The Dutch House

Ann Patchett at her best! I loved this book, it was great. I'm a fan of the author, and I'm happy to say this book is stunning inside out.
She's the queen of contemporary family dramas, and the Dutch House didn't disappoint. The design and the title of the book is even brilliant. You see the girl on cover and think 'who is she?, is she the one in the Dutch house? Is she Dutch, is it set in Netherlands?' All these questions spark, not even opening the first page of the book.
The story was so well woven, mysterious, dramatic and engaging. Of course it revolves around a family, Patchett's signature. There's also a house and all the events are linked to this house. We follow Danny, who grows up in The Dutch House with his sister Mauve. His father is a rich man and he bought this magnificent house as a gift to his wife. But, where is the wife and the mother? So, we start to learn more about the house and this family.
These 2 siblings are excellently created that all we can do it to take our hats off to Patchett. They were quite different and their relationship was really interesting to follow. Eventually, they were left to each other without a mother, and they slowly discover what's the secret and history of the house. The end, OMG, that end was excellent. Until there, I was enjoying it massively and whatever end Ann Patchett produced was absolutely fine. But, she sealed the deal with a jaw dropping one.

This was a five star addition to Patchett's excellent books. I adored it sentence by sentence. Her talent is admirable. All these metaphors, between the line meanings, the story & characters coming together slowly were amazing parts of this book. Definitely one you'd re-read.

Definitely, strongly recommended!

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this amazing opportunity to read the book early. Opinions are my own.

Ann Patchett is an old-school storyteller. I usually finish her books in a state of wonder (pun intended for the Patchett fans!) and try to imagine her elevator pitch: 'It's a book about a house. Yeah just a house, you know, and the people who lived there.' The premise is always deceptively simple, no topical themes, no gritty hooks, just a story about quiet, powerful, ineffable love. I am an older sister and if he was a reader, I could think of no greater gift than to have my brother read this book. How often are the love stories of brothers and sisters told? This one broke my heart. I felt such empathy for all the characters, even the ones I hated for much of the book and that's always a bonus as my biggest criticism of any novel, no matter how eloquent, is when I can't make myself care about the people in it. For me, The Dutch House is far from my imagined elevator pitch - the house is nothing, the people, everything,

For me, the overwhelming themes of this novel are self-determination (for Danny and Maeve, and especially where Elna is concerned though I hesitate to elaborate for fear of spoiling the story for others) and the bond between siblings that both sustains and threatens to harm them both. Deprived at a young age of the privilege and luxury they were born into, Danny and his sister Maeve are forced to fend for themselves, eventually moving to New York but retaining strong ties to Philadelphia and the looming presence of their childhood home, the Dutch House. Maeve in particular who, a decade older than Danny, can remember their earlier lives, their father and their absent mother more clearly, obsesses for decades over the past and the calamity that exiled them. She decides her role in life is to care for Danny, pushing him in the direction she thinks best for them both and putting aside ambition for herself. Their relationship is central to them both. Danny goes along with her plans but yearns for a different life. We follow their paths over many years to a superbly poignant conclusion.

I am a huge fan of Ann Patchett’s writing. All the books I’ve read from her extensive back catalogue have been very different, though this one bears most resemblance to ‘Commonwealth’. Characters are key, especially here. Maeve is a terrific creation - brave, funny and utterly determined, if blinkered for most of the novel. Danny’s growing up is a journey I enjoyed very much. A couple of examples:

‘That night in my sister’s bed I stared at the ceiling and felt the true loss of our father. Not his money or his house, but the man I sat next to in the car. He had protected me from the world so completely that I had no idea what the world was capable of. I had never thought about him as a child. I had never asked him about the war. I had only seen him as my father, and as my father I had judged him.’

‘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.’

A great story that just flowed from the page, so beautifully written, and much food for thought here. I’ve no hesitation recommending it.

A beautiful, profound, deeply moving story of love in all it's forms. Danny is the younger brother of Maeve who takes over a nurturing role of him when their Mother leaves the family home, the Dutch House. when he is very small and she is only ten. The Dutch House is central to the story, a wonderful place full of history and wonderful things but a house that has a very different effect on different people. But most of all the story is about love, where loyalties lie and what love is acceptable. It isn't often that a relationship between brother and sister is so richly told and I found the use of Danny as the narrator really interesting. Apart from his father, all the strong characters are women and it is interesting to see how Danny weaves through these relationships. Every word is measured and the tale is beautifully told, full of warmth, heart-ache and life. I loved it, cried at the end unexpectedly, missed it when it ended.

