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The Dutch House

Ann Patchett

4.11 · Rating details · 255,473 ratings · 25,745 reviews

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 e ...more

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Hardcover, 336 pages

Published September 24th 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing

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Oct 04, 2019 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

So close to be a masterpiece, a dysfunctional family story starts in this humongous, grandiose mansion, where ex inhabitants had died and left their belongings including their portraits hanging on the walls and it ends there as we move back and forth between the timelines to read the story narrated by Danny, second child of the family. But please go and order an audiobook because TOM HANKS is fantastic, impeccable, meticulous narrator. (Yes, he is our Danny boy).
So as a result paperback version ...more

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Feb 21, 2020 Roxane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was an absorbing read even though the narrator was infuriating, self-absorbed, oblivious, selfish, and annoying. It follows two siblings, Danny and Maeve, and their childhood home, The Dutch House, across decades with a mother who disappeared, an emotionally distant father, his new wife and her daughters and, eventually, Danny’s wife and children. There is an epic feel to this novel but it is also an intimate portrait of siblings who have found home in each other when they are failed by the ...more

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Sara H I don't understand this criticism of Danny-these were his honest feelings after his mother abandoned him, he lost his father and basically all vestige ...more
Feb 06, 2021 08:10PM

Rachel When I went to write my review, I saw that you'd articulated my feelings perfectly! I, too, listened to the audio version and wanted to throttle the n ...more
updated Feb 22, 2021 09:06PM

Jun 30, 2019 Angela M rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: edelweiss-reviews

4.5 stars
Sometimes in a novel, a place is such a strong and integral part of the story that it deserves as much attention as if it were a character. The house in this novel exerts so much influence over the lives of the characters, sometimes more so than the other people in their lives. The house, with its big windows and ornate design is a symbol of success for Cyril Conroy, the self made real estate developer. To his wife Elna, it is everything that is wrong with the world, when so many others 4.5 stars
Sometimes in a novel, a place is such a strong and integral part of the story that it deserves as much attention as if it were a character. The house in this novel exerts so much influence over the lives of the characters, sometimes more so than the other people in their lives. The house, with its big windows and ornate design is a symbol of success for Cyril Conroy, the self made real estate developer. To his wife Elna, it is everything that is wrong with the world, when so many others have nothing. To their children, Maeve and Danny, it is where they live. As adults, it’s much more complex; it represents everything they lost. To Conroy’s second wife Andrea, it’s a possession she has to have. Narrated by Danny, the story moves back and forth from their childhood over decades, a family saga of sorts, but the Conroy family for most of the novel is just the two of them, Danny and Maeve.

This is in so many ways about the past, the past they can’t let go of, the past that shapes who they become as adults. “Do you think it’s possible to ever see the past as it actually was?” Danny asks his sister Maeve. “ I see the past as it actually was,” Maeve said. Danny responds “ But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know, 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.” ** It’s also about sibling love and sacrifice as the brilliant Maeve gives up so much of her life to care for Danny, to make sure he is okay. I was so emotionally connected to them and I loved their relationship. It was at times heartbreaking to see how deep seated these wounds of the past are for both of them .

The plot, which captured me from the beginning is one the reader should discover for themselves, so no spoilers here. The bottom line is that I loved pretty much everything about the book - the writing, the characters, the story. I found it nearly perfect and it is 4.5 stars because of something in the end that I found hard to reconcile. I keep a list of favorite writers and Ann Patchett has been on that list for quite a while now. I’ve read every novel she’s published. Her characters always feel fully developed and making an emotional connection is easy because she allows us to know them. Definitely recommended!

I read this with Diane and Esil as one of our ongoing buddy reads and as always appreciate their thoughts.

