Reviews for House of sand and fog

The average rating for House of sand and fog based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-11-15 00:00:00 David Dunn "And that's what I wanted: obliteration. Decimation. Just an instant smear of me right out of all this rising and falling and nothing changing that feels like living." In the beginning there was Kathy Nicolo. She is an addict who has been through a drug rehabilitation program. She has been flying straight for a while. She cleans houses for a modest living. She spends most of her free time watching movies, one after the other. All is going okay until she has a dispute with the county over the house her father left her and her brother. They claim she owes back taxes. She goes down to the county offices and gets it "sorted out", but she continues to get letters from the county office which she promptly throws away without opening. Anybody who has ever dealt with any level of bureaucracy knows that issues are not always "sorted out" the first time. The problem is that Kathy doesn't have much experience dealing with anything. She avoids, evades, and hits the escape hatch any time anything gets too real. The next thing she knows the cops are on her doorstep explaining to her that she has an order to vacate. Her property has been seized. She meets Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon as he is escorting her off her property. She can tell by the way he is looking at her that he is attracted to her. She is pretty, waifish, and vulnerable. He has a wife and two kids, but every time he makes love with his wife it feels like he is making out with his sister. They are best friends, comfortable with each other, and like a lot of people he interprets that to mean the spark is gone from the marriage. Kathy, as he soon finds out, is much more than a spark. She is more like a full on raging forest fire. The county sells her property quickly. This is where Colonel Massoud Behrani enters the plot. He and his family were lucky to escape Iran when the Shah is ousted. He was high enough up in the government to see his name appear on the blacklists. His wife has never really forgiven him for the circumstances that have made them immigrants in America. They did escape with some money, but much of that has been eaten up by keeping up appearances with the community of Persians in California. Behrani works two crappy jobs, one picking up trash along the highways and the other as a late night convenience clerk. Both jobs that are difficult to hire Americans to do at any price. "For our excess we lost everything." It is no wonder to me that immigrants excel in the United States. They take chances. They work hard. They don't expect anything for nothing. Behrani is no exception and when Kathy's house comes up for auction he takes the last of their savings and buys the house. As it turns out he is also lucky that only two other bidders show up and he buys the house for a fraction of the value. Now I say lucky, but I always feel we make our own luck. Luck never just happens, you have to give luck a chance to reward you. In his mind he can already see the real estate empire that this first house will help finance. Kathy and Lester hit it off. "I felt a little better as I pulled the T-shirt over my head and caught the faint scent of vomit and gun oil. Me and Lester." They are screwing like bunnies and when they are together everything is fine, but when they are apart it becomes readily apparent that their relationship is built out of sand. He starts thinking about how easily she fell into bed with him. She starts thinking he is going to go back to his wife and kids. Kathy really hates the idea of Colonel Behrani and his family in HER house. The county admits it made a mistake, but the sales transaction with Behrani is legal. He would have to agree to sell the house back to the county for what he paid for it. His visions of a hefty profit float up into the fog. Kathy isn't adhering to the program. "And I knew to any of my counselors back East my life wouldn't look very manageable; I was drinking again, and smoking; I was sleeping with a man who'd just left his family, all while I was supposed to be getting back the house I'd somehow lost. I knew they would call the drinking a slip, the smoking a crutch, the love making 'sex as medication,' and the house fiasco a disaster my lack of recovery had invited upon itself, and on me." Embracing those addictions is making her unstable world spin faster while her mind spins slower. It is an unusual situation with all parties being victims of an unresolvable issue with the county. Given what we know about Behrani he isn't who Kathy thinks he is. Kathy isn't really who he thinks she is either. As the plot advances we also find out that Lester isn't who anyone thinks he is either. Of course, Kathy is like nitroglycerin in his head. It always amazes me how one little mistake can lead to such complete chaos. Andre Dubus III keeps adding snakes to the plot until it is all so twisted together that only the sword of Alexander the Great will untie it. Dubus reveals all the characters, even the second