From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Dutch House

Ann Patchett

Start date: February 15, 2020

Finish date: March 1, 2020

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Gina Whitlock

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Feb 05, 2020 Barbara rated it it was amazing

This is a wonderful book, a page turner. I was so involved in the character's lives that I had to make myself slow down. I've read a number of Ann Patchett's books but, of what I've read, this is by far my favorite. ...more

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Jan 14, 2020 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: womans-story, family-story, geographical, fairytale, coming-of-age-novel, marriage, grief, friendship

I was not at all impressed as I read the first third. The characters seemed cold, the house (the setting seemed cold). I ached for the children. And. I was determined to continue because so many people I know loved it and it's the next book for one of the book clubs I belong to. I ended up enthralled. I love Ann Patchett's wizardry. It's unlike anything of hers I've read. And the issues of cruelty and forgiveness are so woven into my own life that I was humbled by how Patchett handled them. I li I was not at all impressed as I read the first third. The characters seemed cold, the house (the setting seemed cold). I ached for the children. And. I was determined to continue because so many people I know loved it and it's the next book for one of the book clubs I belong to. I ended up enthralled. I love Ann Patchett's wizardry. It's unlike anything of hers I've read. And the issues of cruelty and forgiveness are so woven into my own life that I was humbled by how Patchett handled them. I live right up the road from Elkins Park, in Wyncote, which is also next to Jenkintown, where I taught for 37 years. The geographical setting fascinated me. It's my home. But I haven't seen any houses quite like this one, although many of the houses in this area are fancy, far more than our home. I'm curious about how she settled on this place and what home she imagined there. The people are so clueless as they marry and choose careers. That's actually not the thing that struck me most...it was how so few people told the ones they married or the people in their families what they wanted...in a house, in a relationship. Andrea is the clear villain. And yet some might say that Danny and Maeve's mother is the villain for leaving them to go to India. If you are confused yet still fascinated, read this book. I wasn't sure, but I ended up realizing how much it enchanted me, and taught me...about my own flaws, about families and families' flaws and how much kindness can survive in spite of the way we hurt each other.

Later I found out that the impetus was that Patchett wanted to explore the "evil stepmother" through the eyes of her step-children. So we experience Andrea through Maeve and Danny's experience of her. Also, there were her thoughts about wealth, about how, often, it can cause a life to turn in on itself in a really horrible way, controlling the person's psyche and therefore their life. What if someone decided to walk away from wealth, to ground one's life in simplicity and kindness...Of course, that leaves your children stranded. The setting was chosen, because Elkins Park, a long walk from my neighborhood of Wyncote...the same old mansions from the early twentieth century...was a place she visited often. Her college room mate's family lived there...not in quite so fancy a house, but similar. The landmarks are all familiar to me...I live three blocks from the Jenkintown train station, and Jenkintown is where I taught. So I can picture where Maeve lived.

The house is definitely an important character in the book. My childhood home in Mt. Airy, a Philadelphia neighborhood, is certainly a character in my life. For a while all eight of us kids lived in this house with our parents...until my brother went off to college. So many memories. Our house was always filled with our friends, my parents' friends. The house is haunted by the mother's absence and then contagious with the step mother's power. It's very different from most books I read. I think the setting drew me in so thoroughly...also, it was a book group choice ...more

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Mar 28, 2021 Mary Ellen rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book, most of all for its recreation of an era and of places - especially those in New York, where I lived for many years. As an Irish-American-Catholic myself, I felt at home in many of the settings of the book (though the father took one cliche of "my people" - the not-talking-about-important-things - to a cruel extreme!).

I thought the characters of Danny, Maeve and Celeste were well written but the older and younger generations were less so. (view spoiler) ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 Jennie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, listened-to

Patchett hits another homerun in my book. I devoured this book. I couldn't stop until I was done, and then I wanted to read it over again. My favorite thing anout this book is the way Patchett moves through time, back and forth with flashbacks and predictions and foreshadowing that rounds characters and perspectives for the reader too. ...more

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Aug 20, 2021 Joyce rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, book-club-choice, audible

One of my favorite books of the COVID era. Listening the Tom Hanks read this on audible is a real treat. It describes the role of a house in the course of a family's life. Fascinating. I don't like the cover much, though. I would have preferred a rendition of the house. ...more

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Nov 23, 2022 spoko rated it it was ok

Shelves: reading-challenge, fiction

It took me some determination to get through this book. The first act is, no kidding, just awful. The voice is terrible, I couldn’t have cared less about the characters, and their obsession with The House is not at all interesting. As the narrator points out later, they “had made a fetish out of [their] misfortune, fallen in love with it.” It’s a valuable self-critique from that character, but honestly it also applies to at least the first third of the book.

At some point I did manage to get inte ...more

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