Reviews with content warning for Death - The Dutch House

I can really see why people love this one. Even though I'm not one for what's usually described as 'beautiful prose', I found a few lines that I loved for accurately and poetically describing everyday life.

I even probably would have finished it, despite an only mild interest in the story, except that I hit a point where the family tensions described got to feel too stressful to me for it to be worth continuing.

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renepierre's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“We had made a fetish out of our misfortune, fallen in love with it.”

An early contender for a favourite book of the year. The story follows Danny and Maeve, brother and sister growing up in the Dutch House, a place of grandeur that holds a history of its own. When their mother disappears and their father remarries a women named Andrea, everything changes. The siblings are shows an act of betrayal that they will hold onto and obsess over for the rest of their lives, which ultimately changes the trajectory of their lives. Patchett explores selfishness through all of her characters, but at the same time, adds a level of selflessness in them that constantly contradicts and levels them out as they try to navigate their lives and recover from their whole world being torn apart.

The only reason this book isn’t a five star read for me is because of the amount of typos throughout this novel, I found it really distracting, especially in the important scenes.

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agnesg's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

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corar's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The Dutch House is about a pair of siblings and the house that has always loomed large in their life. I listened to the audiobook and Tom Hanks did an excellent job reading this book. Danny and Maeve were characters that I found myself constantly rooting for despite their flaws. The one theme that I took away from the book was the power of forgiveness and how moving forward people that did unforgivable things can later have a positive influence if you allow them to. It was an interesting story that kept me interested and looking forward to picking up the story again and again.

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