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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
dark
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I cannot stand the Colonel, and after reading review it seems like he will learn nothing.,
I have no idea how to rate this book. The entire thing left me feeling disturbed and uncomfortable. Not something I look to feel when I read. Not saying the author isn't a good writer. Just not a book for me.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It starts with a bureaucratic mistake. Massoud Behrani, formerly part of the Shah of Iran’s elite inner circle, is working two menial jobs in an effort to maintain a semblance of the wealth and status his family once enjoyed. His family is blissfully unaware of their circumstances, but he knows that he cannot maintain the charade for long and must find a way to achieve the American dream. He sees his opportunity in a newspaper advertisement for a sheriff’s auction – a nice bungalow near the ocean is being sold for back taxes. Kathy Nicolo, struggling to remain in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction and recently abandoned by her husband, is evicted from her home over the tax dispute. She believed she had straightened it out months previously, so ignored the continued letters from the county, and now two sheriff’s deputies have arrived to take possession of the house. One of those deputies is Lester Burdon, who is touched by Kathy’s plight and becomes obsessed with helping her get her house back. The power struggle between these characters forms the core of this gripping novel.
What really gets to me about this work is that you have three people who all want the same thing – a better life for themselves. Dubus slowly reveals these characters and why they are so fragile, proud, confused, hopeless, tenacious, and reckless. Their inability to see any way but the ONE way they have each chosen is what sets up the inevitable tragedy. Each firmly believes s/he is correct and they are almost completely unable to understand one another. Actions taken as a result of impulse and poor judgment are compounded by further actions and reactions.
Dubus changes perspective regularly throughout the novel. So we have insight into each of these characters, their back stories, their dreams and motivations. While I find that I had the most empathy for Colonel Behrani, there were times when I also felt empathy for Kathy or even Lester. And, conversely, there were times I wanted to slap some sense into each of them (mostly Lester and Kathy, but also Behrani). I had seen the movie so knew what was coming, but still felt the sense of suspense.
My only complaint is with the ending. This is probably because of my having seen the movie, which ended with Colonel Behrani … a very powerful image. I recognize why Dubus gave each character an opportunity to reflect on what had happened at the end of the book, but I still wish it had ended about 30 pages earlier.
What really gets to me about this work is that you have three people who all want the same thing – a better life for themselves. Dubus slowly reveals these characters and why they are so fragile, proud, confused, hopeless, tenacious, and reckless. Their inability to see any way but the ONE way they have each chosen is what sets up the inevitable tragedy. Each firmly believes s/he is correct and they are almost completely unable to understand one another. Actions taken as a result of impulse and poor judgment are compounded by further actions and reactions.
Dubus changes perspective regularly throughout the novel. So we have insight into each of these characters, their back stories, their dreams and motivations. While I find that I had the most empathy for Colonel Behrani, there were times when I also felt empathy for Kathy or even Lester. And, conversely, there were times I wanted to slap some sense into each of them (mostly Lester and Kathy, but also Behrani). I had seen the movie so knew what was coming, but still felt the sense of suspense.
My only complaint is with the ending. This is probably because of my having seen the movie, which ended with Colonel Behrani … a very powerful image. I recognize why Dubus gave each character an opportunity to reflect on what had happened at the end of the book, but I still wish it had ended about 30 pages earlier.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
House of Sand and Fog is a tour de force of powerful prose, relentless conflict, complex moral dilemmas, and multilayered characters. In all three main characters, author Dubois delivers deeply troubled figures who, each in their own way, succumb to their own weaknesses and inability to compromise.
While the plot is fairly straightforward (thirtysomething Kathy Niccolo loses her house to a bureaucratic mistake and attempts to get it back from the ousted Iranian colonel Behrani, who's determined to instead sell it as a profit to rejuvenate his family status), the conflict runs deep, escalating with vigorous intensity toward the events of the final hundred pages, where the novel really shines. All throughout, the voices of the two narrators and the deeply troubled third-person account of Sheriff Lestor Burton make for gripping reading, though the prose can become dense at times.
While the plot is fairly straightforward (thirtysomething Kathy Niccolo loses her house to a bureaucratic mistake and attempts to get it back from the ousted Iranian colonel Behrani, who's determined to instead sell it as a profit to rejuvenate his family status), the conflict runs deep, escalating with vigorous intensity toward the events of the final hundred pages, where the novel really shines. All throughout, the voices of the two narrators and the deeply troubled third-person account of Sheriff Lestor Burton make for gripping reading, though the prose can become dense at times.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I liked it very much, though I had some difficulty getting into the story in the beginning. Still, I kept reading and didn't regret it. We're introduced to a family that buys a house belonging to Kathy Nicolo, which is taken from her through a tax mistake and from then on things become increasingly complicated, leading into the second part of the story, which sets a different tone to it, sending us down a path of destruction and fear and fatal mistakes. Its tragic ending touched me deeply.