The Dutch House (novel)

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The Dutch House
The Dutch House (Patchett novel).png
First edition cover
AuthorAnn Patchett
Audio read byTom Hanks[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarper
Publication date
September 24, 2019
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages352
ISBN978-0-06-296367-3
813/.54
LC ClassPS3566.A7756 D88 2019

The Dutch House is a 2019 novel by Ann Patchett. It was published by Harper on September 24, 2019. It tells the story of a brother and sister over the course of five decades.[2]

The novel was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[3]

Plot[]

The Dutch House is a mansion located in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. It was built in 1922 by the VanHoebeek family, a husband and wife originally from the Netherlands who made their fortune in the tobacco industry. Cyril Conroy, a self-made real estate mogul, bought the mansion in 1946 to surprise his wife Elna. Elna, however, never had an interest in the house and felt out of place with the fancy flourishes and servants waiting on her every need.

Cyril and Elna's children, Maeve and Danny (the novel's narrator), are 7 years apart and were raised in the Dutch House. When Maeve is 10 and Danny is 3, Elna falls ill and abandons the family to work with the poor in India, later relocating to New York City. It isn't long before Cyril remarries again to Andrea, a young woman who can't resist The Dutch House's unique charms. Andrea and her two daughters, Norma and Beatrice "Bright," move into The Dutch House. Unlike Elna, Andrea embraces the rich lifestyle, even going so far as to move Norma into Maeve's room when Maeve goes to college for mathematics.

After Cyril dies, Maeve and Danny are forced not only out of their rooms, but completely out of The Dutch House. Now the two siblings rely on each other.

Maeve discovers a scholarship trust and uses it to send Danny on the most expensive academic journey to Choate Rosemary Hall, Columbia University, and to Columbia Medical School. The goal is to squander all of the funds in the scholarship so as to leave nothing for Norma and Bright's educations. On the train home from school, Danny meets Celeste, an undergraduate English major, whom he marries later on and has two children.

Danny finishes medical school despite being uninterested in working as a doctor, hoping to please Maeve. His biggest aspirations were to follow his father's steps and continue with the family business.

Throughout the novel, we see how Maeve and Danny's childhoods shaped who they become as adults. Old vendettas never go away, and they find themselves trying to come to terms with family and forgiveness.

Background[]

Patchett was inspired to use Elkins Park as the novel's setting because when she was a student at Sarah Lawrence College she would spend holidays and weekends in Wyncote, Elkins Park, and Jenkintown. She also chose Elkins Park given its proximity to New York, which she already knew would feature in the novel.[4]

Reception[]

At the review aggregator website Book Marks, which assigns individual ratings to book reviews from mainstream literary critics, the novel received a cumulative "Positive" rating based on 31 reviews: 15 "Rave" reviews, 13 "Positive" reviews, and 3 "Mixed" reviews.[5]

Publishers Weekly gave the novel a rave review, writing, "Patchett's splendid novel is a thoughtful, compassionate exploration of obsession and forgiveness, what people acquire, keep, lose or give away, and what they leave behind."[6]

Kirkus Reviews gave the novel a rave review, writing, "Casually stated but astute observations about human nature are Patchett's stock in trade, and she again proves herself a master of aging an ensemble cast of characters over many decades. In this story, only the house doesn't change. You will close the book half believing you could drive to Elkins Park and see it."[7]

Donna Seaman of Booklist praised the novel, comparing it the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Alice McDermott and saying, "Patchett is at her subtle yet shining finest."[8]

Writing for The New York Times Book Review, author Martha Southgate gave the book a positive review, saying, "This novel takes a winding road through the forest and doesn't rush to a finish, nor is the ending wholly surprising. But if you allow yourself to walk along with Patchett, you'll find riches at the end of the trail."[9]

Donna Liquori of the Associated Press wrote, "Patchett's storytelling abilities shine in this gratifying novel."[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Tom Hanks reads audio for Ann Patchett's new novel". Associated Press. August 12, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  2. ^ "The Dutch House". HarperCollins. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  3. ^ Maher, John (May 4, 2020). "Moser, Whitehead, McDaniel, Grandin, Boyer, Brown Win 2020 Pulitzers". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  4. ^ Gray, Ellen (September 24, 2019). "'The Dutch House': Ann Patchett tells us why she set her new novel in Elkins Park. She speaks there Wednesday". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  5. ^ "The Dutch House". Book Marks. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  6. ^ "Fiction Book Review: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett". Publishers Weekly. June 11, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  7. ^ "The Dutch House by Ann Patchett". Kirkus Reviews. May 27, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  8. ^ Seaman, Donna. "Dutch House, by Ann Patchett". Booklist Online. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  9. ^ Southgate, Martha (September 24, 2019). "Ann Patchett Spins a Modern Fairy Tale in Her Luminous New Novel". The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  10. ^ Liquori, Donna (September 23, 2019). "Review: Ann Patchett's 'Dutch House' is modern fairy tale". Associated Press. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
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