Title: The Dutch House
Author: Ann Patchett
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Literary fiction, Historical
Rating: ★★★★★
I picked up this book entirely because I’d heard that Tom Hanks does an incredible job narrating the audiobook; that’s 100% true and I’d recommend listening just to hear how a first-rate actor can really bring a story to life through narration. But this is also a moving story about a brother, a sister, their childhood home, and the ways their relationships (with each other and everyone around them) grow and change through their lives. We often think of a relationship as a thing that exists between two people, but this books illustrates how relationships exist in a web, and how changes in one relationship can pull on the other strands, shaping or loosening or weaving them tighter. The house also, unsurprisingly, has a strong presence throughout the book — unchanging while the family within it is remade over and over. A fascinating story about relationships, family, wealth, memory, and the ways that we build and rebuild our lives moment by moment.
Five Sentence Reviews 