Shawn the Book Maniac reviews The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

[@susanh8255]

Thank goodness for this review Shawn. I thought it was just me that didn’t love this book. It started with so much promise and then went off in so many directions. I tried so hard to enjoy it and felt I must have missed something. I even gave it to my friend and told her she might enjoy it. You were spot on with disappointing, that’s exactly how I felt.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

High five! 😂

[@RunwrightReads]

Scathing! I read this earlier this year on my own - no BTP comparison - and liked it a lot. I admired the comparison between the boy and his father and their propensity for buying houses they wouldn’t inhabit and how that informed their other relationships. I thought the exploration of parental abandonment was interesting given that it’s the mother who leaves but also how that contrasted with the people who stayed. I did have some of the same questions you did about Celeste though. I didn’t completely buy her villainous status, however I think Patchett used her to add another dimension to the women caretakers in Danny’s life and his reaction to them.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

Me, scathing? 😜 (Of course, glad to hear you enjoyed it a lot more than I did.)

[@CourtneyFerriter]

I've never read anything by Ann Patchett, but I saw a performance by David Sedaris in December in which he absolutely raved about The Dutch House. However, he's very close with his siblings, so it doesn't surprise me that he would like a book about sibling relationships.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

Sedaris is on my shit list after he published his racist diaries. ☹️

[@CourtneyFerriter]

@@shawnbreathesbooks I've never heard about that. Off to Google so I can catch up!

[@formulabravium1873]

Thank you!!! I’m so bored and all these reviews talk about for great it is and I just don’t see it. It’s not bad but it’s not something I understand why it’s so praised. Just glad it’s not just me.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

High five! :)

[@tonybennett4159]

Thanks for the warning. I waded through Bel Canto, with no spark being ignited in me at any point, then, as you say, the end of the book was so bad I felt like throwing it across the room. Why did it win the Orange Prize? Now, when I thought that maybe I would give her another go, you come along and save me. The books of Ms Patchett and likewise Ms Rooney, will never pollute my bookshelves again.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

A lot of people quite like Bel Canto, and that's arguable, but I can't accept that anybody likes Dutch House! 😝

[@Marianna-li6lp]

I read Commonwealth and was completely engrossed and had such high hopes for this. Agree with everything in your review, a brilliant way to express how I felt reading this!!

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

High five! 😜

[@beatingaroundthebooks]

I really enjoyed this review! You've put a lot of my feelings about this into words - much better than I could have! 100% agree with you on the weird summed up narrative of Danny's and his wife's (I can't even remember any names from the book) failed marriage. I loved how they met, and then this is all we get? How did this happen? Why?

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

Why indeed! 😜

[@zachislam4457]

Hahaha great review! So many people love this novel and I just thought it fell sooo flat…

[@KathleenAnnBooks]

Savage! I saw the author in person and she talked about the process of writing this book. It sounds like her process was more engaging than the book itself. She was so entertaining and engaging. I have the book and will still plan to read it but I’m looking at it a bit uncertainly on my shelf now.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

Well, the writer and this particular novel have a lot of fans - but I am not one of them!

[@cherylynlarking191]

Your thoughtful response to the book made me revaluate my thoughts on the book again.

[@Gagging4Lit]

Not surprised this is bad lol...I knew from the channels propagating it that it wasn't going to be that great.. Good, fair review.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

😜

[@ameliareads589]

I just finished this book, so I kept watching this review until now. And, yes, what the hell was this, sums it up really well. I have read Commonwealth by Ann Patchett before and gave it five stars, but this was really meh. I really don't have to understand the characters in a novel from my personal point of view, but the author has to make me understand them. And Patchett didn't. Also the writing was generally good, but inbetween there were sentences that are so dull and unnecessary, I have no clue why they are even there. I've read this as a buddy read with Heather and we discussed that this book has themes that are retellings from fairy tales. I can see that, but if that was the goal, it wasn't also done very well. Still adore the cover.

[@myreadinglife8816]

My favorite blouse! I enjoyed your scathing review of this book.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

I aim to please. 😎

[@traceymills1628]

I actually really enjoyed this on audio but now you have me questioning my response as your criticism is right. Haha so torn now!

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

Oh I would hate for you to second-guess your original response - glad you enjoyed it! 😍

[@RovingReader]

This book was so autobiographical that there was zero imagination in it AND she has told this story many times. Ann Patchett is my favorite author and I was so disappointed...

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

High five!

[@anotherbookreview9903]

I actually like Ann Patchett quite a bit but I don't disagree with your review. I guess I bought the pain of the characters a little bit more and so, in the last 10% or so of the book, I was bawling. I have realized that I have the same reaction to Pixar movies as I do to Ann Patchett novels. I did feel that the book meandered and I believe it will be looked at critically in the future in a way that it is now being looked at now. I do think that anyone who reads this from a Marxist critique will have a field day. My biggest issue, perhaps to your point, was that the stakes never felt particularly high to me, so some of the drama with the "lost fortune" rang hallow. I will say, if you're at all curious as to give her another chance, I thought Commonwealth was much better than this one, from the opening chapter onward.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

The observation that the stakes were not very high is really apt. Glad you enjoyed it more than me.

[@kompas29]

The only book by Ann Patchett I heard anything good is Commonwealth.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

I won't read anything else by her. Ever. 😜

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

Thanks for reading this so I don't have to....

[@MayberryBookclub]

Her finest novel yet! Hilarious!

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

😂 😂

[@jobuckley2999]

Love the review. I read this and feel the same. The book had no soul. It was bizarre and weird and disconnected. I must subscribe .

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

Welcome aboard!

[@francine38]

Sadly, I didn’t feel much of anything with this book. It flatlined a third of the way in. The use of first person narrative may have been one of the problems in knowing the characters on a deeper level.

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

High five!

[@HannahsBooks]

Your expression in the thumbnail was as eloquent as your review.😫🥴

[@shawnbreathesbooks]

😂