The Dutch House

I have liked Patchett's work in the past, especially BEL CANTO and STATE OF WONDER, less so with COMMONWEALTH, but I had a hard time getting into this, possibly because the first half of the book is about a brother and sister as children, and that almost never grabs me. In the second half, when they're grown, I found them more interesting, although the narrator, Danny, wasn't really a convincing male voice. I also don't think I'm a big fan of stories that stretch over decades, as this one does, but of course this is the story of a house, not just a week in the life of a family. Except that the house never feels like a character, as the settings of some novels do; it's just the setting.