I loved this so much. I was torn between not be able to put it down, but wanting to draw out the pleasure in reading such a finely written book. Ann Patchett's books are treats to look forward to and savour, and 'The Dutch House' is one of her best.

Patchett's turn of phrase beautifully describes the relationships between the cast of characters. The father and his new wife's marriage is deftly summarised in 'He could give her her way now or he could wait and give her her way later, but either way, she was going to get what she wanted'.

This wonderful tale breaks, warms and breaks your heart over and over again.

I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of this book from Bloomsbury, as Ann Patchett is one of my favourite authors. While reading it, I couldn't help but compare it with her previous novel, Commonwealth, which I liked but didn't love. This one, I loved. Both are strongly character-driven stories about family, but somehow The Dutch House also has more plot and was therefore more satisfying as I turned the final page.

Told in the first person, from the point of view of Daniel Conroy, this is the story of 3 generations of the Conroys and their relationship to the Dutch House in Elkins Park. The house is such an integral part of the story, it's like a family member in its own right. Built by cigarette-distribution magnates, the VanHoebeeks, the house has become ridiculously opulent in what became suburban Philadelphia, but was probably considered more tasteful or understated as part of the vast Elkins Park countryside of the pre-war era in which it was built. When the last of the VanHoebeeks died, Cyril Conroy was able to buy it lock, stock and barrel, for a good price.

The house came fully furnished and decorated with all the VanHoebeeks possessions including clothes, ornaments and paintings. The life-size twin portraits of Mr and Mrs VanHoebeek continued to oversee the life of the house long after they were gone, from their position in the drawing room. Because the house also came with one of their former staff, Fiona, the stories of the Dutch family stayed with the house and it was almost as though the VanHoebeeks became an older, more remote generation of the Conroy family.

However, the purchase of the Dutch House was the beginning of the end of Cyril's marriage to Elna (Danny's mother), and therefore an early catalyst to his unhappy second marriage, to the much younger Andrea Smith. Both of these events necessarily shaped the close relationship between Danny and his older sister Maeve, as their father became more distant.

Although the story jumps back and forth from when Danny was about 4 years old, to his late 40s or early 50s, Patchett skilfully brings the reader along and there is no danger of getting lost. There is a very recognisable arc that proceeds in a traditional linear direction over the top of the detours and meanderings. Towards the end, some threads of the story even come full circle and for me this was particularly satisfying.

Danny's narration has a friendly, almost confiding tone that really draws you in and makes you care about his family. He admits to being a funny (i.e. odd), unobservant kid and this serves to highlight the exceptional traits of his beloved sister. Due to their closeness we also get to know Maeve pretty well, or perhaps I should qualify that and say we know her family life pretty well. We don't know her personal life, although there are hints and we can speculate about what's going on there. But when I think about my own brother and me - with a similar age gap - I think that's realistic!

Despite being banished from the Dutch House while Danny was still at high school, the house continues to be a magnet for Danny and Maeve long into their adult lives until they consciously decide to give it up. And then after a major disruption in the family, the Dutch House once again takes centre stage. I thought this was the perfect ending, providing the opportunity to get over so many regrets for so many characters.

I could go on - there is so, so much more. Suffice to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the past few days, being immersed in the richly detailed, warm world of the Conroys and their Dutch House.

This is a beautiful novel; I’ve never read Ann Patchett before and took this on recommendation, and am so glad i did. Whilst ostensibly about the titular Dutch house, this is a tale of the family who loved there, their lives, betrayals, loves, obsessions, the nature of familiar love and societal duty.... i found myself completely immersed and firmly believed every character and their motivation.

A beautiful novel that took me right to a time and place every time I picked up the book.
Starting in the years following World War Two in Pennsylvania, Danny tells the story of his life and his relationship with his sister Maeve. Their love and closeness was really well written and I liked them both, though they were believability flawed.
The description of the Dutch House itself was powerful and evocative. It is at the heart of the book and is the place of so many memories, dreams and disappointments,. The draw of the Dutch House to Danny and Maeve runs through the book, along with it’s enduring impact.
I would highly recommend this book. It would be a really good book club book and I imagine it will be appearing on a number of literary prize short lists.
Thank you to #NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.
#TheDutchHouse

