Rating: 
Summary: A haunting, beautiful and disturbing book
Review: Massoud Behrani is a proud Iranian, now an American citizen. For all his genuine integrity, his pride is his downfall. In the deepest recesses of his heart, he resents his family for their failure to comprehend their true economic plight. But ultimately he has only himself to blame because he will not, cannot, level with them. Behrani is all too typical of a unique class of immigrant, a foreigner of former high rank, who despises his new contemporaries yet desperately strives to fit in.When at last his beautiful daughter has made a suitable marriage, her family feel free to leave the ostentatious rented apartment they had maintained for appearances. Behrani precipitously purchases a small house near San Francisco for a laughably low price at auction. With no forewarning he forces his wife and son to move to the house, which he sees as the keystone of a comfortable future investing in real estate. His neurotic wife and his handsome young son do rise admirably to the occasion, and he thinks he is at last on the road to success. When his ownership of the house is potentially threatened due to a county bureaucratic error in evicting the wrong owner from the wrong house, he becomes arrogant; or rather, he becomes more arrogant, for even when he was admirably slogging away at the most menial of jobs, he held Americans and most of his fellow immigrants, in disdain, and insisted on reminding others that he was Colonel Behrani of the now-defunct air force of the hated Shah. Perhaps if he had shown the least iota of compassion for the pretty but fragile and aimless Kathy Nicolo, herself in a tenuous state of recovery from substance abuse, things might have been different. She has recently been dumped by her husband; it seems to have pushed her into a state of numb inertia. A sympathetic married deputy sheriff (with the heavily symbolic name of "Les Burdon") presides at her eviction, but he becomes unaccountably infatuated with her, and they start an affair. Les Burdon does not live up to his name, however, as. while professing to love Kathy, he inexorably drags her down. First, on her own, she gives in to the urge to start cigarettes again. In no time she is chain smoking, heavily. Soon, in denial, she begins drinking along with her lover, telling herself that her problem has been cocaine and not booze. Even for a loser like Kathy, she seems to drift too easily into Les's pathetic, straying aura as he dumps his wife and children and endangers his job by attempting to strong-arm the Behranis in an attempt to help her. His motivation seems a little irrational; his wife seems to be a far more attractive and worthwhile human being than Nicolo, but then, he proves to be a weak man. He has often felt like an imposter and a down-and-out victim like Kathy may be what he thinks he deserves. The main characters are alternately appealing and repellent. Their inexorable descent into tragedy seems at once inevitable and totally avoidable. At times it is hard to believe that three human beings (Behrani, Nicolo, and Burdon) who individually have struggled so far in life can fall so quickly. But the superb writing and scene-setting makes it all plausible, and virtually tangible. On the rare occasion when the writer seems to be reaching, his prose is nonetheless riveting. I ultimately judge a book by the impression it leaves with me, and this story, these protagonists, keep reappearing to me throughout the day. This is a good book. This is a great book.
Rating: 
Summary: Huck Finn revisited
Review: I found House of Sand and Fog to be a quick read, kept my interest and provided some opportunities for reflection not only on American society but also how we humans get ourselves into nearly insurmountable problems. A good dose of common sense seemed to be lacking on the part of everyone: Kathy for not opening her mail and/or being honest with her family, especially her mother. Behrani for refusing to do the right thing in returning the house; the county for overstepping its bounds in seizing the house; Lester for being so stupid as to let his hormones ruin himself and his family, but and most of all Kathy for not sueing the pants off (pardon the expression!) everyone in sight. After the main story and plot were developed, I felt as if Dubus couldn't figure out how to get his characters out of this situation. So he went for a tragic, almost unbelieveable version to tie up the ends. Which reminds me of the wonderful Huck Finn--where Twain had spun unforgettable characters, designed an intricate plot, made important comment on the society of the time, but then wound up with one of the stupidest most implausibe endings in all of literature. Andre, at least you are in good company!
Rating:
Summary: What a downer!
Review: Although this book is well-written and superbly paced, the fact that the main characters are so unsympathetic detracts from its readability and suspense. With the exception of Behrani's 14-year-old son, everyone in this book is self-destructive, selfish and shortsighted. Their lives are out of control, sometimes to the point where you just don't want to hear about it anymore; they become boring in their outrageousness. I found myself not caring whether either Kathy or Behrani got what they wanted in the end (which removed much of the suspense), and I actually felt some relief when I put the book down, though what I mostly felt was depressed and discouraged.
