Customer Reviews

House Of Sand And Fog

5 star:		(251)
4 star:		(166)
3 star:		(121)
2 star:		(104)
1 star:		(133)

 

 

I have to admit, I was temped to pass up HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG because the subject matter didn't intrigue me. The story of an Iranian immigrant and a troubled woman competing for the same California bungalow just didn't sound like the sort of tale that would keep me up late turning pages. It's a good thing I've read some of brilliant short fiction crafted by this book's author, Andre Dubus III. Otherwise, I might have left this book on the shelf, and that would've been a shame.

Despite a storyline that sounds less-than-inspiring, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG captured my attention within the first few pages. The book begins in the stunningly realistic first-person voice of Massoud Behrani, once a Colonel in the Shah's army, now hunkered down in the United States because he and his family are marked for death in their mother country of Iran. Unable to find a job, Behrani is reduced to working for the county, picking garbage from the side of a California highway. Desperate to make a respectable life for his family, Behrani spends his family's dwindling savings to purchase a small house at auction, hoping to resell it at a large profit.

Enter Kathy Nicolo, a former drug addict, now barely keeping her head above water after her husband left her. The bungalow she inherited from her father is swept out from under her because of a delinquent tax bill she doesn't actually owe. Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon takes a personal interest in Kathy's case, and becomes enmeshed in her struggle to win back her home. Despite a wife and two small children, he finds himself in love with Kathy. Dubus skillfully weaves the story of Kathy and Lester--a doomed, hopelessly codependent dance--against the backdrop of their fight for justice and the return of Kathy's house.

What truly makes this story come alive in the reader's mind is the amazing voice of each character. Dubus flawlessly takes us inside the heads of a proud and willful Iranian colonel, a troubled young woman, and an equally troubled law officer. The conflict continues to escalate, despite the fact that there truly are no "bad guys"--as readers, Dubus makes certain we understand BOTH sides. If anything, the antagonist of this story is exactly what the book jacket says, the character's "tragic inability to understand each other."

This is by far one of the most skillfully crafted novels I've ever read. And please don't equate literary merit with "boring." HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG kept me riveted. The book explodes when these forces--the desperate woman and her lover, and the equally desperate Behrani family--collide. I was forced to read the last 250 pages in one sitting (until 2 a.m., actually) because this book would simply not be denied. I expect great things from Andre Dubus III, and as a writer I could only read the last page, close the book in stunned admiration, and whisper, "Wow."

There's an old saying : even a blind pig finds an acorn once in awhile. Based on what I've seen on the rest of the list, this is Oprah's acorn.

Before coming to America, Genob Sarhang Massoud Amir Behrani was a colonel in the Iranian Air Force. Forced to flee when the Shah fell, he escaped with his wife and two children and a couple hundred thousand dollars. Now resettled in the San Francisco area, but thus far unable to find work in the aerospace industry, Behrani works two full time jobs, on a road crew and as a convenience store clerk. This labor is necessary because the family's money is dwindling quickly, thanks to his wife's insistence on maintaining their old standard of living and the need to put on a sufficiently opulent facade to get his daughter safely married off--for instance, their apartment costs $3000 per month. Then one day, noticing an announcement of a tax auction in the newspaper, he decides to use their remaining savings to buy the house and then try to turn it around quickly for a profit.

Meanwhile, the house had previously belonged to Kathy Niccolo, a recovering alcoholic whose addict husband has run out on her. She works as an independent house cleaner, barely making ends meet and ignored the county tax bill because it should not have been assessed against her house. But now she has been evicted and, though Legal Aid lawyers help her to win a judgment from the county, they can not make Behrani give up the house, only compensate her. She also receives help from Sheriff Lester Burdon, whose marriage has lost it's passion, and the two become lovers. Together, and separately, they begin to take steps to force the Behranis out of their new home. Things get ugly.

This book is a page turner anyway, but it enveloped me in such a cloud of dread that I just kept reading faster and faster because I couldn't stand the thought of what was to come. I know some of the reviewers have said that Dubus evokes sympathy for all the characters; I strongly disagree. Colonel Behrani is a perfect example of why anti-immigration policies are insane. He works his tail off to provide a better life for his family and wants nothing from anyone except to be left alone to pursue the American Dream. He resembles a tragic hero, whose stubborn pride and unshakable faith in his dreams collude to help destroy him.

