Rating: 
Summary: Spellbinding!
Review: I was so drawn into this story, always wanting to read further. I was hoping the characters might all find a mutually agreeable solution. I didn't know until the end of the book in what ways the problem would resolve itself. I particularly appreciated that none of the characters were pure villains. I liked knowing what each was thinking-- his or her rationale for what he or she did. Each character was drawn in such a way as to understand "where they were coming from", and how these varied backgrounds affected their individual thinking and reasoning. Really interesting. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: I was lonely for days after finishing this book
Review: I missed everyone, even Les. As a Californian, I was appalled at inaccuracies about life here, but I also found the Colonel, his family, Kathy, and Les to exemplify Californians through and through. All of the characters except Les are "transplants," people who have lost their place and have come to us looking for something. We have so many in the same situation. Les, meanwhile, is one of a legion of lost souls who somehow started out okay, but became overwhelmed by...what? Choice? the cultural mix? the changing role/expectations of men? I dunno. The situation is both believable and terrifying. The quiet anonymity of bureaucracy often causes havoc in people's lives, and this cautionary tale shows that, even here in California, we are not the captains of our own fate. While I found that some of the sex and smoking scenes were less than riveting, these are believable characters living in a terrifying world. They react with all of the strengths and limitations of us all, and I miss their departure from my reading life.
Rating:
Summary: It could happen to you!
Review: The power of House of Sand and Fog is in creating sympathetic characters who are so much like people we know- or even ourselves- that as we see their lives unraveling, we realize that anyone's life can become a disaster. As we see Kathy, Lester, and Behrani lose everything as their lives begin an out of control downward spiral, we realize that our own lives could take a similar path as the result of even one unfortunate mistake. Yes, in some cases, the characters brought the disaster upon themselves as a result of poor decision making and irresponsible behavior. Yet, who hasn't ever done something that they later regretted? The difference is that often in life we can get away with our mistakes with relatively insignificant consequences and hopefully learn from them, but in House of Sand and Fog, there was no mercy- the characters paid for each mistake they made, and paid dearly, with each mistake leading to another and another until everything was out of control. With a mixture of bad luck and bad choices, anyone's life can go down the drain- even yours.
Rating: 
Summary: Edit please!
Review: The first 200 pages of this book contain some of the best prose I have read in a long time. Andre Dubus III has lived long enough to write substance, as his broken-more-than-once-nose in the picture in the start of the book proves. I noticed three problems with the book as a whole: one of location, one of perspective and one of rhythm. "Land of Sand and Fog" is described from two first-person perspectives, only not consequently. The first perspective belongs to a Persian immigrant, who tries to rebuild the life and dignity he left behind in Iran. The second one is looking through the eyes of a white woman given to substance abuse. When the woman's life spirals downward, her house is auctioned off because of what later turns out to be an administrative error. The purchase is a sweet deal to the Iranian, but one difficult to rectify for her. The woman becomes involved with a police officer, whose story becomes such an important part of the main story, that he deserves a first-person perspective of his own. Any editor would have picked up this error. I have noticed that writers often change the location of the story to echo the state of affairs of the main character's heart. In this book the Iranian travels back and forth from work, moves house, and visits an official at the police station. The white woman stays in a motel, sleeps in her car, and stays in her police boyfriend's borrowed shack in the forest, and drives up and down the coast sometimes by her old house. The policeman moves into the shack. These locations, although very well described, became too confining to me over the run of 350 pages. I can think of more variety if a character would have visited a church or mosque or a marriage counsellor. Then there is the problem of rhythm. The first superbly written 200 pages set the stage for a meltdown climax. It takes another 150 pages of some excellent and some mediocre writing to end the story. This should not have taken more than 50 pages. This book could have been great if only edited more ruthlessly. Kudos for the writer, but a disappointed headshake for the editor, Alane Salierno Mason. I am looking forward to Andre Dubus' next book, and hope I did not disjoint his nose.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking Page-Turner!
Review: I found this book incredibly compelling because, for a variety of reasons, every character is in the right and every character is in the wrong. This leads to a thought-provoking morality conflict where it quickly becomes apparent no one can win. I did care about all of the characters, which were well-developed. In fact I cared so deeply that I literally held my breath for the last 50 pages and had to flip through the end of the book to find out what happened so I could begin breathing and reading again. This is truly one of the best books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: spellbinding
Review: I have never read a better written novel. The descriptions are vivid and captivating. The characters are real people with real human weaknesses and as diverse as actual human beings. I wake up at night to read more!
Rating:
Summary: "House of Sand" Gets A Little Bogged
Review: "House of Sand and Fog" was a mixed bag. I found the first half of the book very compelling and wondered where this story would take me next. Ironically, in what should have been the most suspenseful part of the book -- Dubus started to lose me. For those who have read the novel, it came at the about three-quarters of the way through where the main adversaries (Kathy and Col. Behrani) are at the disputed house under startling circumstances. At that point, Dubus interrupts this particular narrative for a fairly lengthy examination of the third of the novel's twisted triad, Sheriff Lester Burdon. I finished the book (the last 100 pages or so) during one lazy afternoon, but it did not quite have the same grip on me that was there in the beginning. That said, it is still a generally well-written book (though I am a little surprised it was a National Book Award finalist) and an interesting examination of cultural differences and the ramifications of making bad choices in life. The characters are unlike any that I have met before and the plot was equally as original (though I cringe at the thought of what the Hollywood studios would do to it -- probably go for some kind of "Fatal Attraction" ending). It is a true downward spiral of a story and its ultimate conclusion has all the ingredients of a Shakespearean tragedy.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't believe I read the whole thing.
Review: Perhaps it was Oprah's promise that the last 100 pp would make it all worthwhile. Perhaps it was my reluctance and stubborn nature to say that the book just wasn't a fit for me. In any event, I did stay with it despite the thin plot, unlikable characters, unbelievable ending, and unending tedium. What a waste.
Rating: 
Summary: This book irritated me
Review: I haven't lived in Northern California since 1982. I was eleven years old when I left, and even I noticed the gross inacuracies in the setting. I don't understand the author's obsession with cosmetics. Neither grown women nor 16 year old girls wear bright pink blush. I don't even think you can buy bright pink blush. Somebody must have told Mr. Dubus that when a recovering alcoholic returns to drinking, they start up right where they left off. This is true in a lot of ways, but one does not try to kill herself and others after her first bender in 3 years. Kathy's behavior was COMPLETELY unbelievable, and I rolled my eyes through the entire nausiating episode (which irritated me even more because it took me that much longer to get through it.) I must say that the Behrani family was well drawn, and I enjoyed their part in the book, but I really wish it would have been just about them. The rest of it was, in my opinion, poorly thought out, and as I've said twice already, extremely irritating.
Rating:
Summary: Don' bother...
Review: Once again I feel the sting of having read a book, studying each line, reading each word...only to be disappointed. If you want to feel that you have spent several hours of your day in a wasted effort, i highly recommend you give this book a read. It leaves you unfulfilled, depressed, and somewhat confused. What starts out as strong character development and a study of a foreign culture disintegrates into sadness and misunderstanding. And i have yet to figure out the strong sexual undertones and graphic descriptions included in the book...perhaps i just don't get it. My mind is full of sand and fog...or maybe i just thought this book sucked.
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