**Quotes are from the advanced copy.
I received an advanced copy of this book from HarperCollins through Edelweiss. ...more

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Jul 22, 2019 Paromjit rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, netgalley, family-drama

Ann Patchett's latest novel proves to be a absolute delight to read with its echoes of the darkest of fairytales with the requisite wicked stepmother in the form of Andrea. We are provided with Patchett's acute understanding and keen observational insights of what it is to be human, the complex nature of family and the dysfunctional dynamics that proliferate. Shortly after WW2, Cyril Conroy's life catapults from poverty into wealth which propels him to buy the architectural jewel that is the Dut Ann Patchett's latest novel proves to be a absolute delight to read with its echoes of the darkest of fairytales with the requisite wicked stepmother in the form of Andrea. We are provided with Patchett's acute understanding and keen observational insights of what it is to be human, the complex nature of family and the dysfunctional dynamics that proliferate. Shortly after WW2, Cyril Conroy's life catapults from poverty into wealth which propels him to buy the architectural jewel that is the Dutch House with its many windows in the Pennsylvania suburbs for his wife, Elna, a house that is to splinter his family apart. As the narrative moves back and forth in time through five decades, the house turns out to be an integral part and trigger for the dramas that ensue, the highs and the lows. Danny grew up with little memory of his mother who left so early in his life, and his father is a distant figure, contributing to the strong bond with his older sister, the bright and determined Maeve, a woman of substance who takes on the mantle of caring and protecting him.

Cyril brings Andrea into the lives of Maeve and Danny, and goes on to marry her. Andrea, with her children, is driven by ambition that inform her behaviour and decisions, catalysts for how events pan out in the house and family interactions until Cyril's dies, leaving Andrea with everything. Andrea reacts by throwing Maeve and Danny out. The siblings are pushed out of their privileged and comfortable lives, finding themselves facing a life of poverty and challenges with only each other to rely on. Maeve dedicates her life to Danny at the expense of her own life and ambitions, with both positive and negative outcomes, although their future lives are to be shaped by their constant obsession with the house and their inability to let go of the past.

Patchett writes a compulsive novel of family, sibling relationships, secrets, memories that can so often turn out to be unreliable, coming to terms with what life can throw at you, grief, loss, love and forgiveness. It is beautifully written, with rich, atmospheric vibrant descriptions and with Patchett's stellar and skilful characterisation and development, she has an uncanny capacity to give us pictures of emotional and meaningful depth of her characters interior lives. This is a brilliant, thought provoking, multilayered, complicated and well crafted book infused with a wryness and humour that made it such a memorable read. Many thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC. ...more

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Feb 16, 2020 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pennsylvania, reading-road-trip-2020, sister-act, 100-pages-too-long, new-york-state-of-mind

Reading Road Trip 2020

Current location: Pennsylvania

“Swear to God, you really were that boring.”

The night my book club discussed Ann Patchett's Bel Canto some ten years ago, I clutched my copy of that novel to my chest like a companion animal and huffed and puffed away, defensively, every time a woman in the group grumbled “so unbelievable” and “that ending!” Who were they, those wenches, to speak ill of a book I adored about love and opera?

Later, on various telephone calls, my sister (another ...more

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Oct 01, 2019 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

E-book - ( own)... and Audiobook.... ( own), narrated by Tom Hanks.

Having read and loved other books by Patchett, [“Commwealth”, “Bel Canto”, “State of Wonder”, “This Is The Story of A Happy Marriage”, and “Run”], plus all the raving early reviews - I was looking forward to reading this.
And now I’ve joined the choir with other readers and friends singing....
“This is a wonderful novel”.

I pre-ordered the ebook months ago - soon to learn that my High School boyfriend- [haha]- Tommy Hanks - was r ...more

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Jul 19, 2019 Peter rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction

Attached
The Dutch House is a story of siblings, Danny and Maeve Conroy, their obsessive connection with the iconic family house they lived in as young children and how their lives unfolded over the years. The story is narrated by Danny over multiple non-linear time periods. The various time jumps and reflections back to important events felt like a jigsaw puzzle being built, where there is the uncertainty of the next piece but once it is placed, the complete picture becomes clearer and clearer. Attached
The Dutch House is a story of siblings, Danny and Maeve Conroy, their obsessive connection with the iconic family house they lived in as young children and how their lives unfolded over the years. The story is narrated by Danny over multiple non-linear time periods. The various time jumps and reflections back to important events felt like a jigsaw puzzle being built, where there is the uncertainty of the next piece but once it is placed, the complete picture becomes clearer and clearer. This is a wonderful skill Ann Patchett possesses as I never feel lost or confused as she managed the time transitions so deftly.

