House of Sand and Fog (Oprah's Book Club) (Vintage Contemporaries) |
|
|
|
| Title: | House of Sand and Fog (Oprah's Book Club) (Vintage Contemporaries) |
| Author: | Andre Dubus III |
| Publisher: | Vintage |
| Type: | Book / Paperback |
| Publication Date: | 01 March, 2000 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0375727345 / 9780375727344 |
| List Price: | $15.00 |
| You Save: | $4.80 |
| Amazon Price: | $10.20 |
|
This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $3.78.
|
The HTML code below can be pasted onto your web-site, your MySpace page, or blog - or any number of similar places - to create a link to this page:
If, instead of a text link, you'd like to create a link to this page which will display the book cover, if it's available, then the code below will do exactly that:
Check for the same book at these other US book sites:
• [ Abebooks ]
• [ Alibris ]
• [ Barnes & Noble ]
• [ Half.com ]
• [ Powells ]
… or check UK bookstores
|
Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
"Elegant and powerful...an unusual and volatile...literary thriller." --Washington Post Book World
In this riveting novel of almost unbearable suspense, three fragile yet determined people become dangerously entangled in a relentlessly escalating crisis. Colonel Behrani, once a wealthy man in Iran, is now a struggling immigrant willing to bet everything he has to restore his family's dignity. Kathy Niccolo is a recovering alcoholic and addict whose house is all she has left, and who refuses to let her hard-won stability slip away from her. Sheriff Lester Burdon, a married man who finds himself falling in love with Kathy, becomes obsessed with helping her fight for justice.
Drawn by their competing desires to the same small house in the California hills--and what it represents to each of them--and doomed by their tragic inability to understand one another, the three converge on an explosive collision course. Combining unadorned realism with profound empathy, House of Sand and Fog is a devastating exploration of the American Dream gone awry.
Amazon.com Review
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
|
Other Items You May Enjoy:
Browse Books From These Related Subjects:
Customer Reviews:
• Manipulative And Uneven
12 August, 2009
This is a problematic book, to say the least. I almost didn't want to read it because I knew, based on the book jacket description, that it was likely to be extremely depressing. Then I scolded myself for those thoughts because depressing books are often very true to life (sorry, all you sunshiney optimists, but look around you: life is very, very hard for a lot of people). Well, I ended up not enjoying the book all that much, but not because of its grimness. As I noted in the title for this review, it seemed manipulative and uneven.
It seemed manipulative because it felt like Dubus had to force his characters to act in certain ways in order to escalate the tension and drama, which resulted in the characters doing things that struck me as totally unbelievable -- and, as others have said, unsympathetic. The fact that Kathy and Lester kept going to see the Behranis again and again just didn't seem plausible; rather, it seemed like an author who wanted more conflict, more dramatic clashes. And the fact that all of these people seemed so suddenly to engage in the vilest criminal activities is I suppose meant for the reader to think, "This could happen to any of us! We all have the capability of going over the edge!" but simply stretched credibility for me. As another reviewer pointed out, how did these people get to this point alive and intact given how they act during the course of the book?
The sad thing about this -- and this brings me to the "uneven" part -- is that in other places these characters seemed quite believable and even interesting. I like that Dubus chose unusual and marginal points of view for his two first person narrators. How many books feature cleaning ladies as protagonists, after all? I wanted to like the book at first for this reason, but after a while it just didn't work for me.
Finally, as many people have pointed out, Dubus writes well, but this book could have been trimmed by a good hundred pages.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Stark. Thought-provoking.
15 August, 2009
I saw this movie years ago, and it really stuck with me. The book is equally memorable.
These characters are all stuck in desperate circumstances (or get themselves into them), and the old platitude doesn't exist for no reason at all: desperate times call for desperate measures.
Andres Dubus had been on my radar for a while, but what really convinced me to read this was that it was in recommended reading about the Iranian experience that Mahbod Seraji included at the end of his excellent novel Rooftops of Tehran: A Novel.
The House of Sand and Fog is a stark, serious book, with no fairy-tale happy endings, dealing with the reality of people's choices.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Don't Waste Your Time
24 November, 2009
When I first started to read this book I could not put it down. The first half of the book was compeling. As the plot thickened I could not quite figure out how it could end in a sensible manner. Does Nicole get her house back? Does Colonel Behrani do the right thing or does his pride and ego interfere with his decision making and how about Lester, does he leave his wife and children? All these plots seemed intriguing and then the second half of the book is very disappointing. Its like the auther did not know how to end it so it goes crazy! Also, my lungs ached with every cigarette Nicole lite up. Was it necessary for her to do that constantly? I go the message in the beginning she was a chain smoker. Anyway, I was really disappointed in the ending. I was looking forward to a clever conclusion to a tangled mess. They either ended up dead or in jail. How convienient.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Received Damaged Book
28 September, 2009
I was very unhappy opening my package. I knew I was purchasing a used book but have always gotten what is described. I didn't see anything telling me there was water damage, stains creases and torn covers. It was not worth the price and I will never buy from this person again.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Drama Spilling Over The Pages
09 October, 2009
When I first picked up this book, weeks ago, I had no idea it would be an action filled novel. The novel is split into two parts, and mainly focuses on two characters: Mr.Behrani and Kathy Nicolo.
In part I, we see the alternating narations of Behrany and Kathy. Behrany, a recent iranian immigrant to America struggles to live up to appearances and finds an opportunity in an auctioned house. The house, the main reason of conflict, used to belong to kathy, but due to a mistake, was auctioned off. With Behrani insisting in keeping what is rightfully his, and kathy desperate to regain what was rightfully hers, we enter a world where both parties refuse to step back a second and see the other person's real situation.
I enjoyed the naration up to this point, and maybe most of part II. What I disliked, intensly disliked, about part II was what seemed to be scenes snagged from action movies. Kidnapping? Hostages? Attempted Suicide? Yeah. You get my point.
It was, nevertheless, an interesting read. And its unbelievable ending, its uncomprehensible action filled sections would cause a person to contemplate the real word. Sometimes illogical and unbelievable things occur, right in front of us, but we either turn a blind eye or just accept them with time."
- Amazon Customer Review
|
