Rating: 
Summary: You Must Have a Copy of This Book!
Review: This is a fantastic book, one that will grab you from the very first pages and not let go. The premise -- two families vying for their reasonable right to the same house, yet neither will give an inch -- is just incredible as it builds in awful anticipation. This theme of the struggle between equally vested parties is very compelling to me -- my other favorite novel of the year, Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf, facing down the struggle for land between Native Americans and more recent arrivals -- in a surprisingly entertaining way -- echoes some of the chords that Dubus plays so beautifully. Reading House of Sand and Fog is like listening to the kind of music you like best, played by a virtuoso, but someone in the orchestra is frightfully ill. This review doesn't do the book justice, though, please do read it.
Rating: 
Summary: House of Jekyl and Hide
Review: Mark Bowes, I couldn't agree with you more! The first half reads as a fast-paced, solid story which manages to be insightful and reflective while keeping the action alive. It was very grounded, and seemed like many real-life legal and personal battle happening every day. But when the wheels come off, when the characters begin behaving in outrageous, completely unrealistic ways, the story degenerates into a lurid TV Movie of the Week. Just as this soft-spoken novel turns into melodrama, the author begins using more obvious, cliche literary devices, as well. Whenever a character does something completely unpredictable and violent, the next chapter gives us a flashback to a damaging event from that character's point of view. As if the reader will be comforted by extra exposition. Surely, there has to be a better way to invoke sympathy, keep the reader interested, and move the story along!
Rating:
Summary: A Haunting Story
Review: Kathy, a recovering addict and alcoholic, loses her bungalow in California due to a bureaucratic snafu. She has been sunk in the depths of misery following her husband's desertion, and doesn't even open her mail. Colonel Behrani, formerly an officer in the Shah's army, buys Kathy's house at auction, for a fraction of its actual value, but a price that takes all of his savings. He sees the house as a way out of his job as a "garbage general"---spearing trash on the side of highways--and an entree into a world of real estate investing and respect within the Iranian community. Kathy is forcibly moved out of her house and becomes involved with the sheriff's deputy, Lester, who served her eviction papers. All Kathy wants is her old life and her house back and all of her actions from this point on are directed toward that goal. The stories of the Colonel and Kathy converge, with Dubus presenting both sides of this dilemma in a way that leaves the reader feeling that both parties are in the right in their desire for a decent life and a decent place to live. Unfortunately, both cannot win in the situation as it exists , and the plot moves toward disaster. I found this book to be very well written--Dubus carefully reveals the characters' flaws as well as the flaws in the system without ever making a judgment. I found myself having very strong feelings about these characters, always a sign of good writing. I would highly recommend this book, probably one of the most powerful novels I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: House of Anxiety
Review: Dubus does a great job of developing his two main characters. Their first person narratives give the reader a real sense of their motives and an understanding of their - sometimes questionable - behavior. It is soon clear that these two are on a collision course and the reader's anxiety increases to an uncomfortable level near the novel's final pages. However, although the ending seemed inevitable, and Colonel Behrani and Kathy were quite believable, Lester's behavior was not easy to buy - this is the novel's only real flaw. An exciting read.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely engaging
Review: This book was such page turner, I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. It built up to such a climax...I knew something was going to happen but had no idea what it would be. I enjoyed this book immensely!! Please read this book!!!
Rating:
Summary: FROM DREAM TO NIGHTMARE
Review: A skillfully crafted novel, "House of Sand and Fog" describes what happens when the American Dream becomes an uncontrollable nightmare. Battle-lines are drawn over a small house in the California hills, whose ownership is contested by two parties. In one camp sits Kathy Nicolo and her lover, Sheriff Lester Burdon. Kathy has lost the house due to a clerical error and Lester has become obsessed with exacting justice for his lover. In the other camp resides the Bahrani's, an Iranian family who purchased the house at a legal auction. To the proud Iranian patriarch, the house represents his last-ditch effort to restore his family's honor. Dubus's characters are fully-drawn and the plot is laid out with an expert hand. Misunderstanding slowly escalates into conflict which leads to a gut-wrenching climax. "House of Sand and Fog" stands as a superbly-written, modern cautionary tale.
