That’s what I love most about his books: how reading them makes you feel uncomfortable, because these characters who are doing such heinous things? They’re not that different from you. His writing is snarky, laced with dark humor, and it’s also incredibly insightful. Koch explores how ordinary people can do truly nasty, disturbing things - and how close we might all be to being pushed over that edge. you get the picture.) Koch writes books that are a bridge between literary fiction and crime fiction, but their themes make them a natural fit for crime readers. Koch is especially good at inhabiting Robert’s looking-glass world.

And SUMMER HOUSE WITH SWIMMING POOL did it for me again. The Dinner by Herman Koch review Read more As an exploration of pathological jealousy, The Ditch is largely convincing. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery. It’s rare to find a book that inspires that level of enthusiasm - the “I’ve got to read this author’s next book right now or I’ll never be the same” kind of enthusiasm. Its a summers evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. I grabbed my bag, got in the car, drove the legal speed limit - I promise!, and made it to B&N in time to buy myself a copy of Koch’s next book and dive in that same night. I remember picking up my phone and frantically Googling whether or not Koch had any other books out in English - and he did! (SUMMER HOUSE WITH SWIMMING POOL.) It must’ve been 8:30 PM or so, because I remember thinking that if I got in the car right that moment, I could be at Barnes & Noble before it closed (I lived 25 minutes from B&N, so that was… optimistic). Such a simple, little book, with such razor-sharp, incisive content. When I turned the last page, I was floored by the brilliance of what I’d just read. I was living in Houston, Texas, tucked in bed binge-reading (as usual).

I will never forget the night I finished reading THE DINNER by Herman Koch.

The dinner koch review