The Dinner Chapter 1-16

  The first section of The Dinner by Herman Kock was very interesting, it gives you a lot of information that makes you want to keep reading. However, one of the things that made me dislike the book was how slow pace it was in the beginning, I also found it very descriptive which was both an advantage and disadvantage. Like who knew someone could describe the food he's eating for half a chapter, it also took us about 4 chapters to know the narrators name ( Paul ) like you should talk less about the food and tell us your name. Some things that I liked about the book was how we had a choice of what book to read unlike The Namesake, I also liked how the book does not give much information about Serge Lohman which makes you want to keep reading. What do you guys think about the book, what do you like and dislike about it?    

  The first thing I would like to talk about is when the narrator first introduces Babette, Paul describes her as a tall person a tall person compared to him. Paul then talks about how in high school he had a friend who was 6 feet tall, he describes how it felt to stand next to him Paul says "how tiring it could be always to be standing next to someone who towered head and shoulders above you, as though they were literally standing in his shadow" ( Kock 31 ). I was very short guy when I was young, my cousins were so much taller than me back, I remember at one point my sister who is 2 years younger than me was my height. It felt like I was in their shadows literally, just like how Paul felt at high school but unlike Paul it also applied metaphorically, what I mean by this is that they were also smarter than me so I had a rough childhood. My whole perspective changed when I started playing soccer, unlike basket ball which I tried playing and all I ever got back was a participation medal, size was something important in soccer and it made me feel comfortable about my height. At that time I also started watching Lionel Messi who was a short soccer player, after seeing Messi overcome his growth hormone deficiency and became the best player in the world it really showed me that size does not matter.  

Old picture of my sister and I, we always saw eye to eye back then( dum tmm tss ).

  Later in the novel Paul talks about how the waiter keeps getting to close to his food, at one point Paul says "This was the closest he had come to me this evening"( Kock 45 ). This raises a big issue, personal space some people have non like the waiter and some people take it way to far. I personally tend to get way too close to people when I am talking to them, since I was born and raised in an Arab country people their do not really give you any. So when I first came to Canada I used to get way to close to people since it was just the way I was raised, so it took me a while to get used to it. But when I got used to it I had to go back to Kuwait in the summer, so in family gathering I sat so far from everyone it did not help that I had such a big family. Do you think that Paul is taking this too far, like the waiter is not touching his food or does he have the right to?        

  Finally I would like to talk about Serge Lohman the narrators brother, we do not really get much information about him, all we really know is that he is a rich person. When we are first introduced to Serge he seemed  like an arrogant person who loves everything his way, this is shown by how he chose the restaurant they were going to. We also figure out the apparently Serge beats ( assumption ) his wife, Paul says how her eyes were " red around the edges and bigger than normal: unmistakable signs for recent crying" ( Kock 32). This makes the readers question  if Serge really is who he says he is, he could be hiding something but what could it be ? We can also tell that fame changed Serge, Paul says how his sudden love for wine seems suspensions since Serge never really cared about wine that much. What do you guys think about Serge, is he misunderstood or is he just an evil person? I personally think that there was a fight between both brothers that lead to them not liking each other, like I personally do not mind if someone changed, for the better at least.  

  Ultimately I think it was a great read although really slow paced it seems to work, it makes you want to keep reading to find what happens and what happened between Paul and Serge ? Please tell me in the comments on what I could improve about the blog :) Thank you and I will see all of you ( like 5 people ) next week.