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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Read it before Oprah promoted (I do not say "read," since I'm sure she has people who do that for her) it, based on the fact the author is Andre Dubus' nephew.
Good gene pool for writing there.
Good gene pool for writing there.
Omg this was good. Awful and haunting but sooo good. What a fucking mess these people make, selfishness and misunderstandings and searching for something missing and it just blows up. I'm going to have a book hangover from this one.
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What to day about this book other than it was truly profound. House of Sand and Fog begins as a story of two people forced from their homes and forced to try to find their way in the world, all the while trying to not let go of the past. In the end neither can remake the past and lose all they had for the future.
Really not a fan. I wanted to strangle Kathy from the beginning for being so irresponsible and then acting like she’s the victim of the situation.
I waffled on the rating for this a lot before deciding it really is a 2-star book for me.
It started rough and slow for me. I enjoyed the first section—getting to know Colonel Behrani and his family, how he has set aside his pride to try to make a better life for his family in an unfamiliar country.
Then Kathy Nicolo appeared, and I didn't like her nearly as much. Or at all, really. And this section of the book is where it started to get problematic for me. I was okay with the first-person narrative for the Colonel and Kathy, but when Lester was introduced and his sections were in third-person, well, I thought it was just a weird writing choice from an author either not talented or experienced enough to tell his story another way.
I felt like the near insta-love between Kathy and Lester was not believable, and neither was the way she lost her home.
This book was a tedious exercise in frustration for me, and I wanted to like it so much more than I did. I felt like there was a lot of potential in it that just never went anywhere. The ending was equally unsatisfying as the journey it took to get there.
2 out of 5 stars.
It started rough and slow for me. I enjoyed the first section—getting to know Colonel Behrani and his family, how he has set aside his pride to try to make a better life for his family in an unfamiliar country.
Then Kathy Nicolo appeared, and I didn't like her nearly as much. Or at all, really. And this section of the book is where it started to get problematic for me. I was okay with the first-person narrative for the Colonel and Kathy, but when Lester was introduced and his sections were in third-person, well, I thought it was just a weird writing choice from an author either not talented or experienced enough to tell his story another way.
I felt like the near insta-love between Kathy and Lester was not believable, and neither was the way she lost her home.
Spoiler
Taxes aren't charged to addresses—they're charged to people—so why would a notice be sent in her name to her address, but be called a clerical error because someone made a typo when they entered the address? It would have the name of the person who owed the taxes on the letter: not hers—utterly unbelievable.This book was a tedious exercise in frustration for me, and I wanted to like it so much more than I did. I felt like there was a lot of potential in it that just never went anywhere. The ending was equally unsatisfying as the journey it took to get there.
2 out of 5 stars.
eh. it's a decently written book but i hated kathy and lester and was irritated at their self-inflicted troubles that they kept blaming on everyone else. also lots of gratuitous sex. overall the book is somewhat of a page-turner and it's not without emotional drama. but mostly i want to forget it and move on to my next book.
One of my favorite books and my first of Dubus III. He is an amazing writer and I have enjoyed everything I have picked up of his.
Three flawed characters, two opposing viewpoints and a system that feels like it's failing everyone. This book achieves a lot in its sub 400 pages and leaves a lot to think about.
I read this book for a book club and we've never spent so long talking about the book! There are just so many issues covered in this book around class and race with the characters constantly swirling around a drain of conflict.
Dubus did a great job of telling two opposing viewpoints in a way that as a reader, you got the benefit of seeing it from both sides. The fact that you could ultimately be empathetic to both and see that there really were no winners here is the result of some clever writing.
Ultimately heartbreaking, this book leaves a stain. I'm sure it'll stay with me a long time and later I'll be wondering why I didn't give it 5 stars. My justification for now is that the ending let me down. I really don't enjoy when you're led to believe someone dies when they don't. The 1 star loss was that simple for me.
I read this book for a book club and we've never spent so long talking about the book! There are just so many issues covered in this book around class and race with the characters constantly swirling around a drain of conflict.
Dubus did a great job of telling two opposing viewpoints in a way that as a reader, you got the benefit of seeing it from both sides. The fact that you could ultimately be empathetic to both and see that there really were no winners here is the result of some clever writing.
Ultimately heartbreaking, this book leaves a stain. I'm sure it'll stay with me a long time and later I'll be wondering why I didn't give it 5 stars. My justification for now is that the ending let me down. I really don't enjoy when you're led to believe someone dies when they don't. The 1 star loss was that simple for me.