The Dinner

Photo from Goodreads.

Carly Ungerer

The Dinner is a fairly unique book, complex and layered, and the novel has an interesting premise: two brothers sitting down for dinner to discuss something terrible their children had done. The catch: the reader doesn’t know what the kids have done. 

The book is split into courses, and the meal and your understanding of the families, their motivations, and the events that led them to this restaurant progress in parallel. The characters of the dinner are complex, layered, and seen through the lens of a potentially unreliable narrator. 

Though it primarily takes place over the course of a single meal taken at a high-end public restaurant, the novel includes revealing flashbacks, paring away your perceptions of nearly all that came before.
While I primarily read The Dinner out of novelty and curiosity, genuine fascination kept me hooked the whole read. It is quite simply an incredibly clever novel, and while I didn't particularly love the plot or characters, it was an enjoyable read.  It’s brief and sordidly gripping. This book is perfect for anyone who wants a short, unique read, loves concept novels, or simply enjoys a twisted read.