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. ( )

I read this book readily, and found it a page-turner. But I can't join the huge fan base it seems to have acquired. The story of two siblings abandoned by their mother, and whose thoroughly unpaternal father eventually marries a Wicked Stepmother describes the incredibly strong bond that brother and sister share persists throughout their lives, often at the expense of other relationships. In fact these are the only two characters whom we come to know well. The story is narrated by the younger brother Danny, who dwells on his relationship with his older sister Maeve, and to a lesser extent on his father, but never on, for instance his wife. He and his sister are both fixated on the house - the Dutch house of the title which their father bought for their mother and which she detested so much she left the marriage and her children. Danny's story encompasses the next forty or fifty years of his life, and towards the end, his mother comes to claim her part in the family narrative.

It's a story of mistaken choices: that of Danny's mother: of his sister who doesn't realise her academic potential; of Danny who chooses not to become a doctor despite long years of study to become one; of Celeste, his wife, who wanted to be a doctor's wife. In the end, this seems to be a story of lives stunted by missed opportunities. It's not a book that will make it onto my To-Read-Again list.

Addendum, written a fortnight later. We're discussing this book at Book Group tonight. I had to come back to read my review, because I couldn't remember the first thing about the book: not the plot, not the characters, nothing. I think that tells me something .... ( )

Ann Patchett does not fall short with her writing, so eloquent, so easy. The Dutch House is not a novel I will remember for long with the exception of the way I coveted the brother-sister relationship. The book itself was rather dull, without any real high and no real low point, just a ho-hum story about a boy and a girl, whose mother walks out and father dies and the two end up just living their lives.

In ways the story is beautiful, in others, I could have skipped a dozen pages and not missed much, if anything. It is worth reading, yes. Why? Because it is beautifully well done. Sometimes I feel a book doesn’t need to be more than that, The Dutch House feels that way to me, it is enough that way it is. ( )

This novel has won many literary awards. One would wonder why which is why I have bought it to satisfy my curiosity. Also, it has an attractive cover to boot. The story is narrated by Danny, which is about his family, the Conroys, from dad Cyril, mom Elna, sister Maeve and eventually stepmom Andrea with her daughters Norma and Bright. It revolves around the house they live in namely the Dutch House.

Though the pace is a wee bit slow for me, I can see why it was nominated and has won many awards. The author took the time to describe the scenarios with clarity, making sure the readers understand it perfectly. The plot itself was methodically placed with care that everything falls into place neatly. Truth be told, it was like a family biography or legacy being told which happens to be surrounded around where they live in.

If you like family dramas, then you should try The Dutch House. It was just too slow for me, slower than the usual movies on Diva channel so I tend to yawn more. It did feels like reading something educational and yet it is fiction, so to speak. ( )

Funny, sad, beautiful, immersive. Gorgeous prose that makes you turn the page and characters you want to be your friends. ( )