Rating: 
Summary: Thought Provoking!
Review: Although I finished reading this book over a month ago, I cannot get it out of my mind. I couldn't wait to discuss it with a friend when she finished reading it. I am the wife of a retired military colonel and have lived abroad for half of my life. I can understand how an immigrant would feel if something like this happened to them. It is so tragic. Trying to make a go of it in America is not as easy as one would think! The author was able to bring the cultural differences or "culture shock" that living in an unknown country brings to the reader! A great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Foggy Research
Review: A disorganized woman winds up having her house auctioned by her county for failure to pay a tax which was mistakenly levied against her. Never was there mention of a certified, return receipt requested letter sent to her. Nor was she given the difference between the auctioned price and the taxes extracted. The bill was for $500 and the home was auctioned for $45,000. After the taxes and expenses were paid, the balance of the monies auctioned would have gone to the prior homeowner. But that wouldn't have created as dramatic a scenario as Dubus wished. Nor once the county acknowledged that they auctioned Ms. Nicolo's house by mistake, did any official offer to meet with her to resolve matters. The underlying structure of this book is so flawed that it made the bizarre circumstances that followed seem ridiculous. Government can screw up and does many times. It's unnecessary, therefore, to create a novel based on a flaw that wouldn't have happened. Comparing this writer to Dreiser is a grotestque compliment to Dubus. This novel was ludicrous.
Rating:
Summary: House of Depression
Review: Boy was this a depressing novel. I love Oprah's show, it's so uplifting, but her book list leaves room for improvement. This was a book about people in a lose, lose situation with no lesson in sight. Read this book if you suffer from being too happy.
Rating:
Summary: What an amazing book!
Review: This is not the type of book I generally read so what possessed me to do so I'm not sure. . .but, this is truely a wonderful story right up to it's tragic ending. I thought it amazing how the author could write from two so totally different perspectives and give those characters meaning to me. I had a hard time putting it down, so anxious was I to find out the end of the tale. It's worth your time to read!
Rating: 
Summary: Tragedy on all acounts
Review: Dubus magnificently captures the speech and thinking of the Iranian immigrant who comes from power and wealth to a false existence in America. Behrani, like him or hate him, is driven to make a high class, honorable life for his wife and son, after pulling off a marriage coup for his daughter. His plan includes the most menial of labor for income, and the disguised good life in which he seems to live a life of ease. It also includes the purchase of an auction block house, put there by non-payment of back taxes, a house that will bring the downfall of Behrani and his family, as well as the life of Kathy Nicolo and her insanely driven good-cop-gone-bad lover.Nicolo and her lover deteriorated into people I could not tolerate. And as Behrani fought them off, he, too, declined to his most despicable, destructive self. In general, Behrani and his family, especially his wife and son, gained my sympathy. I don't see this novel as being so important that it is pivotal in my reading experience. But it is a very different take on the immigrant experience and I am grateful for the picture Dubus gives me of the Behrani family and their culture. I don't think that there are any simple rights and wrongs here. Instead I am reminded of the classic tragedies in great literature where resolution results in total destruction. Very sad indeed!
Rating:
Summary: The Unappealing Parts
Review: I had a hard time picturing Kathy reminding the colonel & his wife of their beautiful daughter. What stood out in my mind was her smoker's breath, smelly body, & dirty clothes. I agree with the reader who did not like the name "Les Burdon." His crooked mustache and cowboy clothes made me think he was pretty gross to look at.
Rating:
Summary: Nurse Jane from Va
Review: When I first picked up the book to see if I wanted to read it, I thought the premise of two people fighting over a house didn't have much appeal as a plot line. Once I started reading, I was immediately drawn into the conflict because of the way the author wrote alternately from each character's perspective in presenting their case for ownership of the house. Kathy and the Colonel are sympathetic in spite of their weaknesses, but it didn't take long to see a happy ending was not in the cards. I made a mistake of putting down the book for several days, and in doing so, I missed some of the momentum as the story raced to it's inevitable conclusion. This book provides an extra bonus because it teaches a great deal about Iranian culture, especially of the exiled upper class who were supporters of the deposed Shah.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark and Disturbing
Review: This highly reccommended novel was a bit of a disappointment. Although not much of an exciting read while in the throes....it definately keeps you thinking for weeks to come. I guess that's something.....
Rating: 
Summary: House of Sand and Fog
Review: Andre Dubus has created some of the most finely crafted characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The characters are richly complex and painstakingly intricate. I had trouble picking a side between the woman desperate to hold on to the only possession that she feels she has left or the immigrant desperate to give his family the life he feels that they desrve. And you will never guess the surprise ending.
Rating:
Summary: YUCK!
Review: This book stunk worse than Kathy Nicolo's alcohol, cigarette, vomit breath.
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