The other major hallmark of Ann Patchett is her development of amazing characters and relationships. Maeve is Danny’s older sister of 7 years, she is very intelligent, a diabetic, caring to the extreme for her brother, and a character that fascinates and frustrates at times. Danny is much more emotionally reserved and his development into adulthood is interesting to watch. While he takes advantage of top-class education in medicine he can’t shake his love for his father’s business in real estate. Their mother is a memory, having left them when they were young and the story starts with their father bringing Andrea home to visit. Andrea eventually becomes his wife, their new mother and the force that shapes the future relationships within the family.

“Mothers were the measure of safety, which meant that I was safer than Maeve. After our mother left, Maeve took up the job on my behalf but no one did the same for her.”

It’s not too long before Andrea's own two daughters become her sole focus and ambition, and the existing family and staff are unwelcome reminders of a past she wasn’t part of. Andrea is dispassionate, harsh, and greedy, and heir to the Dutch House mansion. Early in the marriage “It also seemed pretty clear he had married the wrong woman. If we all kept to our own corners it was easier for everyone.”

After only a few years of marriage, their father dies and leaves the house and business to Andrea who repays his memory by putting both Maeve and Danny out, to never set foot in their home again. This starts an obsessive periodic pilgrimage for Danny and Maeve where they return to the street to sit in a car parked across from the Dutch House and gaze at it recalling memories and wondering how life would have panned out – if only. The emotional baggage they carry together drives them forward but also restricts their successes and paths taken. The psychological burden of seeking happiness and fulfilment, while tied to past commitments and motivations is cleverly layered throughout the story.

What I had difficultly with was that I didn’t feel any great pace in the novel and at times wished it would move along in a more compelling rate. The house, while a connecting point, didn’t really have any character and increasingly the story is told away from it. It may be suggested that the house is the central aspect of the story but I would disagree feeling it more appropriate to consider the deep, caring, loving and supportive relationship between a brother and sister growing up with only each other to depend on and if that connection in itself had a restricting effect on how their lives developed. Their real mother returns to the story very late in the book and I just found her motivations, and supposed wisdom, very difficult to accept and jarred so much that it left a frustration with the novel.

I would recommend this book and I’d like to thank Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an early ARC copy in return for an honest review. ...more

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Oct 13, 2019 JanB rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: buddy-read-with-marialyce, 2019-reads, edelweiss

2.5 stars:
Danny and Maeve are siblings who can’t overcome their past. Abandoned by their mother at an early age, Maeve, the oldest, assumes the mother role. Everything changes further when their emotionally distant father marries the evil stepmother and the children are cut out of their inheritance. The pain, bitterness, and anger shapes their personalities and their future. How do they move past such a childhood?

My questions: What does forgiveness look like? Does forgiveness mean you allow tox ...more

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Jan 12, 2020 Yun rated it liked it · review of another edition

The Dutch House is a family saga that centers around siblings Danny and Maeve. Their father strikes it rich and buys a lavish mansion known as The Dutch House as a surprise for their mother, and that event reverberates with repercussions for everyone in the family and kicks off a five-decade long story.

This is my first Ann Patchett book, and I've heard amazing things about her and this book, so I tore into it with gusto. And I was hooked from the first page. I found the characters and the writi ...more

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Jul 01, 2019 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lor-2019

Patchett is way up there on my, can't wait for next novel, list. Her characterizations, her insight into flawed families and her wry observations of human nature, are always top notched. In this, her soon to be published novel, she follows a family for five decades, a family that is broken apart, for reasons that I cannot at this time share. Brother and sister, Maeve and Danny, are extremely close, not unexpected since they are the only ones that are there for each other through thick and thin. ...more

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Oct 12, 2019 Rincey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Just punch me right in the heart next time, Patchett. It'd be faster.

