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leighanneslit 's review for:
House of Sand and Fog
by Andre Dubus III
I had little to no idea what this book was about when I picked it up, so I was not expecting the story that we got.
First thing's first, when I realized this book was written by a white guy with POVs of an Iranian man and an American woman, I was pretty wary. He did an okay job with it, it could have been a lot worse than it was.
One of the things that Dubus does well, is he takes two opposing characters that have both staked claims on this house, both with different backgrounds and different realities and makes you able to empathize with them both. I found myself hating the decisions that they made, but I understood it for the most part.
The story takes quite a bit to get going. There is a lot of exposition as you're getting to know the characters, so the entire first part I was feeling really bored. However, once we got into part two and the lives of Lester, Kathy, and the Behrani family start to intersect, you can feel that they are hurtling towards something terrible, but you don't quite know what is going to happen.
This story is bleak. There is no happy ending, there is no uplifting moment, and I actually liked that about it. It was realistic in that way. Dubus takes you through the story and tries to set you up to make a decision on who is right or wrong in this book. However, as the story unfolds, that line gets blurred and it becomes complicated. It's a story about the American dream and the consequences of our actions and what happens when we fail to take responsibility of those actions. I didn't realize how invested I was in the characters until the last 100 or so pages, when I found myself actually crying. No one wins.
But, this book was much better than I was expecting, and I have been thinking about it all day since I finished it. If you're a fan of happy endings, skip this book. But it is thought provoking and realistic.
First thing's first, when I realized this book was written by a white guy with POVs of an Iranian man and an American woman, I was pretty wary. He did an okay job with it, it could have been a lot worse than it was.
One of the things that Dubus does well, is he takes two opposing characters that have both staked claims on this house, both with different backgrounds and different realities and makes you able to empathize with them both. I found myself hating the decisions that they made, but I understood it for the most part.
The story takes quite a bit to get going. There is a lot of exposition as you're getting to know the characters, so the entire first part I was feeling really bored. However, once we got into part two and the lives of Lester, Kathy, and the Behrani family start to intersect, you can feel that they are hurtling towards something terrible, but you don't quite know what is going to happen.
This story is bleak. There is no happy ending, there is no uplifting moment, and I actually liked that about it. It was realistic in that way. Dubus takes you through the story and tries to set you up to make a decision on who is right or wrong in this book. However, as the story unfolds, that line gets blurred and it becomes complicated. It's a story about the American dream and the consequences of our actions and what happens when we fail to take responsibility of those actions. I didn't realize how invested I was in the characters until the last 100 or so pages, when I found myself actually crying. No one wins.
But, this book was much better than I was expecting, and I have been thinking about it all day since I finished it. If you're a fan of happy endings, skip this book. But it is thought provoking and realistic.