Ann Patchett is an American author born in 1963. She has written 7 novels and is the recipients of numerous awards and fellowships.
THE DUTCH HOUSE
The Dutch House is a 2019 novel that tells the story of a brother and sister who grow up in a mansion known as the Dutch House. It spans five decades of their lives and has been described as a dark fairy tale.
VAL: The sentences were convoluted. The characters were unpleasant and always wanting revenge. Val read it all but didn't really enjoy it. It wasn't her sort of novel.
JULIA: She agreed with Val. She started to read it but didn't enjoy it.
JO: At first she thought it was boring but then she said she couldn't put it down. Some characters seem awful. Jo said "what sort of mother leaves her kids to go to India". Eventually she was drawn in and couldn't put the book down.
COMMONWEALTH
JOAN: She didn't like the Dutch House very much but decided to give Ann Patchett another try and read Commonwealth. Joan didn't like it and felt the same as Val felt about The Dutch House. Joan didn't like the characters. There was a bad husband, a good husband, a floozy wife, divorces and six children. She found it morbid.
SHEILA: After the first page Sheila decided she didn't like it but read the whole first chapter. She found it awful. Everything degenerated. The characters were awful drunken people.
JUDY D: She didn't like the story going back and forth. You are in one place one minute and then back in the past. Judy agrees with all the other comments and she didn't like the characters.
CONNIE: The novel was set in Virginia. Connie was glad she read it because she learnt why Virginia was a Commonwealth. During the American Revolution, the title "Commonwealth of Virginia was used in the new state's constitution. Unlike the word "state" which can also mean a country, democratic or not, the term "commonwealth" emphasized that Virginia was founded to serve the common good of it's people.
BEV: She felt the same as Sheila. She didn't like it. She only read the first and last chapter and found it awful.
JUDY J: This family saga spans five decades. It's about divorces, neglected kids and blended families. The people are awful. Judy agrees with all that has been said before.
THESE PRECIOUS DAYS
JUDY A: She had read four Ann Patchett novels so decided to read two of her books of essays. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage published in 2013 and These Precious Days published last year. She thoroughly enjoyed both these books, especially the one from last year. They cover a huge range of topics from her life and you feel like you are actually having a conversation with her. These Precious Days starts with an essay called Three Fathers. Her mother was married three times and divorced twice and Patchett explores the virtues and failures of her relationship with each of the men.
The title essay These Precious Days is about her friendship with Tom Hanks' personal assistant. Her name was Sooki Raphael. She had pancreatic cancer at the beginning of Covid and came to stay with Ann and her husband to have a new chemo treatment. It was about their time together in lockdown. She has such an easy way of writing. Judy really enjoyed it and gave it 4/5.
LESLEY: She also loved the essays. The author, Ann Patchett didn't feel she could write a novel during covid so instead wrote essays. She is passionate about what she does. She is deeply reflective, observant of human nature. The essays are very well written.
BEL CANTO:
KRIS: The story begins in a third world South American country's vice president's house in honour of Katsumi Hosokawa, the chairman of a large Japanese company. Mr Hosokawa loves opera and is an avid fan of the opera diva, Roxane Coss who is a beautiful soprano. It is hoped that her attendance at the party will encourage him to invest in their country. People from various parts of the world come together for this occasion. Near the end of the party a group of terrorists break into the house to take the president hostage but the president fails to attend and they are forced to reassess the situation. The gun wielding terrorists are made up of a group of men, all generals and a group of young people, two of which are young women. Initially they all live in fear but as the weeks pass, they all settle into a comfortable routine. I found it difficult to get started but once I got a bit further into the story, I had to keep reading. The lines between captor and captive become blurred as friendships and romance develop. It's well worth a read.
DIANN: She tried to page 30 but really didn't like it.
PAMELA: The theme is Opera. The terrorists are actually a bit incompetent. Initially everyone is terrified thinking they will get shot but then people relax. The Generals eventually let the people go outside. Everyone gets along. One of the generals has shingles and is in a lot of pain. They're all friendly and the characters are quite interesting. There is a young male interpreter who travels with Mr. Hosokawa. As so many languages are spoken, he becomes very important to the household. All the characters are very interesting.
Bel Canto is Italian for beautiful singing, a style of operatic singing that demands acrobatic vocal flourishes especially from sopranos. The epigraph couldn't be more perfect. The statement by Tamino from Mozart's "The Magic Flute" is that he wants friendship and love even if it costs him his life. This is very relevant to what happens in the book.
STATE OF WONDER
LYN: This is the first book by Ann Patchett Lyn has read. She thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a real page turner and she enjoyed the medical themes. The very complex characters were all interwoven and there was only one romance. Marina Singh is a 42 yr old medical scientist and researcher working in a pharmaceutical lab in Minnesota. She is romantically involved with her boss, Mr. Fox, 18 years her senior. They have kept the relationship quiet from the other employees.
Dr Swenson a research scientist who has been funded by the pharmaceutical company, has been working deep in the Amazon forest. A telegram is received from Dr Swenson reporting the death of Dr Eckman, her laboratory colleague, but his wife and family are convinced he isn't dead. Mr. Fox sends Marina out to Brazil to locate Dr Swenson and ascertain more about Dr Eckman's death, but when the plane loses Marina's luggage and special phone, the situation becomes very difficult and complex. Lynn felt she just had to keep reading.
Kris
Our book for the month of JUNE will be any book by the author Thomas Keneally
