Review of The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
New York: Harper Collins, 2019, 337 pgs.
I am a devoted fan of Ann Patchett. Her writing is rich and smooth, and I have found all her main characters fully developed and credible. Until I encountered the Conroy family of her most recent novel, The Dutch House. The narrator, Danny, is petulant and immature. Patchett provides ample backstory to explain his shortcomings, so that isn’t the problem. He slowly grows more tolerant and forgiving, so there is redemption. It’s not that he is irredeemable. He just doesn’t come fully alive for me. His sister Maeve is a more interesting character, but the liveliest thing about her, for me, is the lovely painting on the cover, described in the novel as Maeve at ten years old. Brother and sister are both more interesting in their arrested development than they are after they grow up and forgive all.
The novel seems circumscribed by Patchett’s ongoing theme of finding and forgiving the lost. Because the wounds are deep, the story of their healing proceeds slowly. Questions dominate, and readers are teased to expect the resolution of more complex mysteries than the author delivers. Even when she is found, the missing mother keeps most of her secrets close.
The point of view, which is that of the brother, Danny Conroy, is a large part of the problem. Because he barely remembers his mother Elna and forgives her more grudgingly, he has less opportunity to uncover and reveal her secrets. While his sister and mother reestablish their relationship, we are left out in the cold watching through Danny’s eyes, at a resentful distance, until the end.
In general, the novel feels as if the writer worked the plot out in detail in advance, as is the author’s usual habit. I never felt the thrill of unexpected combination, inspired embellishment. I recognize I am pretty much alone out here. The Dutch House is a New York Times bestseller and appears on every best of 2019 list I’ve seen. I would recommend this novel because I know it’s better than most, but not because I love it. I believe in redemption, but not in resolution by Saint Elna, the prodigal mother ex machina. She is altogether too nice to be believed.
