Herman Koch's The Dinner is (finally) due out in the US in less than two weeks, and in the Wall Street Journal Alexandra Alter previews it -- as A European 'Gone Girl'.
A few interesting titbits, including:
Interesting, too, the debate over how to shelve/categorize the book -- and:
A few interesting titbits, including:
In early 2012, American publishers began scrambling to acquire U.S. rights to the English translation from Mr. Koch's British publisher, Atlantic Books. Eight publishers bid on it. Hogarth, a literary imprint under the Crown Publishing Group, won with a bid of roughly $240,000.2012 ?!?? Really, what does it take for a US publisher to even consider a work in translation ?
Interesting, too, the debate over how to shelve/categorize the book -- and:
Mr. Koch says he's uncomfortable with the "thriller" label. "If you advertise it as a thriller, the real thriller-readers could be disappointed," he says. "This is a literary novel, but it's not a boring literary novel."I'm not sure that was the ideal way for him to explain himself ..... (It isn't boring, but it didn't strike me as particularly literary, either -- certainly no more so than many thrillers are.)