See my full review here: https://youtu.be/xjW9XCANxPU ...more

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Sep 26, 2019 Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: edelweiss, best-of-2019, my-favorites, sept-2019-reads

What a freaking masterpiece this is!!

Let's begin with prior to reading this book, I was impartial on books by Ann Patchett. I previously had only read Commonwealth and liked it, but it wasn't something I would climb to the top of a mountain and yell about. This book is.

I'm not going to get into the summary because I went in as blind as I could (I requested an ARC on NG and EW purely on the fact that it was Ann Patchett and I LOVED the cover) and I think that benefited me. I had no expectations w ...more

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Dec 09, 2019 Beata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I admit I was drawn to this novel by its gorgeous cover and narration by Tom Hanks as I have read only one book by Ms Patchett. I am not sure I will follow her, but this novel is absolutely fantastic. What an intriguing idea to tell a story of a family, especially of a strong bond between siblings, and connect it with a story of a house that seems to be in the background but which in fact plays the major role in the characters' lives!
I live in a flat in a tenement house which was built over 90 ...more

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Oct 13, 2019 Marialyce rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: library, books-of-2019, jan-mar

This was a book I had to think about after finishing. I truly wanted to fall into a deep and abiding love for the story and yet I found it so unrealistic that I had to question what if any was the motive behind the story. There seemed to be no overwhelming meaning to the characters. Everyone and everything seemed disjointed and to me a wash of grey characters, not believable and certainly not ones to be emulated.

From the dereliction of being a mother, a father who is in all intents absentee, to This was a book I had to think about after finishing. I truly wanted to fall into a deep and abiding love for the story and yet I found it so unrealistic that I had to question what if any was the motive behind the story. There seemed to be no overwhelming meaning to the characters. Everyone and everything seemed disjointed and to me a wash of grey characters, not believable and certainly not ones to be emulated.

From the dereliction of being a mother, a father who is in all intents absentee, to the relationship of brother and sister and a step family, I could not get a firm grasp on what the author was trying to say. It was a big disappointment for I am one to accept stories with messages not however messages that are murky if not obscure. It was like going on a roller coaster waiting for the biggest and tallest hill and then there was none. Left to a stilted somewhat boring ride, you emerge with no sense of wonder but a sense of what the heck was that and where was my thrill?

So here I will sit with a not so favorable outlook on this story. I have liked three of this author's books, particularly the book, Commonwealth, but unfortunately for me this book left be feeling as vacant and bereft as her characters seemed to be. 2.5 stars for me as well.

What represents you as a person? Is it the people you know, the clothes you wear, or even the house you live in? Could it be in one's zeal to be acknowledged that the aforementioned things are really what makes the persona a person wishes to put forward. What happens to character, to strength, and to the willingness to help others, particularly family, as the components of what makes a person? In this book, Ann Patchett presents us with a family whose lives are tragic shells of what could have been. But is that enough to know, for in every tragedy there always emerges victors and perhaps in this book there are no victors whatsoever just losers in the game of life.
To see our duo reviews, you can go to http://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpress... ...more

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Oct 02, 2019 Fatma rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, historical-fiction

3 stars if im feeling generous, which im not, so 2.5 stars it is

description

this was so blah. no word encapsulates this book for me more perfectly than "blah." i recognize that this book had some nice, touching moments, but on the whole it felt so heartless. after about the first quarter of this book, this started becoming very apparent. the dutch house reminded me of all the things i disliked about mary beth keane's ask again, yes and jhumpa lahiri's the namesake: the reliance on having a character tell us the plot as opposed to us seeing it unfold; the huge time jumps that leave characters in the most boring, cookie-cutter lives, in stark contrast to their initially compelling childhoods. like i dont know how many times i have to read about time jumps where interesting characters end up married to some wishy-washy character whose only function is to be of the opposite sex so that the main character can get married to them and have the compulsory 2 kids and white picket fence. can we not think of literally anything that's more interesting ? like anything ? ill even take 3 kids instead of the usual 2. WRITERS, PLEASE, TRY HARDER

it goes without saying that where the first quarter of this book was compelling for me, the other two-thirds completely lost me. what i was invested in were the family dynamics, the brother-sister relationship. what i was not invested in was seeing danny take college courses and hang out with his (painfully boring) girlfriend and do random real-estate things that i could not care less about. (and by the way, celeste's whole character just reeked of the "im not like other girls" trope. i know she's peripheral to the story, but she's never her own character, not even a little bit. she exists exclusively in relation to and for danny.)

