by Katie,
Our November story is a tale spanning five decades that follows a deep bond between brother and sister. From the synopsis I read, it seems we will have a classic wicked stepmother that sends our main characters from riches to rags. We will follow Danny and Maeve as they overcome the hardships they will face after being sent out of their family home.
Here are a few questions I took from bookriot.com that I think we might enjoy answering.
- Why was the story narrated from Danny’s perspective rather than Maeve’s? How might the story have been different if told from Maeve’s point of view?
- Many of reviews of The Dutch House have compared the story to a fairytale: abandoned children, a creepy old house, and evil stepmother…is this a fair comparison? If The Dutch House does have fairytale elements, what purpose does that serve in the story?
- After their stepmother kicks them out of the Dutch House, both Danny and Maeve remain obsessed with their childhood home. For instance, throughout the years, they often sit in a car outside of the house and just look at it. What explains their obsessions with this house? And how do their feelings about the house and about the meaning of “home” change with the passing years?
I started reading our book and it is apparently set in my neighborhood. While the house is a fictitious house, the neighborhoods of Elkins Park, Melrose Park and Jenkintown are quite real. I did not choose this novel because of the setting but it makes me look forward to reading further. I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Nancy,
ReplyDeleteHope you are doing well. We had a very nice Thanksgiving here and now the Christmas chaos has begun. Is it similar there? Everyone getting prepped for the holiday rush. The kids are getting excited.
I enjoyed the Dutch House very much because of the sentimentality that hits very close to home for me. Franklin and I graduated from Bishop McDevitt where Danny attended school. Franklin went to primary school at St. Hilary’s where Danny and Celeste got married. I drive through Jenkintown and Elkins Park regularly and many of those houses could have been the influence for Dutch House as they are quite grand. All of this certainly gave me a different feel for the novel than I’m sure you experienced. Have you ever had this level of reminiscing from something we’ve previously read? Or even from something you read on your own?
I believe that fairy tales make people very nostalgic for their childhoods. Danny and Maeve missed their former home like many people miss their childhoods. I think that this is Ann Patchett’s purpose for making her story have a fairy tale type feel.
While Danny and Maeve may not have known the real reason themselves, I would bet that their obsession stemmed from the house being the last connection to their deceased father and lost mother. It was the last place the four of them were together. It was something their father took great pride in so it was like a giant piece of him. I would think this would be an exceptionally big reason for Maeve to visit the house so often. She spent the most amount of time in that home with her father. And it would connect her to her mother as the last place Maeve knew she had been. I felt that Danny’s definition of “home” changed through the novel. It started with the definition of home being the Dutch House and ended with Danny realizing home was Maeve.
I think Danny was a very even headed character. I felt that if Maeve had been our narrator we would have felt more anger. One of the most amazing things about books is when they can instill in you the same emotion as your characters. I believe that I would have raged like Maeve against Andrea. Although I did not like her, I probably would have been much angrier with Andrea. I imagine that we would have had more internal dialogues of Maeve stewing on the worse qualities of her stepmother. While Danny felt anger and sadness, I felt him to be much more neutral of the two siblings.
Speaking of being nostalgic, I went back to our post on Ann Patchett’s other novel we read “State of Wonder.” It was very nice to read Sue’s old posts. Do you remember the book? Do you have a favorite among the two Patchett books? I think I liked both, maybe a slight lean toward Dutch House. I look forward to your post.
Much love,
Katie
ReplyDeleteHi Katie,
Sorry for my late reply, things have been hectic here the last month. My daughter Grace has moved home for a few months to rest and restore, and we’ve had a visit to Sydney to see Ivars Mum, which turned into an emergency hospital stay for her.
So to say December has been stressful would be an understatement. All is ok now and we are back home and trying to work out QLD border restrictions so we can see Sam and Michelle for Christmas and also bring all Grace’s belongings home.
I am so glad you were able to relate to the setting of our story, it really makes things so much better. I know when Ive read so of our choices set in small Australian towns I find a sense of familiarity which is comforting.
I feel my hectic month coloured my opinion of our book, perhaps I wasn’t quite in the right frame of mind for it.
I did enjoy the rich descriptions of the house and thought it was beautifully written. My choice would have been for Maeve to be the narrator, I felt I was waiting for her to do something amazing but that didn’t eventuate sadly. I felt Danny’s narration was a little one dimensional and I didn’t get to know the other characters as much as I would have liked.
The relationship between Andrea and Elna confused me a little, I didn’t understand why Elna seemed to to choose a relationship with Andrea[who clearly treated her children badly] over Maeve.
I remember reading State of Wonder and enjoyed it very much. It was my favourite of the two books. Was it you that suggested that book or Sue?
I hope you have a happy holiday and enjoy the festive season, it is always so much more fun with children.
My love to you all.