The Dutch House

Dear Ann Patchett–you are a master wordsmith. Your plots are languidly beautiful. I'm listening to this novel, rather than reading it on paper, and have the joy of Tom Hanks narrating your words into my ears.
And the subject matter seemed right up my alley.
Unfortunately, about 5 chapters in, during April of the Year of the Pandemic, I determined that the plot was TOO up my alley. A parent who is mentally fragile and abandons their children, a House that overshadows the lives of the people in it, a stepparent who is conniving and wicked, the House that endures as the symbol of all the ways the parents have erred–just a bit too close to the bone for me right now. I might return, but not right now.