The Dutch House
Ratings245
Average rating4
I was so pumped to read this book since I love reading about siblings dynamics but so many plot holes for me to ignore.
Not sure what I was expecting. The beginning started off strong and it seemed like there was a to-be revealed purpose to the siblings going back to the House. Things then take a shift and the story kind of loses a little something, as do the characters. But maybe that’s the point the author is trying to get across. That life has its highs and lows. And to quote Danny, “disappointment comes from expectation.” My takeaway: so long as you have at least one person who truly loves you unconditionally and is always there for you, then you’re always home.
I don't think I get this one because I don't have a sibling,,, this one isn't for the only children of the world sorry
I don't think I could've made it through this if I physically read instead of listened as an audiobook too
Contains spoilers
I think I read this more out of curiosity. I wanted to know what was it about the Dutch house, about Meave and then I turn a page and Maeve dies.
3.5 stars... I think I hyped it too high in my own head... it was just ok for me
Una hestoria na que considero que'l personaxe principal ye un llugar, un oxetu inanimáu: la casa neerlandesa. Sólo ta presente físicamente durante aprox. un 25% del llibru, aun asina ta presente constantemente, incluso si nun se fala d'ella. Sentía la so presencia en cá páxina. Un poco como ANHQV, onde'l protagonista ye l'edificiu. Dafechu, cuando lu tiren, la serie ta obligá a terminar, nun tien protagonista. Pero bono, a lo que taba: Maeve y Danny son hermanos y viven nesta casa. Costruyóse a entamos del sieglu XX, una casa enorme con tolos luxos y detalles arquitectónicos de la época. So ma abandonólos cuando Danny, el narraor, ye demasiáu pequeñu como p'alcordase d'ella. Viven con so pa, un axente inmobiliariu ausente. Ta ehí físicamente, pero nun paez qu'haiga una conexón real y afectiva. Al pocu, cásase con Andrea, l'estereotipu d'una madrastra malvá. Ún de los motifs más antiguos habíos y por haber. Tres una serie de catastrófiques desdiches, échalos de casa, de la casa neerlandesa. Dende isti puntu, el llibru narra lo qu'estos personaxes deciden facer colsa so vida tando relativamente desamparaos. Pasaron de der probes, a ricos, a probes otra vegada.
He de dicir que nun me gusta Danny como narraor. Encontrélu pesáu y prepotente, incluso cuando en delles situaciones entendía y taba d'alcuerdu con como pensaba. Paecióme ciertamente plamu, mientres que Maeve ye mil veces más interesante ya enigmática. Amás, la manera na que trata a Celeste paezme triste, increíblemente machista, pero, al fin y al cabu, realista. Nun la quier realmente, tolérala (alexa, play tolerate it by taylor swift) porque nun molesta, nun se mete nos sos asuntos.
Bien, agora colos temes de la novela. Entendí la imaxe de la casa neerlandesa nes últimes páxines como una metáfora d'un coping mechanism tornáu viciu. Dempués de que los echaren, vuelve periódicamente a la cai de la casa. Nun entren, sólo miren, fumen y falen. Van y vuelven constantemente porque considérenla como una parte de la so identidá. ¿Quién son ensin ella? Relacionélo cola reticencia que nos mesmos podemos tener a la hora de superar dalgo colo que llevamos lluchando munchu tiempu. Si vives munchos años con ansiedá, entames a sintila como dalgo intrínseco ya inamovible del to carácter, llegando hasta tal puntu de saboteate pa nun perder esa parte d'identidá. Nun te fai ningún bien, pero vuelves a ello porque te conforta, ye familiar, ye tuyo.
Utru tema mui importante ye'l pasáu y la nuesa relación con él. Plantega si ye realmente posible evocar eventos pasaos ensin modificalos y tiñilos col nuesu xuiciu actual. ¿Esiste un pasáu oxetivu? ¿Va cambiando con nos según crecemos y maduramos?
Tamién quiero mencionar que considero que sobraben delles páxines. ¡Nun pasa na porque los llibros sían curtios! La segunda parte fízoseme mui pesá, ye un real estate simulator. Dábame bastante igual.
“Women had read about their liberation in books, but not many of them had seen what it looked like in action.”
“We had lived without expecting to live.”
“We had made a fetish out of misfortune, fallen in love with it.”
An absolutely incredible book I can't believe it took me so long to read . The way Patchett plays with time both in Commonwealth and the Dutch House is unmatched from any novelist I have ever read. Cannot suggest this book enough.
I really didn't want this book, [b:The Dutch House 44318414 The Dutch House Ann Patchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552334367l/44318414.SY75.jpg 68864841] to end. I grew fond of Danny, the narrator, and his sister Maeve. In many ways, it was more Maeve's story than Danny's, though the tale was told with his perceptions. [a:Ann Patchett 7136914 Ann Patchett https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1371838720p2/7136914.jpg] can tell a story like no other author. She only tells you what you need to know. She leaves the rest for the reader to fill in the blanks. Even though a house was at the center of this story, she didn't spend a huge amount of time describing it. She only stopped occasionally to give the reader the gist of what it looked like and, trust me, I was able to build a fantastic, three-story house around those details. After all, what house has a Delft mantle on the fireplace or blue sky painted on the dining room ceiling?I love that she followed Danny (and Maeve) from childhood through adulthood, skipping the unimportant bits and dwelling on the points that made me ache for their losses and celebrate their wins. It struck me that house that Maeve and Danny lived in as children could have such an overarching effect on their lives, even after they were no longer living there. And there can't be another villain as horrible as Andrea, or one who got her comeuppance better. Even then, I couldn't quite celebrate her fate. Yes, Patchett even made me like the bad guy. If you are hungry for some new friends, read [b:The Dutch House 44318414 The Dutch House Ann Patchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1552334367l/44318414.SY75.jpg 68864841]. But I warn you, you'll be sad to see it end.
