The Dutch House

January - The Dutch House by Anne Patchett.

My FAB book club chose this novel for our January read. FAB stands for Food And Books, though we admit that it probably should be FWAB because there is usually wine. Lots of people were doing Dry January this year so the discussion was sober, but everybody loved the book.

Ann Patchett delivers another compelling read in The Dutch House. Family. Relationships. It’s complicated. She pulls you into the lives of Danny and Maeve like stepping into a dream. We travel through time as if wandering through the Dutch House opening a door on the history of their childhood and then switching to episodes of them navigating the world as adults.

Maeve and Danny are the orphans lost in the woods and the evil step mother has locked them out of the house and given the step sisters all of the things that should have rightfully been theirs. We want to know what happens in the Dutch House and the lives of the people that lived and worked there.

Danny tells the story of his family with compassion but also a level of distance. He holds himself apart from the telling the same way he distances himself from his relationships. He notices, if only in retrospect, the way he doesn’t ask about the lives of others, how he accepts the way people in his life care for him and he acknowledges that he lacks reciprocating interest. Danny is a man of his time and upbringing. He is a white man of privilege with a sense of entitlement and that success is his for the taking, but he is a character we can empathize with. We see his pain and struggle and we feel that we know him.

The Dutch House explores our connections to both places and people. It looks at our inability to sever those ties even when we should and it reflects the way our childhood lingers and impacts our decisions as adults. It is an enjoyable, thought provoking read.