Rating: 
Summary: ENGROSSING PROSE
Review: A small bungalow house with an ocean view becomes the catalyst of destruction for three characters in this amazing effort by Andre Dubus. Each wants the house for their personal reasons, and each violates their moral fabric to possess it. However, in the cleverness of Dubus, the house is only a ruse for displaying the human experience at it's rawest. The story is character driven, speeding at 100 mph, swerving dangerously, crossing lanes without thought to safety. You may want to swerve away, but you cannot!!! You are pinned into this experience, sensing the probable drastic outcome. What will happen? Will tragedy be averted? Will all collide into carnal wreckage? Dubus is masterful at keeping you so attached to the imperfect trio, your eyes accelerate across the words, while your trembling fingers flip pages. The prose is as powerful as dynamite, yet as fragile as a butterfly wing. Read this book, and witness a novel of aggregated impeccability.
Rating: 
Summary: Unlikeable villians crash landing
Review: The writing style was decent, as was the story of the rise-and-fall of an Iranian military family. The author effectively captured the anguish of this troubled family who left a life of wealth and priveledge in Iranian high society following a military coup and now must struggle to rebuild their world in the U.S. This single component of the book was quite interesting. But that's as good as it gets. The rest of the story involved miserable people doing really stupid things, all culminating in a finale of destruction. It just kept getting worse and worse until finally crash landing into a void. There was no triumphant victory of the human spirit, no refreshed perspective, and no new-found respect for any of the pitiful characters. You never felt a desire to campaign on anyone's behalf. Nothing was gained or learned by the end of the book. This was a feel-bad book that just kept getting worse and worse until coming to an abrupt ending. In the end, everyone loses, including the reader.
Rating: 
Summary: What was all the hype about?
Review: This book by no means sucked me in... I struggled in the beginning, but hung in there. I don't quite get why it was such a hit...oh yeah, Oprah uttered the title... It it an ok story. The author's desciptive style was enjoyable and I could certainly 'picture' exactly what was happening. I found it slow and draggy with not a lot of pulp. It came highly recommended to me by a male friend, he let me borrow his copy, I am in no hurry to own it...
Rating:
Summary: Sad but True
Review: One of the best novels I've read this year, I became totally absorbed in Dubus' modern tragedy. For me, he highlighted some basic truths. First, that most significant problems in life don't have a simple answer-things are never black and white. Second, things are often not as they appear to us at face value-Our past experiences, upbringings etc. color our perspective. I believe there was a workable solution to Behrani and Kathy's disagreement, but their narrow perspectives didn't allow them to even explore such a possibility. All of Dubus' characters were excellently developed so that I felt I understood exactly where they were coming from, even if I didn't agree with them. Also his description of Iranian culture was very interesting. The portrayal of the clash of cultures and moral views was very effective.
Rating:
Summary: Clashing Cultures
Review: The beginning of this story was like coming upon a traffic accident on the highway. We slow down, sometimes stop, knowing full well that there could be a chance that we will be repulsed, shocked or sickened. But, we stop and look anyway - that's how I felt when I began this story. I didn't really want things to come to "a head", but I couldn't have "driven by" without stopping to see what happened. I had to continue to read this book.Kathy; Les and the Colonel all made huge mistakes. They all had their own agendas and each was going to continue on their chosen path, for their own reasons. Esmail was the very best character, and he ultimately paid the highest price for the rest of them. I felt the writing was good, with strong characterizations. I could see the widow's walk being built, smell the sawdust and feel the fog closing in on the house. I could hear a shot ring out on a warm, sunny day - I could feel the desperation of the characters. Those are things that indicate to me a good story, by a very talented writer. The story will envelop and capture you, just like a murky, foggy day.
Rating:
Summary: The triumph of alcoholism
Review: This book did have some fascinating passages. The opinions and reflections of Behrani were particularly interesting. However, there was just one basic fact that kept the whole thing on the wrong track - Kathy Nicolo behaved like an irresponsible child. If her house meant so much to her, after the first warning from the county tax office it is unthinkable that she should let any mail from them go unopened, regardless of her state of mind or spirit caused by the desertion of her husband. She then procedes to compound that stupidity by getting and staying drunk, screwing around like an alley cat with a married man, and refusing for NO good reason to do the one thing that would likely result in the legal return of her house: follow her attorney's advice and sue the county. These errors were compounded by her refusing to ask for help from the very people who could actually have helped her- her family, who , because they were part owners in the house would have had an interest in retaining it for themselves. There was nothing likeable or pleasant about her and certainly nothing that I can imagine anyone's, even Lester Burdon's, finding attractive. It is a very grave annoyance to me to spend the time it took to read ( actually listen to )this book to discover that its plot was based on one woman's disregard for the law, for ridiculous and ignorant responses to the structures of civilization and indecent behavior. To demand from the rightful and legitimate owner of a piece of property that HE return it when the civil government was at fault is in itself a faulty foundation for such a long story. I can see how this kind of a stupid thing could come to pass with such a lethal combination of bad judgement , alcohol and laziness. I wish I had my 20 hours back!
Rating:
Summary: suicide prevention
Review: this was the most depressing book i have read in many years. i do not recommend it to any one who has bouts of depression. its advertised as a greek tragedy and it lives up to that.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't judge it by the characters
Review: The basic premise of this story is quite simple - Kathy Nicolo is evicted from her house due to a county tax bungle. Mr Behrani, an exiled colonel from the Shah's Iran, buys the house in an auction. One of the cops who help evict Kathy from the house, Lester, becomes involved in a relationship with Kathy. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as the basic premise, and the sub-plots of these three characters, their pasts and actions, blend and spiral together into a distressing vortex of a no-win situation. Much has been made of the fact that none of the three main characters - Kathy, Behrani and Lester - are particularly likeable, and it's true. You find it very hard to feel sorry when bad things happen to these people - they seem to bring things upon themselves, sometimes in spectacular fashion. It is a measure of how good this book actually is when you want to keep reading to find out what is going to happen, even if you don't particularly empathise with the characters. That is not to say there are no faults with this book - the author's attempts to reveal Lester's motivations are extremely cliched and pretty boring. The ending may be a bit melodramatic for some, but I found it entirely plausible in the context of the build-up within the story. If you are looking for a cutting insight into modern America, there are other novels that could do a better job. But if you are looking for something a bit more modest, you have a good chance of enjoying this novel.
Rating:
Summary: A true love/hate reading experience
Review: The book is broken into two parts, and after completing "Part 1" I felt it was masterfully written and very original. "Part 2" was a crashing letdown I'm sorry to say. The honesty of the tale in "Part 1" that made it so interesting is completely tossed to allow the TV-movie-of-the-week melodrama to unfold in "Part 2." The actions of the characters, particularly the cop Les, in "Part 2" are so ridiculous I became irritated with the author who had impressed me so much earlier in the novel. I feel he could have come to the same sort of inevitable tragic ending without the ridiculous melodrama we end up with in "Part 2". His editor should've thrown the "Part 2" half of the manuscript back at him and yelled, "Re-write!" A real disappointment. How could a book with so much originality and honesty be saddled with such a phony-baloney conclusion?
Rating:
Summary: Page Turner
Review: As I read this book, I was amazed by the depth of characters. I found myself disliking almost everyone in the book, and feeling sorry for the main character. At times I got so annoyed with everyone for their inability to communicate that I wanted to put the book down for good but I couldn't. This book was a tragedy of the human condition -- it was a lesson in cultural differences, and in the pressures people place on themselves. It depicted the worst in people, and yet it was a good book. It is not light reading, but it is a good read.
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