The Dutch House - Ann Patchett

One of my book groups chose this; I've read others by this author namely Magicians's Assistant, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Taft and further back, Bel Canto, State of Wonder and Truth and Beauty.

I've admired her writing however the stories have not been believable for me.  This one was not a favorite.

The narrator is a young man whose mother left his father for a life dedicated to the poor when he was a toddler.  His older sister has been his caretaker and confidant his whole life.  Their father remarries and subsequently dies and their elaborate 19th century home, the Dutch House, passes to his second wife who kicks them out.  We're taken through their post deprived life with flashbacks to tell the story of their childhood.

I became tired of his whining and self-pity and anger and his drifting through life led by others.  Not someone I enjoyed reading about and despite a tidy wrap up, unsatisfying.

Published:   2019      Read: May 2020  Genre: Fiction