The Dutch House 4⭐️/5

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

4⭐️/5

I tried to read this book in public as much as possible because it’s obviously v fancy and I felt sophisticated and literary every time I took it out. 💅🏻

(Though, full disclosure, I’m not as talented as I’d like to be in the “reading outside” department. The writer in me gets waaaaay to distracted at everyone’s hand gestures or the way someone’s coat drapes over their shoulders, etc, etc)

I thought this book would have more magical realism (why did I have that expectation? No real reason, no one promised me this?) Though there are some delightful parallels to beloved fairy tales (Hansel and Gretel, The Little Princess, maybe even Cinderella?), but it stayed firmly grounded in the real world. Ann Patchett is masterful with language, carefully inviting the reader into an unconventional family dynamic (as only she could!).

Obsessive nostalgia, home, real estate, childhood secrets, the passage of time, all themes Patchett writes in a way that as a writer you go, “SHOOT, I should have done that.” But alas, no one does it like Ann.

And if audiobooks are your jam, I’m pretty sure Tom Hanks narrates this one, so, if you need America’s Dad to read you a bedtime story, by all means, listen away!