Rating:
Summary: Super story
Review: Mr. Dubus has written a book with incredible insight. The two major players Kathy and Lester are destined for tragedy from their first encounter. They are dependent because of screw ups earlier in lives. But the author gives you more than you ask for. He describes sex in more detail than you want. He describes kisses in more detail than you want. He even can make you squirm a bit just describing body functions that are as routine as drinking water. And at first I thought the details were crude and unnecessary. But I learned otherwise. These details make you understand how real these characters are. He does the same thing with the anti-hero Behrani and his family. He details the odors, the customs, the habits of these people to such an extent that you end up feeling their emotions. The story captures you with detail and empathy. You connect with the good and the evil. You become engrossed with the feelings, the minds and the souls of the characters. You want to keep reading to learn about the people as much as to see what happens. Great reading. One of those unexpected joys of the summer.
Rating:
Summary: Cultural Conflict in the Bay Area
Review: Fog pervades Andre Dubus III's award-winning novel, sometimes literally as he describes the weather in the San Francisco Bay Area, but mostly figuratively, as a representation of the mental states of his three main characters. Kathy Nicolo, a down-on-her-luck recovering addict, Lester Burdon, a clean-nosed county sheriff, and Colonel Behrani, a once-wealthy exiled Iranian, find their lives intertwined in this thought-provoking drama. All three characters are severely flawed, their actions reprehensible and their motives suspect, but at various points in the novel, Dubus successfully brings the reader into each character's corner. As the narrative flows, the reader not only questions the characters, but also himself and his reactions to their choices. This is an excellent book.
Rating: 
Summary: A novel about men
Review: This novel is about men. It is about men staking their claim for what they feel they rightfully deserve; women, property, status, honor - and what they will endure and sacrifice to achieve it. Two men from different cultures, but both haunted by their past - both feeling they no longer control their own lives nor are living the life they deserve. Lester, a deputy sheriff, is haunted by a childhood victimized by bullies, and who now uses his position of authority to balance the score. Behrani is an ex-colonel from the Shah of Iran's ruthless authoritarian military dictatorship who was forced to flee his homeland with the advent of the Islamic revolution, escaping with his life, his family, and a tidy sum of loot. But Behrani's booty is running low and he has been reduced to working menial jobs to maintain his family's extravagant life style and to keep up appearances with his exiled peers. The plot device is Kathy, an ex-drug abuser whose husband has recently departed and finds herself living alone in a house bought for her by her deceased father. Due to a clerical mistake Kathy is evicted from her house and at the ensuing auction Behrani purchases it for an absurdly low price. She meets Lester, who's marriage is on the rocks, and they quickly become lovers. For Lester, Kathy represents all the people who are taken advantage of by others, be it bullies or bureaucrats, and becomes obsessed with getting the house back for her, whatever it may take. Behrani purchases Kathy's house with the intent of selling it for a large profit and reasserting his own self worth, both monetarily and emotionally. The two men are unwilling to relent, and the outcome is equally disasterous. This is a book about control - about men trying to control their lives and the lives of the women around them. And ironically, this is the book's greatest weakness, for Dubus has crafted a story in which he himself seems too much in control. He has carefully inserted all the requisite pieces: the emotionally vulnerable women, the strong but silent men, the love affair, the slowly but steadily rising tension, the violent climax, and the sacrificial lamb. The book seems *too* neatly constructed and way too stereotyped. For example, when a female character handles a gun it is to attempt suicide, while a man wields the same weapon for control and dominance. The women are irresponsible, drug-addicted, teary eyed, male-dependent characters who resort to that oh-so-feminine method of conflict resolution - communication. The men are strong, silent, unyielding, duty bound leaders willing to resort to violence rather than show any signs of weakness. The story continually made me think about male Homo-sapien behavior as seen by behavioral evolutionists. Dubus writes with a sure hand and has created a compelling story with memorable characters - I hope next time he exercises his talents in a less sexist, less predictable fashion.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, dark, gripping tale
Review: A very interesting tale of a woman and her house, her interpersonal relationships, enormously self-destructive characters, and what happens when the main character loses the only thing she really has in her life (her San Francisco bungalow). Although I found it hard to really 'get into' The House of Sand and Fog, the more I learned about the characters, the more I wanted to read, and the more interested I became. Andre Dubus did a superb job telling both sides of the story, wanting everyone to end up living in the house together - happily. The characters were flawed, and Dubus does a wonderful job showing all sides of his characters. A depressing ending, but worth reading.
|