i also didnt really think that the characters' motivations made all that much sense. andrea was barely anything much more than an Evil, Gold Digging Step Mom. and all the animosity between celeste and maeve felt extremely unfounded, not to mention very annoying.

reading this book was just one long downward trajectory. the more i read it the more it irritated me till finally at the end i was like okay i definitely dont like this book. ...more

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Dec 05, 2019 Liz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, bestof-2019

5 HUGE STARS! One of my best of 2019 (definitely the best audio book).

I am a huge Ann Patchett fan and this book does not disappoint. It’s a fabulous book, but it was made so much better because of Tom Hank’s narration. The book is described as a dark fairy tale and there is definitely that theme, with an evil stepmother separating two siblings from their father, their house and everything they hold dear.

The book just drew me in and I wanted to spend all my hours listening to it. Told from Dan ...more

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Feb 03, 2020 emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, reviewed, couldn-t-wait-to-read, literary-fiction, owned, recommend, beautifully-written, slump-worthy, i-love-these-characters, non-ya

Hang on, I swear I’m about to write this review, but first I need to call up every real estate agent in the greater Philadelphia area and inquire about purchasing the Dutch House.

Okay, so yes, the Dutch House is fictional.

Plan B: I will make millions and millions of dollars and then become best friends with Ann Patchett and she and I will team up as co-architects to construct a real life version, and both of us will ignore the fact that we have no architecture experience and that I haven’t taken ...more

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Nov 14, 2019 Phrynne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Sometimes when you listen to an audiobook the narrator spoils it and sometimes makes it. This one is read by Tom Hanks and he makes it absolutely perfect. He has the kind of voice you can listen to for hours and it is ideal for Danny, the character whose point of view is followed throughout the book.

The story is about the breakdown of a family and the support its individual members give to each other. Danny and his sister, Maeve, are the most important characters and they have an amazing bond. I ...more

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Jul 26, 2019 Debbie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-york-city, favorite-authors, edelweiss, sibling-love-and-hate, family-drama, runners-up-2012-through-2019

A grand house with grand siblings inside

A house? Really? I want people, not inanimate objects! I thought the house would be bigger than the people in it, but thank god I was wrong. I ended up loving the place. Hell, I’d go to an open house there any day. Damn straight I’d like to snoop around.

The cover and the title scared me. A painting of an uptight, upright woman on the cover, and “Dutch House” as the title—sounds like we might have some snooty going on here. Is reading this going to feel lik ...more

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Oct 04, 2019 Larry H rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"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."

Siblings Danny and Maeve Conroy grew up in The Dutch House, a lavish home in the Philadelphia suburbs. Once the home of a Dutch family that owned most of the area, their artwork and interior decorating still remain throughout the infamous estate. While their real-estate "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."

Siblings Danny and Maeve Conroy grew up in The Dutch House, a lavish home in the Philadelphia suburbs. Once the home of a Dutch family that owned most of the area, their artwork and interior decorating still remain throughout the infamous estate. While their real-estate-investor father loves the house and sees it as a jewel in his empire, their mother was repulsed by all the infamous home represented, and she left when Danny was very young.

Left with a father generally incapable of doing more than providing the material comforts for his children, Maeve helped raise Danny, with the help of the family's two housekeepers. The two siblings, despite their age difference, formed an unshakable bond, one which became even more crucial when their father married again, this time a younger woman with two young daughters of her own. Their stepmother's dislike of them was apparent to them from the very start, although their father seemed oblivious and/or disinterested in her treatment of them, as he was more interested in keeping the peace in his household than anything else.