Kathy, on the other hand, even setting aside her addiction problems, has irresponsibly allowed legal events to get out of hand and now burns with a sense of false entitlement. Her lackadaisical approach to her job stands in stark contrast to Behrani's willingness to humble himself to take virtually any job. Her relationship with Lester results in his leaving a wife and two young children, a wife whose only failure is that Lester feels for her as he would towards a sister--hardly reason to destroy a family. And this step is merely Lester's first in a chain which becomes increasingly dubious, until his behavior can only be defined as pathological. By the end of the story I was begging Behrani to go and get a gun and put these two out of his misery.

Andre Dubus III is the son of one of America's greatest short story writers. His Dad having passed on, it's heartening to see him pick up the reigns. But please, have mercy on the reader; I could barely stand the last hundred pages of this book, I was so distraught. If you can withstand a story that is like watching a car accident in which one of your friends is driving, I heartily recommend this novel, but it's not for the faint of heart.

GRADE : A-

Andre Dubus III's House of Sand and Fog gave me another hint of mortality, not solely because of the tragic tale. I now find that one of my favorite writers is the son of one of my favorite writers. (Amis and Amis, Buckley and Buckley also come to mind.) This book is a nuanced tale with five very strong main characters in the best traditions of the old tragedies. An Iranian colonel who has fled with his family to America following the fall of the Pahlavi government, finally seizes an opportunity to put that family back on a financially comfortable plain. He buys, at a tax auction, a very modest bungalow in a San Francisco suburb. He is pleasantly suprised when he learns that house could be sold for as much as four times what he paid for it, and unpleasantly surprised when it appears the county erred in seizing and auctioning the property. Although he is on firm legal ground, the moral ground is a swamp, populated by two reptilian characters, Kathy, a recovering drug abuser cum housecleaner, and Lester, a philandering deputy sheriff. The themes of self interest, denial, greed, moral certitude, moral ambiguity and xenophobia run like golden threads through this novel. Dubus III is an original voice and this novel is a breakthrough. The story is complex and rich. You only get a glimpse of his ability in his collection of short stories, The Cagekeeper. Buy this book. By far, the best I've read in a while.

This was the first book I ever read by this author and it came highly recommended by so many people. For the first 25 pages, I wasn't at all sure that it was going to be for me but, as I kept reading, I became enmeshed in one of the best books I've read this year. It is totally unlike anything I have ever read before. Told in the first person through the eyes of the two main characters, it makes it so easy to truly understand not only their thoughts but their real motivations. I often wonder what makes some characters tick -- in this book you won't have to wonder as Dubus masterfully explains in great detail what's behind each of these character's inner thoughts and motions.

This is an incredible story revolving around a house and the house's rightful owner. Colonel Behrani was at the top of the Iranian army when the government was overthrown and his family was forced to leave Iran and seek refuge in America. You read, with tears in your eyes, as this once powerful man tries to achieve the American dream for his family. He takes on menial jobs in an effort to save enough money for a house.

Kathy Nicolo, a recovering alcoholic and addict, has a house. She also finds the act of opening mail from the County Tax Collector to be mundane. Because of her negligence in not opening her mail, her house is sold at public auction. Now the fight for the rightful owner of this property begins. A third person enters the scenario. His name is Lester and he is a married cop. You know the saying, "two's company, three's a crowd". Well, it couldn't be more true than in this book.

The circumstances of this house's ownership spiral out of control. At times I couldn't believe what I was reading. Your sympathies may run the gamut from one character to the next but one thing is for sure -- you will definitely walk away from this reading experience and NEVER, NEVER forget this book. It is truly a masterpiece.

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.

I can't remember the last time I read such an explosive, unnerving story. House of Sand and Fog is everything a dramatic, suspenseful, culture-clash novel should be. I was intrigued and frightened, my emotions going through the wringer a countless number of times. My loyalties went from one character to another then back again through the course of the novel, never really deciding who to love or who to trust. A dark, drastic tragedy of a drama that unfolds in the most terrifying way.

Through an administrative error of the County Tax Department, Kathy Nicolo's house is seized out from under her. On top of this, her husband has left her and she has no one to turn to. Forced to live in her car and rented motel rooms, Kathy befriends one of the Sheriffs that came to evict her. Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon finds himself in love and completely infatuated with helping Kathy get her house back. Meanwhile, Iranian immigrant Colonel Massoud Behrani is desperate to pursue his version of the American Dream: to acquire the dignity, status and respect he once entertained as Officer in the King's Airforce in his native country and to provide for his family and secure a healthy future for them. His desires come in the form of a house, an investment opportunity recently seized and up for auction at an unheard of low price. These two incidents run parallel courses that eventually collide into an explosive downward spiral.

