Ms. Hen reviews The Dutch House

 

The Dutch House 

Ann Patchett

Harper Perennial

2019

Ms. Hen found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She had never read anything by this author, but she knew her name, because it's publicized a lot on social media, and book circles, so she picked it up. She has had some bad luck with books she has randomly picked up at Little Free Libraries lately, but this was not a disappointment. In fact, Ms. Hen is sure it's one of the best books she's read this year.

This novel is about a family, told through the point of view of the son, Danny. He lives with his father and sister in a house called the Dutch House, which is a unique mansion in a suburb of Philadelphia. His father bought the house with everything inside, because the previous owner of the house had passed away. His father marries a woman named Andrea, who has two girls, and they move in to the house. Danny is close to his sister Maeve. She is seven years older than him.

Maeve and Danny's father dies suddenly, and Andrea kicks Danny out of the house, and cuts them off financially. Maeve has a job at a frozen vegetables company, but Danny is still in high school. The siblings hate Andrea for taking all their money, and everything they have. The sit outside the house at times for years, to see if they can see the family. Maeve and Danny's mother had left when they were young because she couldn't stand living in such a magnificent house.

This novel surround the house, it starts and ends with the house. The Dutch House is a character in the novel. It's unique because the previous owners worked in cigarette manufacturing during World War I, and made millions, and the outside of the house is glass, and anyone who walks by can see straight through to the backyard. Treasures fill the house, since the previous owner did not have any descendants. It's called The Dutch House because the owners were Dutch, and the street where it's located is named after the family, VanHoebeeks Street.

Complicated family relationships abound here. Danny and Maeve have nobody but each other for a long time. Danny goes to medical school because Maeve insists, but he does not want to be a doctor. He wants to work in real estate like his father. Their father left a trust for the children's education, and Maeve thinks Danny should bilk it, to get as much money as he can.

Most of the women who surround Danny are saints: they're good women who want to help the less fortunate in the world. Andrea is not like that, and neither is his wife, Celeste, but Maeve and all the other women sacrifice their lives and happiness to serve others. Danny is just like his father, always thinking of money and the future.

Ms. Hen read this novel faster than any she has read recently. The writing is so good, she could not put it down. It's about a dysfunctional family, but how they try to make things work, and live their lives. This is a beautiful novel, and Ms. Hen cannot say how much she enjoyed it, but it grabbed her, and swallowed her whole.