The Dutch House

First Ann Patchett book I've ever read. I picked this up after she came to my university and spoke about the book for alumni weekend last fall. Her prose is good but not remarkable, not quite up there with the titans of the English language. It's an easy, engrossing read, though, for which I was appreciative. The structure reminded me a lot of John Irving, an older narrator looking back on his life, like Owen Meany. At first I thought the sections where he was a young boy sounded unrealistic, but if you understand that he's an old man writing, looking back, they are more forgivable.

I generally liked the book. The strength was the characters, they are all quite complex and it's interesting to try to judge them, to see if their motives and actions hold up. One of the most interesting things was realizing, as the book went on, that the narrator is not necessarily a great person, even though we're hearing the story from his point of view. And trying to unravel him and judge him through his words is interesting. Of course, this is just one more demonstration of the outcome of the pain his family inflicted upon them.

I thought the third act felt more tedious than the other two, almost directionless. Would have been 4 stars otherwise. Definitely worth a read!