Ann Patchett is the author of eight novels and three works of nonfiction. She is the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, England's Orange Prize, and the Book Sense Book of the Year, and was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. Her work had been translated into more than thirty languages. She is the co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Karl, and their dog, Sparky. You can find her online at AnnPatchett.com.
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 everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril's son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they're together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they've lost with humor and rage. But when at last they're forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.
I do love a good book where the setting is as much a character as the actual characters are, and The Dutch House—if you couldn't tell by the title—certainly fits that bill. The Dutch House costs Cyril Conroy his family: his wife leaves, his children becomes estranged, and then he dies before he can do anything about it. More than anything, the house lives in Maeve's and Danny's memory, something they cannot shake, holding them in the past when they really should move forward. I thought this was a fascinating study in how location and childhood is truly powerful on the young mind, and how important formative years truly are. The Dutch House is nothing like Hill House—it's not haunting in the same desperate, horrifying way, but it certainly is haunting, and looms over the entire novel.
Maeve and Danny have a very interesting sibling relationship, one that I couldn't stop thinking of while reading (not like Patchett would let you stop thinking about it, of course). They are held together like glue after the abandonment of their mother, and spend the rest of their lives tied at the hip, emotionally if not physically. This is much to the chagrin of Danny's wife and family, who can't understand the depth of that relationship. For it truly is an odd one, but Patchett spends a lot of time developing this relationship so that it seems natural to readers, too, that Danny and Maeve would be so connected, even if it's not actually natural. Patchett really does spend as much time developing her characters are her setting: they do not do a single thing outside of their character, creating for a story that feels like you fell right into it yourself.
It's always really hard to speak intelligently about a book as brilliant as The Dutch House. I heard Rainbow Rowell speak at my campus last Sunday and she highly recommended Ann Patchett's work which is part of the reason I picked up The Dutch House and I'm glad I did. Rowell mentioned that Patchett had this amazing capability to transport you out of your own life and into the lives of the characters. I truly felt enamored by Patchett's writing style, and certainly felt that transportive quality. I believe Patchett is able to achieve this through uncanny details. Things that people may think about, but never write down—Patchett seems fascinated by those, and does record them, giving her work a sense of life that I don't usually find in other books that I read. It certainly makes me curious enough to add more of Ann Patchett's works to my TBR!
I really enjoyed The Dutch House and do believe I will read more of Ann Patchett's work in the future. Until then, you can find her online at AnnPatchett.com.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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