[.ca] House of Sand and Fog (ISBN 0606202935)

From Amazon.com:
Oprah Book Club® Selection, November 2000: 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. --Alix Wilber

I should have read the reviews.:
675 people have reviewed The House of Sand and Fog for Amazon.com as I write this review and I was foolish enough to read this book before discovering what many of them had to say. I had seen the film and wanted to determine if the director had ruined Andre Dubus's novel. In a word, the answer is No. By and large, the film is faithful to the story. Kathy Nicolo has had her California seacoast bungalow unfairly put at auction by the county and a former Colonel in the Iranian Air Force has purchased the house to resell as soon as possible for a profit. The Colonel and his family will soon be out of money and the purchase and sale of the house are vitally important to keep them from poverty. Kathy tries to get her house back with help from Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon, who has become her lover. A bad situation soon becomes tragic for all concerned. Now that you know the story here's why you don't want to read the book, or see the movie, for that matter. The three main characters are cartoons, not real people. The worst is Deputy Burdon. We watch with incredulity as he invades the Colonel's home, locks the Colonel and his family in the bathroom for the night, and then plans to take the Colonel and his son to city hall to effect the transfer of the Colonel's property to Kathy, a person he knows is not the rightful owner of the house. Even the folks who enjoyed this book must have been shaking their heads at this unbelievable turn of events. We try to understand Lester's motivation and thought process, but this is not possible given the limited information Dubus has given us. Next is Kathy, a former drug addict and alcoholic who has now become a drunk again. Dubus tries to help us understand her. She is given the most development in the story, but Dubus does not have the skill to make her actions appear credible. Additionally, Dubus must have been watching Fatal Attraction and other Hollywood films where dead people come mysteriously to life to allow for some additional thrills at the end of the story. For those that want to read the book, I won't reveal what happens in the end except to say think Fatal Attraction. Lastly, we have Colonel Behrani, the former Iranian Air Force Officer. I don't know anything about Iranian officers, but I believe they are likely to be sensible people. Not Colonel Behrani. Perhaps he has been watching infomercials about buying property and selling it for a profit as a way of getting rich. Dubus doesn't tell us this, but it the only way to understand how a reasonable person would think that he could support his family and send his son to college by buying a house, even at a bargain, and then reselling it immediately as a way to live and prosper. In the end he is driven to despair and takes the action of a truly desperate man. Believing infomercials and acting on their advice might do this to some people. Those who buy this book after reading this and other negative reviews on Amazon might want to practice their speed reading skills. That would be the only benefit I can think of for purchasing The House of Sand and Fog.

This house will stand:
Tragic and fragile are the two words that come to mind when speaking about "House of Sand and Fog." The characters in this book will break your heart, and not always for the right reasons. What the main character goes through before the novel even really takes off, is just amazing and heartbreaking. And this person has one kind of luck--BAD. But what really made this book stand out for me was the style of writing. I'm usually one to stick with a bestseller like "Da Vinci Code" or "Bark of the Dogwood" but decided to give this one a shot, and all I can say is that the level of writing is beyond anything I could have imagined. Dubus has given us a very unusual book about some very tragic and fragile people. At times you want to reach into the pages and strangle a few of them, but, not being able to do that, you move on. I do agree with one other reviewer in that while I was reading this I loved it. Afterwards, I developed a dislike for it. And now, a month later, I'm finding that I want to pick it up again. Someone once said that the purpose of art is to get us to think. "House" certainly does that . . . and more. Also recommended: Jackson McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD--A Tour of Southern Homes and Gardens

Good solid read.:
I read several books per month, but can't recall the last time I was so deeply drawn into a story and its characters as this. It brought out such strong emotional preferences and dislikes for the characters.. I could not help but sympathize with Colonel Behrani and, what surprised me even more was my intense dislike for Cathy.. in spite of my having been in a situation similar to hers myself. These characters really grabbed me by the gut and from start to finish, the Behrani's were victims of an arrogant, mindless society (ours) whose disrespect for other cultures SHOULD teach us a lesson we are perhaps too blind to recognize. One would have to have real experience with crooked cops (I have) and bureaucratic injustice (I have) to appreciate the REALITY of such a situation. And the ending says 'this is life.. this is real.' This story will haunt me for a long time to come. Also recommended: CHILDREN'S CORNER by Jackson McCrae

Definitely not a light-hearted look at life:
I have mixed emotions about this book, but I think that is what the author intended. I cannot say I particularly enjoyed reading it. But, it impacted me in its bleak portrayal of the main characters. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is hoping to be uplifted. To approach this book, you should probably be in a bad mood, looking to make yourself feel either worse about the world or better about yourself because your life is not as bleak as the lives of the characters. When I put this book down, I definitely was not feeling particularly happy. But, I cannot say the book was not well written or that I was not better off for having read it. I suppose that, despite myself, I may have learned a thing or two. If you're in the mood for a depressing commentary on society and life, this is your book.

An involving and believable story...:
This book was incredibly moving and made me believe that the story could have been based on real-life events. Intense and emotional, this novel made me truly feel for the characters involved. I didn't want the story to end. When it did, the morals and lessons stayed with me for weeks afterwards. Definitely worth reading.