book data
6415 ratings, 3.61 average rating, 838 reviews
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published
March 1st 2000
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 365 pages
isbn
0375727345
(isbn13: 9780375727344)
description
Oprah Book Club® Selection, November 2000: Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at...more
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| topics | replies | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| question to my dear friends | 2 | 45 | 07/05/2008 01:19PM | |
| american dream | 1 | 17 | 11/14/2007 06:33AM |
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avg 3.61
Read in February, 2008
uuuugh i hated this book!!!!!! BUT before i start trashing it, i'll say that there is one thing i liked about it - the author's ability to give two completely different viewpoints and make the reader understand and empathize with them both. all i'll say about the plot is that it's about two people fighting for the ownership of a bungalow (that in itself should have stopped me from picking up this book - boringgggggg). i found myself rooting for each character at different times, for which i give...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like a lot of character development
I loved this book. It was amazing. I never thought I would get so wrapped up in a story where the main character was actually a house (or should I say a "bungalow" as that is how it is mostly referred to in the book). In the first few chapters it seemed obvious who the good guy and who the bad guy in the story were, but I quickly found that line blurred and throughout the whole book I didn't know who to root for, I wanted them both to win. The reason I only gave this book four star...more
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Read in November, 2004
This book was really good. Lol. Yeah, I put that so eloquently and explained my reasoning really well, didn't I? But no, really, this book was really good. Let's clear my only problem with it out of the way before I start on the stuff I truly enjoyed about the novel...
Slow start. That's my only problem. It really took a while for things to kick up, but once they did it was a very exciting read. And even though I didn't like the slowness of the beginning part of the novel, I wouldn't h...more
Slow start. That's my only problem. It really took a while for things to kick up, but once they did it was a very exciting read. And even though I didn't like the slowness of the beginning part of the novel, I wouldn't h...more
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Read in August, 2008
The House of Sand and Fog was a book that I had high expectations for. The reviews for this book have been above average, and (which I didn't find out until after I read) it was chosen for Oprah's Book Club. While I typically act high brow towards anything that is touted by the O, she has chosen to like some classics that I have, 'On the Road' being one of them. Though I don't know how the typical Oprah watcher could really get in to this... that is not the point.
Anyways, back to Dubas'...more
Anyways, back to Dubas'...more
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Read in August, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in June, 2008
Reading this book is like being frozen to the spot while you're watching a train wreck about to happen. It's an emotional wringer. Ultimately, I have to say it's 3.5 stars out of 5. (SPOILER ALERT) I did pop out of the narrative a few times, mostly due to goofy stuff (such as inaccuracies about the SF Bay Area; eg, having BART in Pacifica?!). But really, the basic premise of the novel isn't plausible. I couldn't see the county evicting somebody one day and then auctioning the place off the very ...more
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Read in March, 2008
I once made it a point to avoid anything recommended by the Oprah Book Club. However, the recent inclusion of Carson McCullers' "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" into the Oprah canon has given me faith. Hell, she even recommended "East of Eden". And so it came to be that my first book accomplished in Athens was "The House of Sand and Fog", in spite of the ominious "O" on it's cover.
The novel chronicles a certain ocean-view house, which came to mean a lo...more
The novel chronicles a certain ocean-view house, which came to mean a lo...more
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Read in June, 2008
This is a phenomenal, insightful, sad book. The author tells a compelling story about cultural differences and how our assumptions about others are so often wrong. When I saw the movie version of this book years ago, it blew me away, and I am still haunted by both the story and the images of the film.
However, having seen the movie first actually affected my ability to immerse myself in the book. It took me a very long time to read this. Sometimes knowing the ending doesn't matter, but for so...more
However, having seen the movie first actually affected my ability to immerse myself in the book. It took me a very long time to read this. Sometimes knowing the ending doesn't matter, but for so...more
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Read in November, 2007
This novel is a brilliant explication of what can happen when two desperate people's lives collide and become entwined. Dubus introduces us to two characters who couldn't be more at odds - Kathy Niccolo, a Saugus, MA native who has moved to California to escape shades of her drug-addled, under-achieving past, and Massoud Behrani, a hardworking, regimented ex-Colonel who fled Iran after a political uprising, who is struggling to maintain a semblance of dignity in a country that has little opportu...more
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Read in August, 2007
This starts off as a simple enough story about an Iranian immgrant struggling to make good in American, but Behrani's world quickly becomes complicated when he purchases a home at a county tax auction. Interestingly told from three perspectives: Behrani's, Kathy's (the original homeowner) and a random narrator who gives us the whereabouts of Kathy's cop boyfriend Les, House of Sand and Fog is quick moving (as the book jacket suggests), but I often felt while reading that the movie would ...more
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Read in November, 2005
This book could have been tighter towards the end; it gets a little bit predictable, and meanders to a close rather than ends. That aside, this is still an incredibly powerful piece of work. It's not a light book to get through; there are no heroes and there are very few innocents. Behrani, Kathy and Lester, three of the main characters of the novel, are all some of the most finely carved characters I've read in a long time. None of them are perfect; they are all fallible, none of them are even ...more
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Read in November, 2007
This is definitely a page turner or, as one of the reviews said, "unputdownable." What makes the conflict between the Kathy, a down-on-her-luck former coke addict scraping by as a house cleaner and Colonel Behrani, a formerly wealthy official in the Shah of Iran's administration is that, bigoted as both may be, they are also both sympathetic characters. Both have formerly been many things and are still reeling from their pasts while trying to carve out a future.
