents were willing to go to protect their children?

 

6. What were your overall thoughts on the book?  Is it something you would recommend to others?

 

Here are my responses!

 

1. I was engaged early on and had a hard time putting this down as I wanted to find out what happened next.  It was disturbing to read at times.
2. The characters don’t change, but our opinion about them does as we learn more and more about them (they became less and less likeable for me).
3. I liked the structure of the book.  Sometimes I wondered where the author was going with these stories, but I think by moving back and forth in time, and sometimes sharing what seemed like insignificant or weird details, the author was showing us what the mind of the main narrator was like.
4. Typically, my answer to this is no.  But I enjoyed this book and “Gone Girl,” both of which had characters that I did not like at all.  It used to ruin the book for me if I didn’t like the characters, though!
5. I don’t have children so I don’t know how I would feel…  but I can’t imagine that I would overlook a horrible crime, or try to justify it as they did in this book.
6. Overall, I really liked the book and it was an engaging read.  But it was rather dark and disturbing, so I would be hesitant to recommend it broadly as I think it takes a certain reader to enjoy it.

Thanks Lisa!! I really enjoyed this book too and when I started reading I read it quite quickly as well.  I would read another book by this author. ;)

June Group Read is...

Beach Music by Pat Conroy!

I used random.org to pick.

Description: PAT CONROY, America’s preeminent storyteller, delivers a sweeping novel of lyric intensity and searing truth–the story of Jack McCall, an American expatriate in Rome, scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife’s suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family’s past that can heal his anguished heart.

Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life’s pain and glory. It is another masterpiece in PAT CONROY’S legendary list of beloved novels

Per my last post, I will post one full discussion on June 28th! Hope you join us this summer!

Group Read Updates

So umm.. yeah.. I never posted a first discussion for May's book because I have not even started the book yet.  And I've been thinking about this for awhile and sadly I have to announce that I am going to have to go back to only posting one discussion a month.  I'm in over my head with life right now and who knows, perhaps things will change over the summer, but for now, blogging/books are not at the forefront.  Which makes me sad, but it seems like I only have like one night a week to catch up on a weeks worth of someones blog and then I never feel like blogging about what I have to say and ugh.. yes.  So, I will post a discussion on The Dinner, but not until the end of the month and I do apologize.

 I am open to different ideas and if someone would like to host the a discussion on their blog one month or do one of the group discussion posts and keep us at two a month that would be awesome too.  Let me know what you think.

Also? While you are in this post leave a suggestion for June. ;)

And I've only finished one book since the last one I wrote about and it was a collection of short stories and it kind of sucked and wasn't really my type, but it's something I was picking up while Isla was playing in the basement.  They were all set in England and it was just ehhh.. too much happily ever after for me. ;) 

Hope all is well with you all!