I loved how it opened, but got frustrated and ultimately didn't finish.

Strongly disliked the book and continue to be baffled so many people enjoyed it.

Anonymous wrote:I've never read an Ann Pratchett and have no intentions of doing so. If someone can eloquently explain what makes her worth reading, I'd be grateful.

I mean if you've never read her, how do you know you have no intentions of doing so? And how do you even feel strongly enough to comment in a thread about one of her books (where the author isn't even mentioned in the title, so how would you even know it was her book??) when you've never read anything by her?

I've never read an Ann Pratchett and have no intentions of doing so. If someone can eloquently explain what makes her worth reading, I'd be grateful.

Anonymous wrote:It started off strong but once Elna showed up, it was so unsatisfying. I loved the descriptions of the house and the childhood memories before Andrea kicked them out. The ending felt very lackluster to me.

I agree about the very ending (epilogue?) about May as an adult, buying the house. I didn't think they delved at ALL into May's childhood, interests, etc enough to suddenly be like "and then she became a famous movie actress". It seemed lazy to me. Like, how are we going to get this house to May? She'll have to be rich. Let's make her an overnight success movie star. Even though we never made it seem like she was going to be an actress." I'd have preferred Norah closing the circle and giving the house to May as a gift. Norah was presumably well off as an oncologist who had a fully paid for education (from the trust), and didn't even live on the east coast anymore. And Norah knew how Maeve and Danny were disinherited unfairly, which led to Norah and Bright inheriting everything unfairly. She should have given the house to May and floated away back to the west coast. That would have been in line with Norah's character (who is described on more than one occasion of being overcome with guilt on taking Maeve's things).

It started off strong but once Elna showed up, it was so unsatisfying. I loved the descriptions of the house and the childhood memories before Andrea kicked them out. The ending felt very lackluster to me.

I loved it and read it on a wonderful vacation but don't remember any of the details at all.

Anonymous wrote:I got bored and couldn't get through it. Which is too bad, because bel canto is one of my favorite books.

I am OP and bel canto is one of my favorites of all time as well, which is why I picked up this one. I think it was written so differently from bel canto not just in plot / pacing/ etc but in writing style. It was almost like reading a different author. I enjoyed Dutch House but not as much as bel canto. Bel cantos ending made me so sad but it was obvious that it was going to end that way, the author told us more than once about how a character would, in the future, think about so and so and make it clear that “so and so” was dead. Dutch House ending didn’t make me sad but it made me livid.

Anonymous wrote:Loved that book and I actually read it myself. Was a few years ago though. That’s what I like about Ann Patchett her characters are nuanced and there is no moralizing.

See I didn’t even see Elna as nuanced. I saw her as purely selfish, narcissistic, and simpering for strangers to think she was selfless and caring. I think the characters of the household staff saw her as nuanced and that bothered me (but maybe that’s a sign of good writing). Danny didn’t, but he just became purely apathetic towards her (like he was towards Andrea for a while as a teen) as a defense mechanism. And Maeve thankfully saw through her in the end. But Elna was never punished, which makes the book itself more interesting I guess , but the injustice made me want to throw it down.

Loved that book and I actually read it myself. Was a few years ago though. That’s what I like about Ann Patchett her characters are nuanced and there is no moralizing.

I got bored and couldn't get through it. Which is too bad, because bel canto is one of my favorite books.

I listened to it too with Tom hanks and loved his reading of it as well. I just came away with such a visceral hatred of Elna and am angry at the book for letting her off the hook so easily. Literally all of the characters were like, “meh” by the end. I wanted her to be eviscerated even more than I wanted Andrea to be eviscerated. I was happy that Bright never came home and hoped that was punishment enough for Andrea. But no punishment ever came to Elna.

It's been years since I read it so I can't remember it well enough to discuss anything, but just chiming in to say how much I deeply loved it.

I listened to it and thought Tom Hanks was an excellent reader.

Anyone care to discuss this book? With spoilers? Just finished it and have thoughts but no one to discuss with!