When their stepmother gets the opportunity, she exiles Danny and Maeve from the house—and cuts off their access to any of the money that should be theirs. Left with nothing, they are forced to fend for themselves and have only each other to survive. And while they cannot seem to get The Dutch House out of their minds, given that it was such an enormous part of their lives, they want more than anything to understand the actions of their parents, which led them to where they are now.

While this isn't a suspenseful book, there are a few surprises that are better to unfold as you read it rather than have them revealed. This is a book that was paced a lot slower than I like, but there is a lot of richness to behold, including emotion, nostalgia, family dynamics, and even a little humor. What fascinated me even more is what a major character the house itself played, much like in Howards End or Rebecca .

I've been a big fan of Ann Patchett's since reading Bel Canto a number of years ago. I love the way she tells a story. (Her nonfiction is excellent, too—check out Truth and Beauty or This is the Story of a Happy Marriage .) I have enjoyed some of her other books more than this one, but it's still worth a read, and I believe both Patchett fans and those who've never read her work will enjoy this, especially those who like stories of family relationships gone awry.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2018 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html.

You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/. ...more

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Jul 02, 2019 Esil rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ew, d-a-buddy-reads

Awfully close to 5 stars!

The Dutch House is full of the stuff I love in fiction. It’s really well written, has great characters, is original and feels like a big meaty story I could get lost in. Danny is the narrator. He grew up in the grandiose Dutch House with his sister, Maeve, and his father. What happens to his mother is a mystery that unravels over time. But the fallout from her disappearance is a very strong bond between Danny and Maeve, and a cascade of emotional and other consequences f ...more

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Oct 16, 2019 Holly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, audiobook, book-club, 2019-read, character-study-plot

TOM HANKS NARRATES THIS AUDIOBOOK! I repeat, Tom Hanks narrates this audiobook! I could listen to that man narrate a grocery list but lucky for us, this book was much more interesting than that.

Let me first warn you that this is absolutely a character study plot type novel. And by that I mean, don't go into this book expecting this to happen: beginning->story climax where something major happens->ending. Instead, the readers gets to wade through the lives of Danny and his older sister, Maeve. It ...more

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Aug 15, 2019 Cheri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, arc, nyc, historical-fiction, literary-fiction, netgalley, pennsylvania

4.5 Stars

This is the third book of Patchett’s that I’ve read, the first being State of Wonder, the second, Commonwealth, and this is one adds to the proof that she was born to write these complex family dramas where each character equally shares the wounds of all involved.

A little like a fairy tale flipped upside-down, this story includes an imposing, castle-like house, which seems to affect each character differently, as though abiding inside these walls seems to create an entirely different ...more

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Feb 11, 2020 Jennifer Masterson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, favorites, books-read-2020

I preordered this book. For months this gem was just sitting there waiting to be downloaded on my Audible app. Boy was I missing out because this will go in my favorites bookshelf. I absolutely loved it! Phenomenal story with a wonderful message. I just finished and I have chills! The kind of chills I got after reading books like “The Goldfinch” and “A Little Life”.

The audio was so good! I mean Tom Hanks! My God!

I have a feeling these characters will stay with me for a very long time.

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Oct 20, 2019 Karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4.5
I really enjoyed this story which follows a pair of siblings through five decades, the loss of their parents and childhood home and how those losses affected their lives.
Such a strong bond between the siblings and a past that wouldn’t let them go.. the house itself played such a huge part in this story, like it was one of the characters.
Great characters! Good story!

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Oct 18, 2019 Brandice rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ann Patchett rarely disappoints and The Dutch House is no exception. This story spans several decades, beginning with siblings Danny and Maeve, in their childhood, growing up in the Dutch House, outside of Philadelphia.

