This book was Odd, with a capital O. The author was recommended by a fellow book club member. He had enjoyed Koch’s latest book The Ditch and was telling us about it at our last meeting. We all were intrigued and so we decided as a group to read this book to discuss at our October meeting. But it is so different from what I normally read, and not in a good way.

This book falls in the satirical fiction genre. Satire is not something I easily understand, and therefore it’s not a genre that I typically explore. Simply put, I just don’t really get it. Here’s an official definition of satire fiction, for those of you who may also be unsure as to what it actually is.

Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society, by using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule. It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles.

Taken from www.literarydevices.net
But honestly, that definition doesn’t even really help me understand Satire.

So because of the genre and writing style of this book, I barely got through it. The main premise is that two couples (in which the husbands are brothers) are meeting to discuss a shocking and horrible act against a homeless individual that was committed by their two teenage boys. The have this discussion over a fancy dinner at an upscale restaurant. But the way the parents handle it was boggling my mind! Their thought process, their priorities, everything! So the parenting is very questionable, to say the least. None of the parents are on the same page, and appear to all be thinking about the act from a selfish perspective.

The book is written in first person. Mr. Lohman (the narrator) remains somewhat of a mystery because it appears he has this ailment but the reader never finds out what it actually is. And then he goes back and forth between present time, which is the dinner that is happening, and the past to reveal information and events about himself and his family prior to. Ultimately, I found the back and forth timelines confusing to follow.