Title: The Dutch House Pdf A Novel
Audiobook performed by Tom Hanks.
From the New York Times best-selling author of Commonwealth and State of Wonder comes Ann Patchett's most powerful novel to date: a 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 unshakable 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.
Ann Patchett's marvelous new novel This is my favorite of her novels. I have read them all. Up till now my favs were The Magician's Assistant and Patron Saint of Liars but now they come in second and third to Dutch House. Her characters are unforgettable---- dialogue so realistic, descriptions of the house are visual down to the last detail. This is the best brother/sister novel I have ever read. I hope she wins all the book awards on this year. She is just the best contemporary author today. If I could give 10 stars I would.My New Patchett Favorite! I read Ann Patchett’s “Patron Saint of Liars”, when it came out almost 30 years ago and loved it so much that I wrote Ms. Patchett a letter praising it, and she wrote me a lovely note back; I became a fan for life, reading every one of her marvelous (and unique!) novels. So yes, I was primed to love “The Dutch House”, and I did! Not just because it’s my habit to rave about Patchett’s novels, but because it’s GREAT; it’s my new favorite!“The Dutch House”, (itself as much a character as any of the humans in the novel) is in a suburb of Philadelphia. Just after WWII, Cyril Conroy buys the palatial mansion – fully and sumptuously furnished – for his wife Elna and it is where Danny and Maeve Conroy grew up. Danny is our first-person narrator and he and Maeve are a modern day Hansel and Gretel, complete with abandonment, banishment, and a wicked step-mother. They even have three Fairy Godmothers: Fluffy, Sandy, and Jocelyn.“The Dutch House” is the story of a “modern family”, as this was the era when families started to become fractured and step-parents and step-siblings became more prevalent. Some of these themes Patchett explored beautifully in “Commonwealth”, and she knows whereof she speaks because she’s written essays about her own large, extended, loosely-related-by-a-string, family.I was absorbed from page one, and I hated to turn the last page. What makes Patchett so accessible and relevant is her beautiful writing, her wit, and the fascinating stories she spins out of every-day life.At the most surprising, dramatic, and climactic scene in the novel Danny narrates: “I had not been born with an imagination large enough to encompass this moment.” Well, Ann Patchett was born with an imagination large enough – thank heavens! What a magnificent story!A good, solid 3 I read the book in a couple of sittings. At times it was mesmerizing, at times achingly slow. I just could not shake the feeling that the protagonist/narrator should have been a female. Even his name, ‘Danny,’ is genderless. I understand the plot and structure reasons why he is male, but I find myself disappointed in the traditional role he was assigned, while female characters were not so shackled by convention.
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