tier characters, with such depth that I felt like I know these people. My mind even now is still weighing all the ramifications from everyone's decisions as if this is an ongoing crisis that is still yet to be resolved. Andre Dubus has done his homework on this very American novel. I enjoyed the real estate aspects of the plot. I also liked the way that Dubus has us ride along with each character giving us free access to their inner thoughts, their hopes, and desires. He also shows how many chances people get to turn their life around. The many hands that are outstretched to keep them from falling too far. Sometimes it just doesn't matter how much help someone receives they continue to make the same bad decisions until tragedy overtakes them sometimes with equally tragic results for others. They made a movie out of this book in 2003. I've not seen the film. I, as usual, skipped the film until I had a chance to read the book. From what I've read about the movie they significantly changed the ending, leaving some very important and pivotal scenes in the book out of the plot of the movie. I'm not discouraged because I know that films are a different entity from the book that inspired them. I will report back after watching the movie. If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit I also have a Facebook blogger page at:

Review # 2 was written on 2015-11-06 00:00:00 Francisco Aponte When the Shah of Iran is ousted and a revolution breaks out in the country, Colonel Massoud Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian Air Force, and his family, once respected and well-to-do residents in their country, become nothing else but vulnerable immigrants to the United States where the only status left for them is to be called foreigners for the rest of their lives, even though they become full citizens. He works two jobs, as a trash picker along the highways by day, and as a late-night clerk in a distant convenience store. He does it all to keep up appearances, as well as keeping his wife happy in their Iranian community in San Francisco. Actually, he spent most of his money to keep up this appearance for his daughter's sake. To make sure that she will marry the right man. When that happens, he is free to look for cheaper living conditions and save up some money for his son's university fees. He watches the auction notices in the newspapers for houses coming under the hammer. Kathy Nicolo, a rehabilitating drug and alcohol addict, loses her home by accident. She already lost her husband. Apart from that, she has also lost her self respect and will to succeed in anything, a long time ago. She profiles perfectly. Any strenous event is dealt with the narcotic way, although she has been trying to change her life after rehab and succeeded until now. Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon, a married man with two kids, along with the tax agent, is tasked to throw her out of her house. Like two peas in a pod, they connect hormonaly and turn their dreary lives into a mutual magical homp-and-romp fantasy with the usual consequences. For the first time Kathy has someone who wants to fight in her corner. But both of them have lost the ability to think with the right brain. Cognitive and hormonal thinking are two very different things after all. The duo decide to get her house back. The house is now owned by Colonel Massoud Behrani ... What struck me about this book, is the ease and wisdom behind the characters. Dubus gave them souls, as it should be. We can think what we want and stagger from the harsh reality, the spotlight on society, but we cannot deny any human being a right to own a soul and be respected for who they are. I wanted to dislike this book. It scared me in the sense that this could happen to anyone, including me. It is one of the reason, I suspect, why many readers react negatively to the story. They simply cannot handle the truth and depth of the multiple-leveled situation. The American realism, which does not differ that much from other western countries, are disturbing in the sense that it doesn't reflect a 'what if' situation as much as it portrays the harshness of a truth that can happen to anyone. If you lose your compass and discipline, you lose your way. Things go fast and furiously wrong! It's that simple. But sometimes things happen to you while you're busy making other plans, as John Lennon stated ... It is a very well written book in every way and on all levels. Absolutely worth the read, and for the first time I actually agree with an Oprah choice! But those readers who have tried her recommendations, already know that she chooses arresting stories with difficult themes. This one is no exception. Whether we like it or not, this author puts heart and soul back into statistics and left us enlightened but sad in the end. The official blurb states: In this masterpiece of American realism and Shakepearean consequence, Andre Dubus III's unforgettable characters careen toward inevitable conflict, their tragedy painting a shockingly true picture of the country we live in today. I loved this first encounter enough to try this author again.