A few notes:
1) It's read by Tom Hanks and that was distracting as all get out early on in the story when he was supposed to be a child. Also, the way he read the chapter numbers nearly drove me to distraction. I KNOW that people really like his narration and I did think it got better as time went on and the character grew older, but those early chapters were brutal.
2) I feel like I should start writing novels about secondary and tertiary characters in novels because I can think of three or four characters in this book that I would rather read about than Danny and Maeve.
3) Despite how everything I have written about this book has been negative, I was riveted by this story. What were these two fools going to do next? What secrets would be unraveled? How many cigarettes would they smoke after they said they had quit?
I have only ever felt meh about Patchett books and now I remember why. I am so confused by this book. What is the message/feeling/theme I'm supposed to take away from this book?! I don't know, just like I didn't know in Bel Canto. I'm starting to feel like maybe I'm just not smart enough for Ann Patchett and everything's just going over my head.
So weird. 3.5/5 stars
Lines of note:
It sounded so nostalgic when he said it. The three of us, as if we had once been a unit instead of a circumstance.(timestamp 1:36:59)
There would never be an end to all the things I wished I'd asked my father. (timestamp 3:24:41)
Maeve didn't have to give me a reason why she hated New York. Traffic, garbage, crowding, incessant noise, the omnipresent visible poverty - she could have her pick. (timestamp 6:54:44)
There are thousands of ways your body can go off the rails for no reason whatsoever and chances are you won't know about any of it until it's too late. (timestamp 8:05:22)
Hat mentions (why hats?):
...a dark hat no bigger than a saucer pinned over a twist of pale hair. (timestamp 4:44)
There was nothing the banker could do but sit there in the small anteroom of my father's office holding his hat. (timestamp 29:50)
The two little girls looked stricken until they could no longer see the top of their mother's hat. (timestamp 55:30)
...and telling me when I was not allowed to go outside with a hat. (timestamp 1:18:50)
We couldn't take off our coats and hats and scarves because our arms were full of suitcases and bags. (timestamp 3:31:05)
...knitted it into a hat and scarf and mittens for my sister. (timestamp 8:09:28)
We have such different tastes, Engie - I loved this book!
ReplyDeleteI think I should just accept that I am a weirdo who doesn't like a lot of popular books. I think it's me, not you.
DeleteI know I LOVED this book when I read it, but forget much of the plot, but definitely remember the frequent smoking!
ReplyDeleteSo much smoking! And IN A CAR. That smell is never getting out.
DeleteOh, Engie! I loved this book so much. And I liked all the _Jane Eyre_ refs in it. Sometimes, where I am in life influences my enjoyment of a book.
ReplyDeleteOH!!! I have DNFed Jane Eyre a million time, too. At least I'm consistent!
DeleteI've never been able to get into an Ann Patchett book. I have ambitions to try someday, but it hasn't happened yet. I DNF'd Commonwealth twice (I forgot that I'd DNF'd it the first time, so that's why I picked it up again and had the same result). Ima skip Dutch House, but I might try Tom Lake sometime.
ReplyDeleteI am laughing so much at you picking up a book twice because you'd forgotten you'd already DNFed it. I think I'm going to skip Tom Lake. I'm okay with books about general pandemics, but I think it's going to be a long bit before I'm okay with books about the COVID pandemic.
DeleteThey actually don't talk about the pandemic As A Thing in Tom Lake. It's just mentioned as the reason why the family has no help to harvest the fruits on the farm and has to do it themselves. They may say a few things about not being able to socialize with community/friends, but it's not an overarching presence.
DeleteI liked Tom Lake. I appreciated how Patchett wove in all the details little by little. But I read that--I cannot abide audiobooks. I can only listen to my own head voice.
ReplyDeleteI second maya's comment wholeheartedly; it often depends where I am in my life as to how a book hits me. Same with a film. And now that I know there are Jane Eyre refs in this book, I feel like I have to read it.
Also, let me say that I feel the same way about NYC that Maeve does. I don't get the magic or allure of that place that so many others feel.
(And are you saying that Tom Hanks was reading in the voice of a little kid? Because that would drive me batty and annoy me to no end, too.)