‘'If you lived in Jenkintown in 1968 or went to school at Choate, chances were good you'd cross paths with most of the people there eventually, even if just to nod and say hello, but New York City was a wild card. Every hour was made up of a series of chances, and choosing to walk down one street instead of another had the potential to change everything: whom you met, what you saw or were spared from seeing.''
Maeve and Danny are trying to find their way through a series of events that have marked their lives. Their mother disappeared, their father married again (all too quickly) and now they have been thrown out of their home by their stepmother (what an abominable word!). As the decades go by, we witness their strengths and weaknesses, their ability and determination to move on. But can you actually move on when the past is there to haunt you? Can you let sleeping dogs lie when you visit your old home to scratch the old wounds? Most of all, we witness the siblings' extraordinary bond and affection at a time when everything changes all too rapidly.
‘'The houses on VanHoebeek Street were never entirely dark. People left their porch lights on all night, as if they were always waiting for someone to come home. Gas lights flickered at the end of driveways, a lamp in the front window of a living room stayed on through the night, but even with all these small bursts of illumination there was a stillness about the place that made it clear the inhabitants were all in their beds, even the dogs of Elkins Park were asleep.''
I swear, Ann Patchett can write some of the most evocative nightly scenes you'll ever read.
Exquisite. Moving. Poignant. Tender. Reflective. One of the finest novels I've read with two protagonists that renew your faith in the power of Literature to create characters that reflect our own hopes and struggles, that help us look into our own souls and face our own doubts. Maeve and Danny (but especially Maeve whom I ADORED!) show that you can allow yourself to be insecure and uncertain because we are humans after all. At the same time, giving up should NOT be an option. This is what Literature is all about and Ann Patchett executes that to perfection.
The Dutch House is an immersive literary triumph.
‘'Do houses ever die of grief?''
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
I am very “meh” about this book. It could be that I could not relate to the story as my growing up was not anywhere near like what happens in this book. It is a good book about generational trauma and how, even if you think you will be different and escape, decisions you make can still result in abandonment and trauma for your own family, even if you are physically present.
I gave this four stars because of Tom Hanks' superb reading of the audiobook. Otherwise it would have been a three. Good book with good characterization, but not great.
*4.5 stars. Exceptionally written, deeply developed, heartbreakingly melancholic and quietly beautiful. It made me sad and happy at the same time. Strong literary fiction.
Dutch house is one of those books where it takes some time to completely indulge in the book, but once it gets a hold of you; you will immerse in the life of Danny and her sister and The Dutch House they grew up in but couldn't let go even after they had to move out, unable to overcome their past.
“I see the past as it actually was,” Maeve said. She was looking at the trees.
“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.”
Listen to this one on a lazy Sunday afternoon in the voice of Tom Hanks.
3.5 stars. Very much a character driven story and not a plot driven story. I tend to find that I lose interest faster when books are character driven. It also didn't help that the timeline jumped around, so it was hard to know if we were in the past or present. The plus was that I listened and enjoyed “hanging out” with Tom Hanks on my drive to and from work.
One sentence synopsis... Exiled from their family home following the death of their father, this fairytale-esque story follows the Conroy siblings through the next five decades of their lives. .
Read it if you like... Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, anything with an evil stepmother really.. this book's one gives them all a run for their money. .
Dream casting... Margaret Qualley and Nicholas Hoult as the Conroy siblings Maeve and Danny.
This was probably one of the best books I've read in my lifetime. The characters are fascinating, as they should be in a character-driven storyline. This book ranged over 50 years in time, mentioning storylines that happened before the main plot. The nature of Danny and Maeve sibling relationship and the developments it underwent throughout their lives was truly dynamic and solid. I believe the great love of this book came from a total sympathy for Maeve being an older sister and sacrificing in her life for her younger sibling in the face of parental absence. Both emotionally and physically. The cast of characters evokes so many emotions— love, sadness, grief, confusion, wholesomeness, tightness, pride, support— everything, I felt it all through these characters. Narrated by Tom Hanks and told through the perspective of the younger brother, Danny, this book was a modern masterpiece. Everything in it planted seeds for later in the novel. I could not speak any more highly of this novel. I will read it time after time. 5⭐️/5
I enjoyed this family saga. It wasn't exceptional, nothing stood out to me as insight, or particularly funny, or depth, or aha. But it was a nicely told story about a family.
I have liked Patchett's work in the past, especially BEL CANTO and STATE OF WONDER, less so with COMMONWEALTH, but I had a hard time getting into this, possibly because the first half of the book is about a brother and sister as children, and that almost never grabs me. In the second half, when they're grown, I found them more interesting, although the narrator, Danny, wasn't really a convincing male voice. I also don't think I'm a big fan of stories that stretch over decades, as this one does, but of course this is the story of a house, not just a week in the life of a family. Except that the house never feels like a character, as the settings of some novels do; it's just the setting.
Dear Ann Patchett–you are a master wordsmith. Your plots are languidly beautiful. I'm listening to this novel, rather than reading it on paper, and have the joy of Tom Hanks narrating your words into my ears.
And the subject matter seemed right up my alley.
Unfortunately, about 5 chapters in, during April of the Year of the Pandemic, I determined that the plot was TOO up my alley. A parent who is mentally fragile and abandons their children, a House that overshadows the lives of the people in it, a stepparent who is conniving and wicked, the House that endures as the symbol of all the ways the parents have erred–just a bit too close to the bone for me right now. I might return, but not right now.