The Dutch House
Ratings159
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings159
Average rating4.1
From Ann Patchett, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth, comes a powerful, richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are.
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.
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One sentence synopsis... Exiled from their family home following the death of their father, this fairytale-esque story follows the Conroy siblings through the next five decades of their lives. .
Read it if you like... Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, anything with an evil stepmother really.. this book's one gives them all a run for their money. .
Dream casting... Margaret Qualley and Nicholas Hoult as the Conroy siblings Maeve and Danny.
All I can say is that I Love This Book. The language is so lyrical, the characters charming whether likable or not, and it has a continuously surprising plot line. I just finished it three minutes ago, and for some inexplicable reason. I was in tears the last few pages. My inclination is to turn back to page one and do it again, because Ann Patchett has outdone herself this time.
3.5 stars. Very much a character driven story and not a plot driven story. I tend to find that I lose interest faster when books are character driven. It also didn't help that the timeline jumped around, so it was hard to know if we were in the past or present. The plus was that I listened and enjoyed “hanging out” with Tom Hanks on my drive to and from work.
Una hestoria na que considero que'l personaxe principal ye un llugar, un oxetu inanimáu: la casa neerlandesa. Sólo ta presente físicamente durante aprox. un 25% del llibru, aun asina ta presente constantemente, incluso si nun se fala d'ella. Sentía la so presencia en cá páxina. Un poco como ANHQV, onde'l protagonista ye l'edificiu. Dafechu, cuando lu tiren, la serie ta obligá a terminar, nun tien protagonista. Pero bono, a lo que taba: Maeve y Danny son hermanos y viven nesta casa. Costruyóse a entamos del sieglu XX, una casa enorme con tolos luxos y detalles arquitectónicos de la época. So ma abandonólos cuando Danny, el narraor, ye demasiáu pequeñu como p'alcordase d'ella. Viven con so pa, un axente inmobiliariu ausente. Ta ehí físicamente, pero nun paez qu'haiga una conexón real y afectiva. Al pocu, cásase con Andrea, l'estereotipu d'una madrastra malvá. Ún de los motifs más antiguos habíos y por haber. Tres una serie de catastrófiques desdiches, échalos de casa, de la casa neerlandesa. Dende isti puntu, el llibru narra lo qu'estos personaxes deciden facer colsa so vida tando relativamente desamparaos. Pasaron de der probes, a ricos, a probes otra vegada.
He de dicir que nun me gusta Danny como narraor. Encontrélu pesáu y prepotente, incluso cuando en delles situaciones entendía y taba d'alcuerdu con como pensaba. Paecióme ciertamente plamu, mientres que Maeve ye mil veces más interesante ya enigmática. Amás, la manera na que trata a Celeste paezme triste, increíblemente machista, pero, al fin y al cabu, realista. Nun la quier realmente, tolérala (alexa, play tolerate it by taylor swift) porque nun molesta, nun se mete nos sos asuntos.
Bien, agora colos temes de la novela. Entendí la imaxe de la casa neerlandesa nes últimes páxines como una metáfora d'un coping mechanism tornáu viciu. Dempués de que los echaren, vuelve periódicamente a la cai de la casa. Nun entren, sólo miren, fumen y falen. Van y vuelven constantemente porque considérenla como una parte de la so identidá. ¿Quién son ensin ella? Relacionélo cola reticencia que nos mesmos podemos tener a la hora de superar dalgo colo que llevamos lluchando munchu tiempu. Si vives munchos años con ansiedá, entames a sintila como dalgo intrínseco ya inamovible del to carácter, llegando hasta tal puntu de saboteate pa nun perder esa parte d'identidá. Nun te fai ningún bien, pero vuelves a ello porque te conforta, ye familiar, ye tuyo.
Utru tema mui importante ye'l pasáu y la nuesa relación con él. Plantega si ye realmente posible evocar eventos pasaos ensin modificalos y tiñilos col nuesu xuiciu actual. ¿Esiste un pasáu oxetivu? ¿Va cambiando con nos según crecemos y maduramos?
Tamién quiero mencionar que considero que sobraben delles páxines. ¡Nun pasa na porque los llibros sían curtios! La segunda parte fízoseme mui pesá, ye un real estate simulator. Dábame bastante igual.
“Women had read about their liberation in books, but not many of them had seen what it looked like in action.”
“We had lived without expecting to live.”
“We had made a fetish out of misfortune, fallen in love with it.”