Not my usual genre so I thought I would give it a try. I have never read this author before and now I realise what I have been missing.. A beautifully written story of a family. The book stats at the end of WW2 and is set in Pennsylvania and the people who lived in the Dutch House. The characters were wonderful and so believable. I actually felt like I was with them through their loves, obsessions, betrayals and so much more. The Dutch House is a beautiful book, a beautiful read and a beautiful story I LOVED IT. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

What a lovely read this was. It is my first book by this author and now I need to search for more. She has written a story that is centred about siblings Danny and Maeve Conroy and The Dutch House. The book describes the occupants of the house and the effects that it had on them from the early Dutch owners to the Conroy family. The story flows in such a manner that it makes reading so natural. It is a deeply emotional book full of many aspects of caring for others and the relationships this caring brings. The characters and the descriptions are so vivid that it is easy to relate to both and to become a part of the story. At one point I felt that we were re-enacting Cinderella with the wicked stepmother and her two daughters but this was oh so much more than that.
The way that the story was finalized was just amazing and I loved it.
Thank you for letting me read this book NetGalley.

Wow, I loved this novel & had that rare feeling of living in it for the 3 days of reading it (& racing back to it at any opportunity). Her characters are stunning; their arcs completely believable & the house truly breathes as its own character. A total gem of a book that I’ll be recommending far and wide.

Love love love Ann Patchetts writing. Only the second of hers that I have read but I’m off to buy her complete backlist now. The story of the family that lived in “ the Dutch house” told through the eyes of the son Danny. Danny and his sister Maeve live with their single father, but we are immediately introduced to Andrea who is to become their new stepmother..... and whose impact on their lives is to become shattering.

One of the best “family dramas” ( this is such a bad term that does it no justice that I am off to find myself a better one!) I’ve read. Brilliant writing and superb characterisation that I could have read his book forever.

The Dutch House is a beautifully constructed novel. It's a great American novel about a family that spans five decades and more. The narative is told by Danny whose voice Anne Patchett captures with superb realism. She characterises with skill Danny's essence as a small boy, as a young man and as a middle-aged father. Danny tells us the story is about his sister, Maeve, but this book is really much more. The story is about the siblings and those who have shared or touched their lives. The Dutch House, itself, is a character within this novel of character because the extraordinary house remains a constant in the protagonists' lives unchanging even though those who have lived there grow and change as people. They survive life's battering and changing personal circumstances. Maeve is diabetic from childhood. She cares for Danny when they are thrown out of their home by their stepmother. Danny and Maeve, throughout their tangled lives, have eachother as a constant but like migratory birds are drawn back over and over to the Dutch House to look in from the outside, analyse circumstances and remember. This is a novel about relationships, rites of passage, growing older with understanding and grace. It's about experience, hurt and Importantly, forgiveness. The Dutch House is an exceptionally poignant novel with many wise passages. It's funny, warm, endearing and enchanting. Many scenes remain long after the final page is turned but above all remarkable for this reader, lingering long after the last page was turned are pictures of the house in frost and May, Danny's daughter as a mouse in The Nutcracker Ballet. It's a tense scene that is perfect because it pulls everything the book is about together. The final scenes also are exquisitely portrayed. On the surface it is a moving novel about abandoned siblings and the importance of the house they grew up in to them. It's really a novel about how past and present converge but above all it contains a nuanced and gripping narrative drive ( no spoilers) with perceptive writing about relationships where occasionally characters flit in and out like ghosts and at other times these same secondary characters draw our full attention to them. Ann Patchett has a wonderful voice reminiscent of Anne Tyler and Jeffrey Eugenides with a dash of John Updike. This is the first of her novels I have read. It certainly won't be the last.

The Dutch House has instantly won a place on my favourites list. It is a wonderful exploration of complicated family dynamics, home, inheritance and exile. However, what I enjoyed most of all is the way Ann Patchett describes memory: the stories we tell ourselves and each other, our own family 'legends' and how we think about significant figures from our past.

For me, this book belongs in that rare 'literary page-turner' category, brought alive by its memorable characters and insightful, understated writing. I have read and enjoyed three of Ann Patchett's earlier books but, for me, this is the best yet. I'd recommend this to those who liked Ann Patchett's last novel 'Commonwealth', as well as to lovers of 'The Last Romantics' by Tara Conklin, 'Little Fires Everywhere' by Celeste Ng or 'The Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt.

The Dutch House leaves a lasting impression on its visitors and I fully expect it will stay with me for a long time to come.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Bloomsbury UK for the opportunity to read a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.