The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

THE DUTCH HOUSE by Ann Patchett (Bel Canto) is the newest novel from this award winning author and advocate for books and reading. Spanning much of the second half of the twentieth century, this story centers around a dysfunctional family and is set primarily in Philadelphia and New York City environs.  Siblings Maeve and Danny depend on each other, even as young children after their mother leaves and their aloof father remarries. His second wife arranges to inherit almost everything including the family home. This changes the course of Danny’s life as he eventually studies to be a doctor and Maeve does her best to support him.  The character development is strong and while that may contribute to a slower pace, readers will be drawn in by a lingering sense of menace – will these two manage to overcome circumstances and realize their dreams?  

THE DUTCH HOUSE is a LibraryReads selection recommended for “fans of Anne Tyler and Anna Quindlen.” I concur with that comment -- this title is my personal favorite from the September list.  Definitely worth considering for book groups, THE DUTCH HOUSE received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok

SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok (Girl in Translation) is her latest, much anticipated novel about two sisters born after their parents immigrated to New York City from China.  Sylvie is the elder sister by several years and she was actually raised by cousins and a grandmother in the Netherlands until age nine when she joined the family in New York, helping care for Amy, a then-two-year-old toddler. 

Now an adult, Sylvie returns to the Netherlands to be with her terminally ill Grandmother, but disappears after her Grandmother’s death. That prompts Amy to fly to Europe, but the police are relatively unconcerned, the cousins are kind of mean and uncaring and Amy struggles with language differences as she tries to find Sylvie.  

There’s some menacing suspense in the air and obvious questions about whom Amy should trust, but the story moves slowly.  Flashbacks told by Sylvie alternate with Amy’s recounting of her search and with their mother’s thoughts. SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE uses family relationships, secrets, and assumptions (including some racial and immigrant stereotypes) to show how little we really know each other. Kwok’s novel received a starred review from Booklist. 

Cities by Smith and Perfect City by Berridge

With more than half the world’s population currently living in cities, the United Nations is projecting that proportion to grow to sixty-eight percent (over two-thirds of us) by 2050. Here are two recent books about cities:

CITIES: THE FIRST 6,000 YEARS by Monica L. Smith, an archaeologist and anthropologist on the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles, outlines the reasons for cities’ existence.  She focuses on consumption and materialism while also noting security, employment, entertainment, and diversity as important factors: “urban social life and the entrepreneurial spirit associated with migration constituted a feedback loop that enticed more and more people who were looking to better their circumstances.” Acknowledging the many problems associated with cities (e.g., pollution, noise, crime), Smith draws an intriguing parallel with “another phenomenon that has seemingly sprung out of nowhere and causes a good deal of trouble, yet has become thoroughly interwoven with our lives: the internet.” Given her background, however, the emphasis seems to be on why cities arose and less on how they have evolved. Although her last chapter does peer into the “next 6,000 years,” most of the text seems to be looking backwards. Smith specifically refers to life examples from ancient cities in order to note that “making our own cities better … is likely to involve investment in three things:” social awareness, socioeconomic hierarchies, and the spirit of consumption. CITIES: THE FIRST 6,000 YEARS contains notes and an index and was recently reviewed in The Wall Street Journal in “The Metropolis and the Masses.” 

PERFECT CITY is written by Joe Berridge, a self-described “urban mechanic” who is a partner at Urban Strategies and a Fellow of the University of Toronto's Munk School of Public Policy.  Berridge begins by saying there is no such thing as a perfect city, but he acknowledges their collective importance and says that “they now rival nation states as the places where the social, economic, environmental and political future of the planet will be resolved.” Describing cities as “machines for moving things around,” he then devotes a chapter to the influence of Jane Jacobs (The Death and Life of Great American Cities) whom he met while living in Toronto. Berridge provides a “world urban tour,” chronicling his travels, his impressions, and urban projects in subsequent chapters centered on large international metropolitan areas (New York, Singapore, London, Manchester, Belfast, Toronto, Sydney and Shanghai). In the final chapter he once again notes the long-standing arguments between adherents of Jacobs and Robert Moses, then summarizes questions for the future based on his own “Urban Fixer's Global Search for Magic in the Modern Metropolis.” Of potential interest to students considering a career in urban planning, Berridge’s text is very readable and filled with stories, sentiment and some sweeping statements. Overall, it seems more akin to a travelogue than a book on public policy (he does raise concerns and issues), and although Berridge offers an index there is little help for researchers in terms of notes or bibliography.