The story is told entirely from Danny’s perspective. He’s very close with Maeve, his older sister, as their mother, Elna, left when the children were young. The family was well-off and their father, Cyril, though not particularly warm, provided for and raised his two children, wh ...more

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Oct 06, 2019 PorshaJo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: challengereads, challengereads-2019, audio

I a big fan of Ann Patchett. I've read a number of her books, saw her speak a few times, even went to her bookstore while on a work trip through Nashville. Needless to say, there was no doubt I would read this one and like it. I've yet to read anything that she writes and not like it. I still have a few of her books to read (that I have copies of, even signed copies of books) but feel like I don't want to rush. I always want to have one of her books available to read. I know it's odd. But on to I a big fan of Ann Patchett. I've read a number of her books, saw her speak a few times, even went to her bookstore while on a work trip through Nashville. Needless to say, there was no doubt I would read this one and like it. I've yet to read anything that she writes and not like it. I still have a few of her books to read (that I have copies of, even signed copies of books) but feel like I don't want to rush. I always want to have one of her books available to read. I know it's odd. But on to The Dutch House.

The Dutch House is a slow moving family story, a sad family story. The story goes back and forth in time, over five decades, telling us about the lives of Danny and Maeve Conroy. Danny and Maeve grew up, to a point, in The Dutch House. As with any Ann Patchett story, I wanted it to end a different way. Perhaps that's just me. You hear from the time when Danny and Maeve are small children, until very much later in life, and that house. The Dutch House plays such a strong role in the story, but also in the lives of anyone who has been in that house. It has this pull, this allure, that Danny and Maeve are almost, many times, living the in past and remembering their time in that house. Even though the story is one of such a fractured family, the bond between Danny and Maeve are so strong. It kept me pushing to finish to hear more.

As soon as it was available, I begged my library for the audio version. I was the first to get it! Yeah! Tom Hanks narrated the story. At first, I thought I might not like the narration. I love Tom Hanks (who doesn't) but was afraid it would just not work. I thought he did a good job, sometimes I thought maybe a bit much. But I was so drawn into the story. I often listen while working in the kitchen and was looking for things to do, just so I could hear more. The story was quite slow at times but I liked it (hence 4 stars). I can't say this is my favorite of hers. Bel Canto will forever be my favorite. One I should probably re-read, or perhaps one of her's I'm savoring on my shelves will be next in line. ...more

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Oct 18, 2020 Susanne Strong rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks

“Home.” What does it mean to you? It is a place or is it a person?

For me, having had a bad childhood and a bad marriage, “Home” has always been a place. Now that I’m divorced, the first home that I created for myself after my divorce was the first place that I ever truly felt safe in my entire life. Now, having moved, I have strived to create that same feeling of “Home” elsewhere. For others, “Home” may be the people you surround yourselves with.

In “The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett, “the house ...more

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Jun 21, 2020 Luffy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary, historical-fiction, popular

It was hard to come to grips with this book. And here I thought that it would be a slightly arty but conceptualized story. Maybe something that has a past and present chapter.

Instead I found myself involved in a centralized story about a Dutch house. Curiously enough, to me it sounded like a lab rat for our characters to joust.

I liked this book immensely. The vocab of the book was mellow but not dull. The family dynamics was natural, intriguing and didactic. I really need to reread it to get to ...more

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Feb 06, 2020 Beverly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bittersweet-historical-drama

Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors. I haven't read all of her books, but I have read many of them that I love with my whole heart; Bel Canto, Run, Truth and Beauty are my favorites by her.

The Dutch House is a five star read too. I was completely in love with her characters, especially Maeve and her brother Danny, who are essentially made orphans and paupers by the death of their father, the desertion by their mother, and their wicked stepmother who kicks Danny out of her home when he is ...more

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Ann Patchett reads from The Dutch House, Part 2

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Ann Patchett reads from The Dutch House, Part 1

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About Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett

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Patchett was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother is the novelist Jeanne Ray.

She moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was six, where she continues to live. Patchett said she loves her home in Nashville with her doctor husband and dog. If asked if she could go any place, that place would always be home. "Home is ...the stable window that opens out into the imagination."

Patchett attended hi ...more

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Trivia About The Dutch House

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Quotes from The Dutch House

“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.” — 124 likes

“There are a few times in life when you leap up and the past that you'd been standing on falls away behind you, and the future you mean to land on is not yet in place, and for a moment you're suspended knowing nothing and no one, not even yourself.” — 101 likes

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