Helpful Score: 1
Wow, quite a story of family and what holds them together and what can year them apart. Don't miss this one!
Both warm hearted and severe, this novel is emotionally rich and brimming with ironies. I loved it so much I am almost tempted to read it again, just the way the siblings in the story kept going back to the house they lost as children.
I don't know how to describe this book, it was a story about two siblings who got the shaft from their step mother and lost all their inheritance and how they both dealt with it. It was slow, bittersweet and unremarkable for the most part.
I really enjoyed this novel. A lovely story spanning decades dealing with that money doesn't always make one happy. A sister and a brother being raised by a father. There are many unanswered questions that throughout the book are revealed in the end with a twist that is heartwarming.
Cyril Conroy built a real estate company that enabled him to buy the beautiful Dutch House, an estate in Pennsylvania, a surprise but disappointing gift for his wife, Elna. He can't understand her reaction and it was the beginning of the end for the family. She abandons the house, her two children and her husband. Years later he marries Andrea Smith.
The son, Danny, narrates the story. He and his older sister, Maeve, are thrown out of the house upon their father's death at age 53. Danny is just fifteen but having failed to make a will their father put all possessions in both his and Andrea's names. His children now face poverty they have not known but they have each other forming a bond that lasts a lifetime.
The formation of an educational trust offers hope. Maeve is excluded as she finished college. Danny can use it, she insists, and directs he become a doctor, attending elite schools. He doesn't want to be a doctor. He wants to be like his father and build a real estate company.
Andrea has everything and the two are bitter but with the help of some friends, their lives gradually improve. They discuss everything, even Dannyâs marriage. He realizes his dream and Maeve uses her remarkable talent to help a neighborhood man develop and expand his business.
The story is sad at times but funny at others. Bound by love and blood they are hindered by a past they cannot leave. There is so much passion, emotion and sorrow that at times one wants to tell them to let it go. There is much more as this talented author follows Danny and Maeve throughout their lives.
The son, Danny, narrates the story. He and his older sister, Maeve, are thrown out of the house upon their father's death at age 53. Danny is just fifteen but having failed to make a will their father put all possessions in both his and Andrea's names. His children now face poverty they have not known but they have each other forming a bond that lasts a lifetime.
The formation of an educational trust offers hope. Maeve is excluded as she finished college. Danny can use it, she insists, and directs he become a doctor, attending elite schools. He doesn't want to be a doctor. He wants to be like his father and build a real estate company.
Andrea has everything and the two are bitter but with the help of some friends, their lives gradually improve. They discuss everything, even Dannyâs marriage. He realizes his dream and Maeve uses her remarkable talent to help a neighborhood man develop and expand his business.
The story is sad at times but funny at others. Bound by love and blood they are hindered by a past they cannot leave. There is so much passion, emotion and sorrow that at times one wants to tell them to let it go. There is much more as this talented author follows Danny and Maeve throughout their lives.
I've read Bel Canto (twice) by the same author, and I loved it. I really thought that I was going to love this one. I really liked it though. It is literary fiction, which is not my preferred genre, so maybe that was the problem. I thought the two main characters (especially the sister) were whiny and manipulative. They just couldn't let their past go. Most of us don't have that luxury. I liked the storyline, though.
I recommend it to those who love literary fiction and stories about dysfunctional families. Really, what family isn't dysfunctional?
I recommend it to those who love literary fiction and stories about dysfunctional families. Really, what family isn't dysfunctional?
Beautifully crafted novel centered around the lives of a brother and sister, all tangled around themes of possession, abandonment, and pride embodied in one magnificently monstrous house.
A family saga with beautiful and captivating prose!
I felt a real connection to the characters and their individual struggles, as the writing effectively evoked feelings of compassion and understanding for the imperfect nature of us all.
And the brother/sister relationship between Danny and Maeve is very endearing... without being creepy!
I felt a real connection to the characters and their individual struggles, as the writing effectively evoked feelings of compassion and understanding for the imperfect nature of us all.
And the brother/sister relationship between Danny and Maeve is very endearing... without being creepy!
Another enjoyable book by Patchett.
