The Ditch

A Novel

By: Herman Koch

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

When Robert Walter, popular mayor of Amsterdam, sees his wife toss her head back with laughter while chatting to one of his aldermen at a New Year's reception, he immediately suspects the worst. Despite their long and happy marriage, Robert is convinced that Sylvia is cheating on him - with the respectable alderman who is dedicated to the environment, no less. The man who wants to spoil the capital's skyline with wind turbines.

The New Year's reception marks the end of the "happy family" era that the mayor has enjoyed for so long. His wife and their daughter, Diana, however, are not aware of his suspicions and carry on as usual. Robert starts spending a lot of time and energy "behaving normally." Naturally, his normal behavior is far more suspicious. Normally Robert's not really present when he's at home - he's preoccupied with his phone, the newspapers, and his own thoughts. But now Robert is so sure he'll miss the clues if he doesn't pay attention that he starts to be almost alarmingly attentive and interested - ultimately losing himself in increasingly panicked and paranoid trains of thought.

Written with Herman Koch's trademark originality, playfulness, and edge, The Ditch is a wildly clever - and guttingly familiar - story of a man whose sadistic skill for undermining himself and his marriage comes to cost him nearly everything.

©2016 Herman Koch; translation copyright 2019 by Sam Garrett (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Not Worth It

I love Herman Koch. His cynical, yet relatable, unreliable narrators are so intriguing and the provocative rants they go on are entertaining and, though quite “edgy”, equally relatable. You know they are up to no good, and not giving you the full story, but you can’t help but root for them. On that note, this book is no different from his earlier works. And the voice performance just enhances that.

However, this story is just generally a mess. Starting out with suspicions about his wife’s affair, then anxiety about his aging parent’s plans to commit suicide, then his past (or not his past?) catching up to him via an investigative reporter, and a lot of other unfortunate situations plague the narrator of The Ditch, the mayor of Amsterdam. However, where he starts out vague, in order to “protect” his family’s identities, he ends on the same vague note. The end tries to convey how the stories all tie together in some plot, but the lack of information, coupled with confusing motivations by every character involved, and a few characters who would need to be rather stupid to not become weary to the narrator’s crimes (I think?), make for an unimpressive ending.

The book is still entertaining if you like Koch’s other works. The narration is key there. However, while his other books reward you for reading or listening to the first 200 pages of slow burning events, this book doesn’t really have much of a burn at all, and the end does not have any great payoff. You might be better off just skipping this one.

Another great story

Herman Koch does not disappoint. His stories are always intelligently written, yet twisted, with complicated characters. I decided to neglect the negative reviews due to past experiences with this author. I was not disappointed.

Dark

It was interesting but dark. I found the narrator’s voice grating. The story is pretty depressing.

Time waster

every character is despicable except for the daughter. Don’t waste your time on this book.