POPULAR FICTION
THE DINNER BY HERMAN KOCH (大西洋 £12.99 ? £10.99)
Shivers kept 狙撃 up my backbone as I became engrossed in Koch’s darkly 乱すing tale of family life.
始める，決める in Amsterdam, it begins in a deceptively low-重要な way ― two brothers and their wives 会合 for a 非難する-up dinner.
Paul is わずかに pent-up, 積極的な and twitchy; his brother is a smug, self-満足させるd celebrity 政治家，政治屋, soon to stand for Dutch PM.
They 会合，会う to discuss their teenage sons who, between them, are in a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す of bother. The ‘bother’ turns out to be a 同時代の nightmare ― think happy- slapping, YouTube,? police manhunts and bourgeois parents in 否定.
Slowly we realise that Paul, にもかかわらず his 充てるd-dad 姿勢 and his indulgent let’s-be-pals 態度, has major psychological problems.
As the dinner 崩壊するs into mayhem, we discover just how far the middle classes will go to 保護する their monstrous offspring.
COME TO THE EDGE BY JOANNA KAVENNA (Quercus £12.99 ? £10.99)
Oh my aching 味方するs?.?.?.?
Laugh? I nearly 爆発するd reading Kavenna’s knock-out satire on the 代案／選択肢 lif estyle. Our 語り手, 逃げるing from 郊外の 慰安 and an unfaithful husband, replies to an advert ― ‘WANTED: COMPANION IN RURAL LIFE?.?.?.?WIDOW LIVING ALONE ON FARM NEEDS HELP?.?.?.?FOOD INCLUDED, IDYLLIC SETTING’ ― and walks into a remote, dilapidated hell-穴を開ける.
There’s mud, and more mud, an unspeakable thunderbox loo, some saggy old goats, a slug-infested vegetable patch and the nutcase survivalist 未亡人 who eschews all mod 反対／詐欺s 含むing electricity, plumbing and shop-bought food.?
‘So here I am tugging at a goat’s dug,’ begins our bemused 語り手, as the shotgun-こどもing 未亡人 計画（する）s her 革命の 計画／陰謀s.
This 調書をとる／予約する is just the 職業 for any city slicker craving the good life.
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