Andre Dubus has written an electrifying, hair-standing-on-end, riveting book that only builds more tense as readers turn its pages. A fascinating and thought-provoking novel that shows how one simple thing can escalate into something huge and horrible through others irresponsibility and stubbornness. Reading parts of this book was akin to a dreamworld, a fog if you will, that will send readers into a panic, struggling for air. The writing evokes many opinions and emotions and will undoubtedly inspire numerous heated discussions. Masterfully told with poetically bold language that breathe with life. Awesome.

After reading the reviews, all of which emphasized the traumatic doom and gloom of the plot, I expected this book to be both depressing and hopelessly melodramatic. I almost didn't read it, never expecting to become as caught up in it as I was. The four main characters were so appealing--so vulnerable with their obvious personal flaws--that I couldn't help but root for them to "make it." At the same time, it was impossible not to recognize also that they simply did not have the self-awareness to do so.

The characters and their motivations are believable, their mistakes understandable, and their miscommunications plausible--for most of the novel, that is. As other readers have pointed out, the conclusion is "movie-like," with a grand finale that ties up all the loose ends. I did not find it incongruous, however. The sense of inexorability resulting from the increasingly more serious miscommunications of the characters seems to demand a "showdown." The sense of impending doom is almost palpable and needs resolution.

Anyone interested in the craft of writing would find it fascinating, I think, to study how the author takes four relatively "normal" characters through a series of seemingly innocuous events which, in combination, lead to total disaster. Well deserving of its National Book Award Finalist medal, in my opinion.

I've read many previous reviews claiming this book has a poor plot and an ending that is too dark, leaving the reader w/out hope. Unfortunately the movie adaptation that will be released late 2003 will probably "adjust" the ending for an American audience, because it's an American audience that can't accept a tragic ending to a book or movie.

I am a half-Iranian male, and was very impressed at how well Dubus captured Iranian culture w/intense detail (i.e., drinking tea w/a sugar cube between the teeth, fruit readily available in the house, etc.). The story of Behrani coming to America w/a wealthy Iranian past, and being humbled by a min. wage existence in America, where his work experience is non-transferable here, is the story of most Iranians I know who immigrated here (my dad was an aeronautics engineer in Teheran, and is now a taxi cab driver here).

The plot is realistic, and I very much believed the ending (I get sick of the "hollywood" ending of taking a tragic story and putting a b.s. positive spin at the end just to keep an American audience happy). The characters are all excellent, and as most writers will tell you, the best stories have great characters.

And.. yes, BUY THIS BOOK! :)

House of Sand and Fog is a pulsating examination of the struggle of its main characters to maintain ownership of a house that represents their last hope for security and status. Dubus does a superb job with character analysis and development. The primary characters seem to switch protagonist to antagonist roles with an ease and creativity indicative of a very well trained writer. The story centers on the ownership of a house that represents the dream of a return to status and wealth for Colonel Behrani and his immigrant family from Iran. The same house represents the last chance for security and stability for Kathy Nicolo, a recovering substance abuser and abandoned wife. Having inherited the house from her deceased father, Kathy finds herself evicted due to an error in tax assessment made by the county tax department and a lack of follow-up on her part to ensure that the error is rectified. The house is then auctioned and purchased by the former Colonel Behrani who plans to resale the house at a handsome profit. He plans to use the proceeds from the sale of the house to start a real-estate business which he hopes will eventually finance his son's college education and return his family to the status and wealth they enjoyed during his service under the dictatorial regime of the Shah of Iran.

The story is told through the voice of Behrani, Kahty and the deputy sheriff (a supporting yet very strong character) who evicts then falls in love with her. Dubus flawlessly changes voice from first person to narrative, a writing technique difficult to pull off without the author leaving the impression of having gotten stuck in literary quagmire. His writing is crisp, language authentic, pace and tone perfect. A very engaging read filled with love, power, pride, and tragedy. Kudos to Dubus for his efforts.

I agree with the other readers who recommend that you read the first part and skip the second. In the first part, the author is able to put you inside the lives and minds of his characters. They are fascinating to read and think about because although on the outside, their circumstances appear to be very different, they share many fundamental problems such as living in the past, inability to face their own lives and inability to communicate with themselves and others. The author does a very good job of creating characters and situations that feel real, and I found myself completely absorbed which is why the second part of the book was such a dissapointment.

The second part evoked so many movie memories from every hostage movie I've ever seen and 'A Few Good Men' to the point where I wasn't sure I was reading the same book I had started. The end is dissapointing and unable to fulfill the themes that were laid out in the beginning of the book. I hate to say it, but I kept thinking the whole time I was finishing the book that it felt to me that author was priming his story for the big screen. The book also rushes to the end and pinnacle. I suspect that was deliberate on the author's part to suggest some sort of inevitable train wreck, but it doesn't work and instead feels hasty.