The Dutch House is a coming-of-age literary fiction by Ann Patchett. It tells the story of siblings Danny and Maeve.

When their father, Cyril, bought a lavish mansion called The Dutch House in Philadelphia, the family moves into it along with their mother Elna. Elna dislikes the house from the moment she lays her eyes on it. She starts spending a lot of time outside the house, leaving her young children in the care of the housekeepers. Finally, she stops coming to the house altogether and has seemingly left the country to help the poor in India.

After five years, Cyril brings home Andrea, along with her two children. A few years later when Cyril dies, Andrea forces the siblings out of their home. With nowhere to go, all they have is one another. Their unshakable bond carries with them throughout their successes and failures. But, they cannot let go of their bond with their childhood home and find themselves going back to the street, just to stay in their car and view the house from afar, reminiscing about their childhood. However, when the ghosts from their past start to unveil themselves, their relationship is put to test.

How did it make me feel?

I was absolutely in love as soon as I started this book. Just the setting, the writing, the camaraderie among the characters. At every turn, I felt as if something was just around the corner and would show up to magnify this story. That was really good writing on the author’s part.

However, that feeling lasted a little too long. And even when that moment came, it didn’t feel as strong. The ripples that the major events created were not impactful enough for me. I got so attached to Danny and Maeve, which was great, but I just felt like there could be so much more to this story. For about 60% of the book, I was feeling all the things that I feel when I read a good book, but after that, it just went flat.

I thought back to many scenes that were so beautifully and intriguingly presented, I was expecting them to have a lot of significance in the vein of the story ahead. But they didn’t. It was like, what was the point? I hate when I invest myself so much into the scenes and they just perish, without contributing virtually anything to the story.

I am conflicted. This book had the potential to be a masterpiece. Sadly, it didn’t do much for me.

If you haven’t read The Dutch House yet, I invite you to give it a try because a LOT of people have loved it. I would love to hear your opinion!

You can use my link to buy it from Amazon. If you use my link to buy, I may get a small commission at NO additional cost to you! It will help me keep my blog running! 🙂 Thank you for your support!