Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew composed of several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the U.S. four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing." The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chances of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, and on impulse he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory to disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.
Dubus tells his tragic tale from the viewpoints of the two main adversaries, Behrani and Kathy. To both of them, the house represents something more than just a place to live. For the colonel, it is a foot in the door of the American dream; for Kathy, a reminder of a kinder, gentler past. In prose that is simple yet evocative, House of Sand and Fog builds to its inevitable denouement, one that is painfully dark but unfailingly honest.
365 pages
paper back and e-books
6 comments:
you have my vote on this one
Lets read this!
i vote yes for this book!..Janet
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III Has been added to our reading list also...for Sept
a recent review:
I read this book because it was one of my first book club's first picks a while back. I have to be honest, I was not looking forward to it when the member unveiled the title. I had heard the movie was horrible, slow and boring, and so I assumed the book couldn't be any better. That said -
I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!
It was one of those books that I would wait excitedly all day just to get home from work and read! I LOVE it when this happens! Even the fact that my expectations were low so the reward was greater doesn't take away the bottom line - this book was fantastic! Now let me tell you why.
The characters, Behrani and Kathy, were written so well that I felt VERY powerful emotion while I was reading. Kathy was disgusting and made my skin crawl and Behrani was so pathetic that I wanted to cry over his misfortunes. The plot is compelling. You think "what's so great about two people fighting over a house?" but the house is just the vehicle for the telling of their separate life stories. I immediately sided with Behrani and hated Kathy! No matter what happened to her I couldn't help but feel like she was a delusional, immature brat! I won't spoil the ending but it was definitely a serious surprise.
I also want to note that House of Sand and Fog book produced, far and away, the BEST book club discussion I've ever had. Not surprisingly the rest of my group had very strong reactions to the characters as well. What was interesting is that half of us sided with Behrani while the other half sided with Kathy. I went to the meeting expecting everyone to hate Kathy as much as I did and was totally shocked when half my group felt just as strong of a hate for my Behrani!
It doesn't matter what type of a reader you are or what you prefer - this is a MUST read.
A little about our next Author:
Andre Dubus III grew up in mill towns on the Merrimack River along the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. He began writing fiction at age 22 just a few months after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelors Degree in Sociology. Because he prefers to write in the morning, going from "the dream world to the dream world", as the Irish writer Edna O'Brien puts it, he took mainly night jobs: bartender, office cleaner, halfway house counselor, and for six months worked as an assistant to a private investigator/bounty hunter. Over the years he's also worked as a self-employed carpenter and college writing teacher.
Dubus is married to performer Fontaine Dollas Dubus. They reside in Newburyport, Massachusetts with their three children.
Andre Dubus III's aunt is the novelist Elizabeth Nell Dubus, mother of DeLaune Michel, also a novelist. His first cousin, once removed, is the acclaimed writer James Lee Burke, author of over thirty novels and short story collections and two-time winner of the Edgar Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year. James Lee Burke’s youngest daughter is the novelist Alafair Burke.
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