The Dutch House by Ann Patchett –352 pages
ARC provided from Harper and Netgalley for an honest review.
Book Blurb:
At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from, and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.
My Review: 4.5 stars
The Dutch House is a perfect example of a fine story and nuanced writing. I must be honest; the premise of this book did not intrigue me. I imagined these characters to be shallow and unlikeable. Thank you for proving me wrong. Patchett has created characters with depth and authenticity. Although I read this book, I do wish I’d listened to the audio. I’ve heard that Tom Hanks, who narrates the book, did an outstanding job.
The Dutch house, is a formidable character in this book. It speaks to some and pushes others away. It survives many years of neglect and some years it pulses with attention. It becomes a prize and a burden, and symbolizes so many things, especially wealth and belonging.
This is definitely a character driven book; their actions and behavior are what makes the story rise. Danny, who narrates the book, and his sister Maeve are both meaty characters that book clubs can really dig into. Oddly enough, it vaguely reminds me of another 2019 fave, The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo. They are both very hard to describe other than they both focus largely on family and the adult children in that family.
I applaud Patchett for getting Type 1 Diabetes right and creating a character who lives with highs and lows. She shows that this disease can come on suddenly, with no warning. The scene that depicts Maeve going low while in the audience of a theater, was done perfectly. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Fans of Patchett and first-timers will be thrilled with this release. I personally sold it to a woman at Costco today. I saw her hemming and hawing, so I did my thing.
Quotes I liked:
But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we’re not seeing it as the people we were, we’re seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered.”
“The dinner was a huge production, with kids stashed in the den to eat off card tables like a collection of understudies who dreamed of one day breaking into the dining room.”
“Like swallows, like salmon, we were the helpless captives of our migratory patterns. We pretended that what we have lost was the house, not our mother, not our father. We pretended that what we had lost has been taken from us by the person who still lived inside…”
