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 enlarge | Author: Andre Dubus Iii
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  749 reviews
Sales Rank: 13462
Media: Paperback
Edition: Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 365
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0375727345
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780375727344
ASIN: 0375727345
Publication Date: March 1, 2000
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Condition: all books are in good condition, correct edition as listed, great deal fast shipping
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| Customer Reviews:
 Mixed Feelings July 2, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Rating this novel was extremely difficult because the book left me with very mixed feelings. The writing and imagery were magnificent and certainly worthy of five shining stars. Some of the plotlines and characterizations, however, were relatively disappointing. The characters of Lester and Kathy evoked a lot of anger and frustration, which may have been the author's intention, but their overwhelming selfishness, ignorance, and simplicity was a bit over the top. Their "love" affair was also a bit over the top and Lester's instant devotion was difficult to swallow considering he was essentially a confused adulterer who violently abused his power as a police officer and somewhat took advantage of a troubled woman who had nothing left to lose. This wasn't as emotional a read as I was expecting because it was almost impossible to sympathize with half of the key characters (mainly Lester and more often than not Kathy). I do, however, commend the author for the unique and intriguing cultural perspective he weaved throughout the book.
wow! June 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Even though the ending was spoiled for me ( didn't finish in time for book club) I was captivated enough to finish anyway. I really enjoyed the story. Very well written. I highly recomend this one. ( The film was pretty good too!)
 Disappointing in Every Aspect. June 4, 2007
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
From the very first paragraph, you know this book is going to be depressing. What you don't know is that it's going to be a headache to get through. Each character is shallow and has the Shakespearian-quality of making ridiculously rash decisions inevitably leading to tragic consequences. I especially found the author's attempts to mesh the Persian culture in every other sentence irritating. What bothered me the most about this novel, however, was that I felt no empathy for a single character --save for the Colonel's son--a character who was kept far in the background. The narratives were too drawn-out and ridiculously infused with self-pity. Throughout the novel, I began to despise the characters more and more, and by the action-laden end (strange because the rest of the novel took so long to pick up), I felt totally disappointed. I had expected so much more from this book because the idea was brilliant.
 Terminally tragic, this is a novel that will sadden, depress, frustrate and in the end, well... May 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I found that the main feeling I had throughout this entire reading experience was a solid mix of frustration and anger. Frustration at the entire situation these two completely different people find themselves in and anger at the fact that they insist on making things that much worse with every desperate decision they make. Frustration in the mere fact that the writer, Andre Dubus III, didn't take a step back and realize that his novel, while spectacularly imagined, was just too long and drawn out for it to be completely satisfying and angry at his publishers for not making him do so. `House of Sand and Fog' is overall fantastic, but I'm so torn because this is far from an easy breezy read and at times I even gave up all together, read two or three other novels, and then picked up only to repeat the process twenty pages later.
`House of Sand and Fog' is not by any means a waste of time, and if you can make it through the overly drawn out first half then the second will be a welcomed page-turner. In fact it took me months to get through to the second part of the novel, and just two days to finish it if that gives you a better perspective. It's not that I wasn't involved in these characters, because I was, but I was just waiting for something, anything to happen that glued me to the page.
If you've seen the film adaptation you pretty much know what to be looking for. The movie was faithful to the prose in many ways. The book here too revolves around Kathy Nicolo, a reformed alcoholic whose husband has left her alone and is still struggling to keep her life from falling apart. She's depressed and repressed from the rest of her family, avoiding their critical eye every chance she can. When her house is wrongfully taken from her due to a county error she is thrown out in the street and her house, her fathers house, is sold promptly at an auction for a very, very lowball price. The new owner of the house, Massoud Amir Behrani, a one time colonel of the Iranian military, has his own reasons for wanting this home. Coming from a place where he was respected as a god almost and now residing in a land where he's left to pick up trash on the streets Behrani just wants a chance at making back what he lost, and this real estate investment looks to be his ticket.
When the county realizes their error they offer to buy back the house from Mr. Behrani, but he won't sell unless he can flip it and make three times what he paid for it. The county of course refuses and Kathy is left on her own to fight for her home. She's not alone for long, for Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon decides to throw away his family and his career to help Kathy regain what she unfairly lost.
What separates this novel from the film is that with each character flushed out the way they are here we can really become attached to each and every person involved, from Kathy and her pangs of failing her family once again to Mr. Behrani struggling to make a good life for his family, both of whom must battle their pride which won't allow them to back away from this losing battle. The end is even more heartbreaking than that of the film and goes to show that Hollywood, while never having a problem with jerking a tear, always tries and sugarcoat what at times should be left tarnished and rusted. The ending here is far from sugarcoated.
Other than the monotonous first half (I'm serious here, I never realized it would take so long to get through 199 pages, but it did) the only complaint I have is the simplicity and or maybe just plain stupidity of the man known as Lester Burdon. He is one of the more annoying and just plain aggravating characters of modern literature, for me at least, and in the end he proves to be the biggest problem to any of the characters in this book. When Kathy is going on and on in the end about not wanting to have involved Lester and not wanting him to suffer because of her actions I felt like slapping her in the face and reminding her that this whole mess is HIS FAULT! Anyways, now maybe you can see why I refer to this novel as frustrating.
So, my final feelings towards this novel are...read it...plain and simple. It's such a powerful piece of literature despite its shortcomings. Do I wish that maybe Andre decided to do some trimming? Sure. Do I wish that Lester was more than just a control hungry nymphomaniac with no regard for the well being of his own family? Of course. But in the end the passion and truth this novel exposes more than makes up for the issues I have with its delivery.
Delicate Depiction of How Pride and Stubbornness Destroy Good People May 3, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
. In this thoughtful, harrowing story, Dubus explores how the quest for the American dream can go so wrong. Massoud Amir Behrani is a proud former Iranian colonel who was forced to flee his country just steps ahead of the revolutionaries who would have killed Behrani and his entire family. Now Behrani works on a construction crew in California by day and as a convenience store cashier by night support his wife, teenage daughter and son. His life's savings has been gobbled up by his wife's expensive attempts to make fellow Iranian refugees believe that the Behranis are still rich and powerful. On the verge of financial ruin, Behrani makes one last desperate attempt to seize the American dream. He uses the last of his savings to buy a home which has been auctioned by the county. But the house's former owner, Kathy Niccolo, a recovering alcoholic down on her luck is determined to regain her home at any cost. And her lover, a local cop is willing to go to any lengths to force the Behranis to leave their new home. Dubus has crafted a tragic story in which the reader can sympathize with each character. There are no villains, only misguided, stubborn human beings whose blind obsessions make the horrific end inevitable.
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