Rating: 
Summary: Very thought provoking
Review: Even though I've been disappointed in most of the book of the month picks, I selected this book because of Oprah. I was very pleasantly surprised. While I usually enjoy mind candy; happily-ever-after types, I thoroughly enjoyed the message this book gave me. We all live our lives based on our own perceptions of truth. But the truth is, we can only judge another persons actions after walking a mile in their shoes, so to speak. The author's empathy toward ALL the characters impressed me, and I finished this book with the feeling that I (and everybody else I know) am too quick to stereotype and judge people I don't know. For instance, I believe the negative reviewers of this book just didn't 'get it'. But then, who am I to judge?
Rating:
Summary: Who is the rightful owner of the "American Dream?"
Review: In the House of Sand and Fog we see different people coming from different directions trying to own a piece of the "American Dream", a house that represents the future. Who does the future belong to? Kathy Nicolo a young woman who has inherited half of the house from his father and her big brother who owns the other half is graciously letting her use it for now? Or the old colonel whoes only dream after working hard to make sure his daughter was properly married to a suitable husband is to make some money thru real estate dealings to get enough money for the education of his young son? Or does the "American Dream" belong to a middle aged police officer whoes job is to chase and arrest bad people specially the wife and child abusers and he turns out to be one of those bad people himself? At the end of the book the reader reaches the conclusion that no body is really a winner in this nasty game and the House of Sand and Fog will remanain empty and back on the market for another bunch of people such as the ones we just met in the book to pursue their "American Dream". I thought that the writer could have done some more research in getting the facts right because as an Iranian I know he commited some mistakes in language as well as costumes but all of that is more than forgiven by the spirit that the book conveys.
Rating: 
Summary: I stopped reading halfway through
Review: The book started off with an interesting plot, but then it deteriorated into absurdity. The characters lost all plausability. I didn't have the desire to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: unforgivable inconsistencies
Review: This would be a great novel if there hadn't been the glaring plot hole in Chapter 3, when the Yellow Moon Owl is first introduced. I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't read it. It is still an interesting read...I would have given it a 4.5 or a 5.0 were it not for the Yellow Moon Owl inconsistency. But because of such an inexcusable flaw (which will rear its head later, starting in Chapter 9 and snowballing from there), I cannot give this book more than 2 stars. Mr. Dubus, I suggest you get either get a proofreader or concentrate more on doing your research on Yellow Moon Owls.
Rating: 
Summary: House of Sand and Fog
Review: As a resident of the book's setting, the SF Bay Area of California, I was intrigued about the book -- unfortunately, the anticipation of reading it was the best part! This has to be one of the worst books I've ever read! I don't quite understand the critical acclaim it's been getting -- I would compare this book to a trashy romance novel. This is a sorry tale about Sheriff Lester Burdon who cheats on his wife and falls in love/lust with a Kathy Niccolo who is broke, homeless and is constantly having visions of he ex-husband who dumped her. The other main character of the book, former Col. Behrani was a man completed in denial of his current lot in life which is a trash picker by day and 7 Eleven cashier by night. I found this book re-enforcing of negative ethnic stereotypes and a total waste of one's time.
Rating:
Summary: infusion
Review: You will become infused with the fog that pervades this book and it will haunt you. Start to read this novel and you will not be able to put it down. You want to enter their world and shake them or lecture them or at least find out what drives them. The characters are drawn meticulously and you will never forget them.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Tragedy...
Review: House of Sand and Fog is a classic tragedy. It brilliantly and clearly shows you the people that will be drawn together, into a downward spiraling of events. An immigrant who was an important man in his homeland, a cop in an empty marriage, and a young woman who has been involved with drugs and abandoned by her husband, are leading their own lives when events place the same California bungalow at the center of each of their lives. The house becomes a way for each person to surmount the obstacles in their way and to make a fresh new start. Not everyone can have the house at once, and that is the predicament that swirls at the center of this novel. What end will each player go to, to ensure that they are the one to be successful? How far over the line will each one dare to go, and at what point is there no turning back? This was a dark novel, very vivid in the descriptions of both physical surroundings(the fog, the woods etc.) and emotional outlook of each character. The story quickly pulls the reader in and is an excellent novel.
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