I adore a good audiobook, but I can't quite put my finger on what makes a good audiobook for me, so I end up trying a lot and not finishing a lot. Tom Hanks didn't read it like he was a child, he just read it in his regular voice, but because I know him as a grown ass man, I found it quite distracting.
DeleteI don't care for NYC myself. It's the trash everywhere. It kills me. So much trash and stench everywhere!
i'm on your team here- I didn't love The Dutch House. I didn't hate it either. It's the only thing I've read by Ann Patchett, and I'm not really eager to read more. I know everyone loved Tom Lake, but I'll probably skip it.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't think I'm smart enough for Ann Patchett. I think that's my take on the situation. Maybe you would understand what she's going for more than I do.
DeleteI also loved this book and have adored all of Patchett's book except Bel Canto. I read Bel Canto when I was much younger and preferred plot-driven stories. I wonder if I would like it more now but I disliked it so much when I read it years ago that I can't bear to try it again! Commonwealth was my absolute favorite, followed by The Dutch House. Patchett just might not be for you - plus you aren't a big fan of character-driven stories, right?
ReplyDeleteI'm not opposed to character-driven stories in principle, but I think I'm mostly a plot girl. I do think Patchett is just to cerebral for me and that's fine. I'll let everyone else enjoy her writing.
DeleteI really loved The Dutch House, and I enjoyed Tom's voice. That being said, maybe I was enthralled with the story because of how my upbringing was, things changing so much without any of my consent or knowledge? I felt for them and their obsession with the house.
ReplyDeleteI didn't LOVE Bel Canto, but I do enjoy most of Ann's writing. It's awesome how we all have different tastes and enjoyment.
I knew I was going to be in the minority on the Tom Hanks thing. I was interested in the story, too. I wanted to know how they were going to get through their childhoods. But then I just felt like it sort of meandered after that. But, hey, people love Ann Patchett. I think I'm just not smart enough for her.
DeleteI remember listening to the audiobook and thinking, "Is this what is would be like if Tom Hanks came over and read me a book in my living room?" Which I probably leaned into a little more that it seems like you did. I have to be honest I don't remember much of the story.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should have just gone with the idea of Tom Hanks just reading me a story, but because it was told in the first person, it was as if he were the character of Danny and I just didn't buy it. I wonder if I would have felt that way if it is was a narrator whose face I didn't know.
DeleteYou're smart enough! That's just her style. Entrancing books about... nothing.
ReplyDeleteI read this and have always regretted not listening to it on audio until now. Ha. Let us know if you listen to Tom Lake lol.
I don't think I'm going to read Tom Lake. The whole premise sounds a bit boring and I'm not ready for pandemic novels right now (maybe in another a few years? with some distance?). But honestly I think I'm done with Patchett unless someone makes a really compelling case for it or we read it for my book club.
DeleteI loved this book, and I especially loved Tom Hanks reading it to me, though the way he said the chapter numbers WAS distracting. "17!" HA. I haven't loved all of the Patchett that I've read, I think my favorites were Bel Canto and Tom Lake.
ReplyDeleteLast year I read a book of essays that she wrote, 'These Precious Days'. It's a memoir mostly, and I especially loved the essay about her 'Three Fathers' (I think her birth father and her two step-dads, if I'm remembering correctly), and the essay about her time in Paris, when she and her friend are spending a summer (a semester? I don't remember) in Paris and become obsessed with getting tattoos. I really enjoyed this collection. In the titular essay, 'These Precious Days', she writes about a friendship she develops with Tom Hanks's assistant, Sooki. They become dear friends, and Sooki ends up living part time with Patchett and her husband while undergoing chemotherapy. I believe that friendship, and Hanks's close friendship with his assistant as well, led to him reading the book. Or maybe they just paid him a lot of money.
I may want to reread this book, actually. (The essays, not The Dutch House, though I did enjoy it quite a bit.)
I think I just fall into the category of someone who doesn't understand Patchett. And that's fine! Maybe I would find the non-fiction material a bit more accessible.
DeleteI appreciate that you found his reading of chapter numbers crazy, too. I thought I was losing my mind and it would snatch me right out of the story.