July Book Club - The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

[minzy]

Let’s discuss. What did you think of this book?

[meowmaps]

I read this last year but I remember loving it. I thought it was a really simply told story but something about that simplicity appealed to me. I also adored the sister-brother relationship. It just felt like they were kindred spirits and it was them against the world.

My only complaint was I found the last page or two/conclusion lackluster for what was an almost seamless story.

[charlatti]

I loved this book. I read it and listened to the audio (Tom Hanks!) and I really enjoyed how vivid and varied the characters all were.

Just came across this link: parnassusmusing.net/2020/02/12/notes-from-ann-your-questions-about-the-dutch-house-answered/ It never dawned on me that the cover was Maeve’s portrait.

[minzy]

I think the sibling relationship was a real strength and the details were vivid - I could definitely “see” the house. I didn’t totally love the story. It seemed both too protracted at some points (yet another visit to go and stare at the house) and then too rushed at the end (the “reunion” with Andrea, May becomes famous and buys the house). I kept waiting for a big bombshell about the parents, but it didn’t come. I didn’t love Danny as the narrator. I read someone say that he didn’t necessarily seem credible as a man, and I’m not sure it’s that, but despite the constant reminders that he loved real estate and didn’t want to be a doctor, I don’t feel I “knew” him. I didn’t particularly like him. He never seemed to like his wife, and, as close as he was to the household staff, even later in life, he didn’t care enough to know the names of their family members, which made him seem like a jerk. Maeve was probably my favorite character, with how resolute she was at putting her brother first. She may have been the true saint of the story, instead of their mother, except for her at times surprising, vicious vindictiveness towards Andrea. I put this one at 3.5 stars.

[aurora]

I think Patchett does am amazing job character-building and this book was no exception. I liked it almost as much as Bel Canto (which is fabulous).

I actually found it a bit distracting to have Tom Hanks narrating the audiobook. I kept picturing his various acting roles.

[aurora]

Jul 29, 2020 16:18:22 GMT -5 charlatti said:

I loved this book. I read it and listened to the audio (Tom Hanks!) and I really enjoyed how vivid and varied the characters all were.

Just came across this link: parnassusmusing.net/2020/02/12/notes-from-ann-your-questions-about-the-dutch-house-answered/ It never dawned on me that the cover was Maeve’s portrait.

This quote is also interesting:

The book was always going to be told from Danny’s point of view. Even though I think of it as Maeve’s book, it was important to have his perspective. Maeve isn’t the kind of person to tell her own story, which is really the first thing you have to ask yourself when thinking about writing a first-person novel. I did try to write it in third person but it didn’t work.

Something feels off to me about a man telling the woman's story, but on the other hand it definitely fits with the characters in this case.

[travella]

I read this a long time ago. I had written that it's a well written, but long, slow (very slow) character driven story about family dynamics. The writing reminds me a lot of the Witch Elm, both very slow stories about family dynamics. However, I just never really got into this book. While the book was good enough to finish, it never grabbed me.

[charlatti]

Jul 29, 2020 16:33:23 GMT -5 minzy said:

I didn’t particularly like him. He never seemed to like his wife, and, as close as he was to the household staff, even later in life, he didn’t care enough to know the names of their family members, which made him seem like a jerk. 

I think that’s the one of the points about class that Patchett is trying to make — Danny has elements of the stereotypical rich/upper class person who can’t be bothered to know the help as humans. He definitely is a jerk in many ways, which seems purposeful.

[wesleycrusher]

I rated it 4 stars....the ending just didn't quite do it for me. Although I read it a couple months ago and can't remember details. I really like exploring the idea of the unreliable narrators and the fallibility of memory- years ago a bunch of us at work read The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes which it the best example of it that I have read. Ann Patchett talks about this in a few interviews::

Do you think it’s possible to ever see the past as it actually was? "No. I’m very, very sure that my memories are true and accurate, and if I put them up against the memories of my family or my friends, they would have very different true and accurate memories."

The novel is also about memory: whether we can only ever view the past through the prism of the present. Do you think memory is ultimately unreliable?
"Yes, I think that memory is almost a living thing for every person. I was in downtown New York on September 11 with a friend and we were there at the World Trade Center when it fell. We had this huge life-changing day together. Several years later, we sat down and we talked about that day and it was as if we had been on different planets. We remembered every single thing about the day differently. Memory is unreliable and yet we are completely positive that we are right."

[ufcasey]

So first off, I loved that Tom Hanks narrated the book. I could listen to him narrate a grocery list and be happy. As for the book itself, it's absolutely a character driven book which is something I greatly enjoy but I know that's not everyone's preference. The one thing I couldn't get behind was the ending of the book. I'm too much of a jerk to ever be as forgiving.

[wildrice]

Funny, I just finished listening to this book 2 days ago, but didn't realize it was the book club book this month. Good timing!

I liked it a lot. Tom Hanks was a good narrator, though I laughed every time he enthusiastically announced "Chapter 6!". I guess the story itself wasn't anything earth shattering, but I enjoyed the characters and I didn't have any major negative reaction toward Danny.

I was very irritated at his mom, and did not understand why Maeve accepted her back into her life so easily. I am not one to forgive that easily I guess.

[mrspez07]

I read this book this week, and it went pretty fast. Books like this can tend to slog on for me, but this one was well-edited and moved along nicely (unlike say The Goldfinch).
I give it 3 stars though. I felt the childhood thru about medical school was detailed and interesting and the characters more detailed, and then it jumped forward and became more generic after that. Of course, more detail would have been longer, or maybe as our lives progress, less things become significant? Not sure if I want to read that much into it.
I struggle with books that are a lifetime narrative, it’s either too much detail or not enough or it gets bogged down. This one struck a balance, but like others noted, I felt the characters were a bit flat at times (and very real at others).

[tacokick]

This has never come in for me at the library! It must be very popular.

[jwright]

Chiming in late to say that I really liked this book. The character development was great. The narrator (the brother) was a doofus, but I don't think that was atypical of a male upbringing. My only complaint was that I was waiting for something more to happen with the stepmother, Andrea, I would have liked to see more interaction with her.

I want to read more from this author!