Book Review: The Dutch House

Written by Ann Patchett — Narrated by Tom Hanks

A few weeks ago, I was looking for something to read when I came across ‘The Dutch House’ by Ann Patchett. Even though they say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I did. The cover didn’t appeal to me at all and I passed on the book and picked up something else.

When once again I was on the hunt for a read, ‘The Dutch House’ was presented to me again, and once again I passed.

When ‘The Dutch House’ showed up a third time in my search, I took it as a sign that I had to read this book. That is to say, listen to the audio version because these days I listen more than what I read. So I picked it up.

The cover of the audiobook told me that the narrator was Tom Hanks. Surely not the Tom Hanks I thought, there must be more than one man on the planet with this name. But it was the Tom Hanks, I recognized his voice as soon as I started listening. Having finished the book, I have to say it was a wonderful story. All the more due to Tom Hanks's portrayal of Danny and his sister Maeve.

Immediately after finishing ‘The Dutch House’, I went looking for other books by Ann Patchett and chose ‘Truth & Beauty’.

Initially, I liked the story, all the more because it was autobiographical and narrated by Ann Patchett. I admired Ann and felt sorry for her friend Lucy.

In the course of the story that changed though. This wasn’t a story about friendship, this was a story about being a pushover (Ann) and a real bitch (Lucy).

Proof of this came when Lucy saw Ann dressed in a short black miniskirt. When Ann asked Lucy how she looked, Lucy told her she looked like a cheap slut. Ann took off the skirt, put on something else, and then went downstairs to join the party. Moments later, Lucy came down the stairs dressed in … the short black mini skirt. Triumphantly she turned to Ann and says “Gotcha.” If this happened in high school, Lucy would be classified as a ‘mean girl’.

Lucy may have suffered because of her disfigurement, but she knew how to use this to her advantage. If she had looked like anyone else, nobody would have paid any attention to her, but because of her disfigurement, she became the center of attention.

She’s obsessed with sex and sleeps with half of the campus. If she’s not having sex, she thinks when next she will have sex, or if she’s ever going to have sex again. The synopsis states ‘someone who knew how to live life to the fullest’ … really, is sleeping with everything on two legs the way of living life to the fullest? What about sexually transmitted diseases? Did Lucy ever hear of this concept?

This too made me wonder … do men really have such low standards that they sleep with a disfigured girl? Three-quarters of her jaw is missing, she can’t close her mouth and she has no teeth. Call me crazy, but in my book, that’s not exactly attractive.

Then again, a man who wants to get laid doesn’t pay much attention to a girl’s face, there are other parts of her anatomy that capture his interest.

Throughout the story, if Lucy isn’t having sex, she is depressed. She leeches on to Ann for anything and everything and eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. With two hours to go in the audiobook, I clicked off.

If I had a friend like that, I wouldn’t have put up with her nonsense and her tantrums, I would have told her to take a hike. In any friendship, there should be give and take, but it seems to me that all Lucy did was take, take, and take some more.