Book Review: The Dutch House - Ann Patchett

 

⭐⭐⭐

I have had a mixed experience so far with Ann Patchett: I loved Commonwealth, I was so involved in the story, and I did not like at all Bel Canto which I abandoned mid way through.

With The Dutch House I have mixed feelings too, I liked the plot (who doesn't like a dysfunctional family?!?) and, to a certain extent, the characters, especially in the first part, but I did not feel anything while reading, no joy, no sadness, no empathy, nothing at all and this is why I am giving it a 3 stars. The writing style lacked a bit of heart in my view, a bit of warmth, it was very clinical and kind of matter-of-fact and the characters' emotions were never fully disclosed (or I couldn't read them through the lines). 

I am not really sure if in the future I want to read another Ann Patchett's novel...

Title: The Dutch House

Author: Ann Patchett
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 352
Publication year: 2020

The Plot:

Danny Conroy grows up in the Dutch House, a lavish mansion. Though his father is distant and his mother is absent, Danny has his beloved sister Maeve: Maeve, with her wall of black hair, her wit, her brilliance. The siblings grow and change as life plays out under the watchful eyes of the house's former owners, in the frames of their oil paintings.

Then one day their father brings Andrea home. Though they cannot know it, her arrival to the Dutch House sows the seed of the defining loss of Danny and Maeve's lives.

The Author:

Ann Patchett is the author of six novels, including Bel Canto, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction. She writes for the New York Times Magazine, Elle, GQ, the Financial Times, the Paris Review and Vogue. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.