The Dutch House

Listening to Tom Hanks reading this book for 10 hours was not too painful 😉

The Dutch House, by Ann patchett, is the story of a family, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, the good and the bad, the young and the old, the happy and the sad, and life. The energy of young people, the forgiveness of old people, the anger of some, the goodness of others, the old growing older and dying, and the young continuing the cycle of life.

Danny, the main character of the story (whom I couldn’t stop picturing as Tom Hanks, of course) tells the story of his youth with his sister, whom he loved dearly. Together, they grow up in the Dutch House, abandoned by their mother and then kicked out by their stepmother. He becomes a doctor (and the reason why is absolutely hilarious) and she becomes an accountant. Other than that, there is the father, the cook, the maid, the babysitter, the stepsisters, as well as the previous (dead) inhabitants, present until the end, and then finally the wife, who is the least interesting character in the story, I thought, and the grandchildren. These people live their lives as best as they can, make mistakes, do good things, do stupid things, change (or not), get rich (and sometimes lose everything), die, and learn that life is always full of surprises, which it really is.

I don’t think young people will enjoy this story as much as an older person will. I really understood what Danny was saying because I felt and experienced many of the same things he did, throughout my own life, especially in the last few years. It made me feel very nostalgic about the past. I enjoyed his sense of humour, and I was never bored. (According to many reviewers, this is in great part due to Tom Hank’s great reading voice.) Overall, I really liked this book and also appreciated the end of the story–which many reviewers hated–and hope my family will reach that same point some day.

“There would never be an end to all the things I wished I’d asked my father. After so many years, I thought less about his unwillingness to disclose and more about how stupid I’d been not to try harder.”