First of all thank you to Tandem Collective and Bloomsbury Publishing for a copy of this book. I had been waiting for this to pop into the charity shop for a while and luckily Tandem collective were doing a read along which I got to be part of and they very kindly sent me a copy of the book :) Just before we started Waterstones announced that The Dutch House was one of it's books of the month for May! I have never read any of Ann Patchett's books either so I was then even more excited to be starting with this one.
Synopsis:
Danny grew up in the Dutch House on a suburban street in Pennsylvania, His father is always distracted and his mother has left but he does still have his sister Maeve; Maeve who is brilliant. They spend their younger life growing up surrounded by the beautiful features of the house; the paintings of the former owners, Maeve's window seat, the glass foyer and the large garden with pool.
Then one day their father brings Andrea home: Andrea who has her eyes and heart set on the Dutch House, they are not aware of the problems which also come with Andrea and her two daughters Norma and Bright. Andrea truly starts the loss of Danny and Maeve's former life. They both are drawn back to the house which they can no longer enter going over the past over and over again. They never truly never understand how they became exiled and not only do they questions how the house caused that but also question how the house caused their mother to leave, An absence more powerful than anything they have ever felt before.
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The story is told from Danny's point of view, he was too young to really remember his mother before she left so live's within a world of his older sister Maeve's stories of her, this has meant that he has gained a mothering figure of Maeve who is forever making sure he is ok before herself. A trait which she seems to gain from her mother. You start of with Danny and Maeve outside the Dutch House in Maeve's car and then it goes back to their childhood and works through the next 5 generations of their lives.
Maeve is super intelligent and incredible at maths but chooses to work in a small frozen vegetable company as a bookkeeper so that she can be close to Danny and protect him. When their father dies they are told about a trust fund which is set up for the education of Danny and Andrea's two girls; Norma and Bright.
I love the way that Maeve is always wanting the best for Danny but also has an obsession with getting a small amount of revenge on Andrea for taking the house away from them. It is a nice little part of the book but also a very likely situation to happen I can image there would be a lot of resentment towards someone after being exiled.
With this being the case Maeve makes sure that Danny goes to one of the most expensive boarding schools in their area and also makes him go to medical school even though he really doesn't want to. Although it seems like simply revenge against Andrea, Maeve does want the best for Danny with these choices and just like she does things for him, he is always there to help her even when she becomes really sick he is there every night. Their relationship is really something to admire because nothing can break them.
You go through all the generations including when Danny meets his wife and having children, the stories of their mother and the staff they once have and even about Andrea years later. This book is extremely engrossing Ann Patchett's writing style is super easy to follow, even the house itself almost becomes like a character with all its intricate details. The characters are also very relatable you do at points start to question their actions but it is all very natural.
I have read mixed reviews on this book but personally I absolutely adored it!
This is a book which I highly recommend, the perfect read during this lockdown. Funny how whilst we are all trying to escape our houses I found solace in a story which revolves around being in a house.
I would give this book a strong 4.5/5.
Here is a link to Waterstone's website if you want to pick yourself up a copy!
