The Dutch House

Exceptionally well crafted American family saga in which a sumptuous house, built by a Dutch couple, is a character in its own right. After Danny and Maeve's mother leaves their father he remarries. Andrea has two young daughters of her own. and is the epitome of a bad stepmother. She resents her stepchildren to the extent that when their father dies unexpectedly she throws them out. During the ensuing years they go back to the house, sitting outside and watching from their car but never once do they venture inside.The story is told in two timelines from Danny's point of view and the only flaw in the book is that sometimes the switch although sometimes seamless, is hard to follow. The characters are superbly drawn and the plotting leaves no loose endsHighly recommend for fans of Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout.

I bought this book on the basis of all the glowing reviews. I have just finished it, but what a struggle. It started with some promise but just descended into a flat read, with nothing much happening other than the siblings sitting in a car looking at the Dutch house. For a novel set in the late 60s and 70s it had no sense of time or place. The writer's style is very plain with no descriptive writing to make you feel as if you are there with the characters. I didn't engage with any of the characters and found the characters of Andrea and the lost mother one dimensional and unbelievable. A real plodder. No more Patchett for me.

I found this a strange book with a lot of unanswered questions. At the centre is the loss of the mother - and I never found it adequately explained or justified. Would anyone obsessed with the idea of helping others and spurning uncomfortable wealth really leave her children? This single act defines the lives of everybody left behind. Why on earth did the father marry the ghastly second wife? Again not satisfactorily explained except she was young and pretty. Why was he so very strangely passive?The same passivity forced Danny through long medical training when he has no intention of being a doctor. He then repeats his father’s mistake and forces Celeste to live in a house she hates.Maybe the novel is about people’s inability to listen to those closest to them.It’s a sad book about death and loss and lack of fulfilment. The ending that brings the story full circle seems to suggest that the pursuit of what you want will only lead to eventual sadness and loss and this will be repeated in the future. If there was redemption at the end - I couldn’t feel it. The damaged offspring of two disastrous relationships do recognise each other as fellow victims - but that’s about all.I’ve given it 4 stars because it’s a book that is troubling and thought provoking and I appreciate the impression it has made.

A riches to rags story with the “Dutch House” the star attraction. A story of family betrayal, an inheritance and legacy robbed but a triumph in the bond between two siblings.The story is told through the eyes of Danny who is every bit as obsessed as his father about real estate. Maeve, his sister, on the other hand went to school in New York and returned to Philadelphia to help run a small business away from real estate. The bond between brother and sister strengthened even further after the death of their father, when Danny was asked to move out of the Dutch House by his stepmother and moved into Maeve’s small apartment. Nor was he given the opportunity to run the business his father built up despite working with him on rent collection. Danny did, however, take advantage of the funding left to him for his education and went to the best education institutions money could buy. However, the rift and grudges held by Andrea, never healed.The story takes us through Danny’s relationship with his wife and a long overdue healing process with his own mother who abandoned them decades earlier.This is a book with a lot of healing needed, a lot of sadness an unshakeable bond between siblings and a family divided. Good but not brilliant.

Confusing story, jumping around, one minute Danny was in medical school, the next he was married to Celeste with children. Felt sorry for her as Danny thought his sister more important that his wife and children, almost an incestuous reationship. And how weird that he and Maeve just sat in their car and watched the house. No background on stepmother Andreas and why she threw them out of their house after their father died and why she behaved the way she did.