As I began part t...more
As I began part t...more
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Read in January, 2000
recommended to Shannon by:
Oprah - I should have known betterrecommends it for: my worst enemy
I have never had such a horribly visceral reaction to a novel. The story unfolded tragically but the writing unraveled something worse. The author only succeeded in presenting two sides of a story equally - I didn't care about either one, or the little abode (widows walk or not).
To torture myself further, I watched the movie. I am a fan of Ben Kingsley and couldn't possibly see how he would go blindly into such a disappointing set up. You know how the movie is never as good as the book -...more
To torture myself further, I watched the movie. I am a fan of Ben Kingsley and couldn't possibly see how he would go blindly into such a disappointing set up. You know how the movie is never as good as the book -...more
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Read in November, 2007
*Consider yourself warned: spoilers below.*
This book started off with so much promise! Excellent characters, a wonderful premise, and great potential to really come to a memorable climax. It started out as a real five-star book. Excellent writing, great descriptions, wonderful story.
And then...it fell through. As soon as the beginning of the ending came up, I knew it would disappoint me. Rather than bringing the two conflicting characters to a really interesting moral and ethical ...more
This book started off with so much promise! Excellent characters, a wonderful premise, and great potential to really come to a memorable climax. It started out as a real five-star book. Excellent writing, great descriptions, wonderful story.
And then...it fell through. As soon as the beginning of the ending came up, I knew it would disappoint me. Rather than bringing the two conflicting characters to a really interesting moral and ethical ...more
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I'll spare reviewing the entire plot, since I see many posters have done a fine job already.
My thought through this book was that Kathy was responsible for most of the problems in this story. She was the one who ignored the tax notices (having answered them would have fixed the clerical error), she was the one who went to the Iranians home after being told not to by her lawyer, and she didn't stand up to her boyfriend when the situation went completely out of control.
Granted, her entire li...more
My thought through this book was that Kathy was responsible for most of the problems in this story. She was the one who ignored the tax notices (having answered them would have fixed the clerical error), she was the one who went to the Iranians home after being told not to by her lawyer, and she didn't stand up to her boyfriend when the situation went completely out of control.
Granted, her entire li...more
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Read in January, 2005
Ugh. This book drove me batty. I have a like-hate relationshop with this book. I was so annoyed while reading it because of the characters. I understand that some books have characters that you do not like or cannot relate to, but there was just something about them that made me uninterested in them. Yet, the book stayed with me when I finished it. Then it intrigued me enough to make me rent the movie verson. I have to think about how many stars to give it. I'm so conflicted. It is a short read,...more
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It took less than a chapter for me to realize this was not a book I wanted to finish. The entire time I was reading that chapter I felt as if I were watching a car wreck. It's not as if I demand a book be all happiness and sunshine but I didn't get the feeling that there was going to be anything redeeming about this book for me. As much as I appreciate that Oprah has been instrumental in getting people to read, it seems to me that so many of her books are absolute downers. I don't see how people...more
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funny enough, i bought this book at a big book sale at the Barrington Public Library. haven't cracked it open yet, and now i've inherited another copy from Jared.
i'm keeping his copy. over the Oprah's Book Club logo, there is a self-made sticker that has written in blue pen:
The Tokishini Book Club
and then perpendicular to that in black pen:
Sponsored by Dr. Phil
based on the used bookstores this copy's been in, it's been $14, then $7 and then 75 cents. it is a little beat up...more
i'm keeping his copy. over the Oprah's Book Club logo, there is a self-made sticker that has written in blue pen:
The Tokishini Book Club
and then perpendicular to that in black pen:
Sponsored by Dr. Phil
based on the used bookstores this copy's been in, it's been $14, then $7 and then 75 cents. it is a little beat up...more
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I'd read another copy of this book when it first came out. Here is my journal entry from that book:
What a powerful book! I was compelled to keep reading it, even though I could see no possible outcome that would be good. The four main characters were all well crafted, illustrative of the many different ways we can be self destructive. They are very real...and sometimes I just wanted to scream at them for their myopic views. The author chose to shift the narrative mostly between 2 of the charac...more
What a powerful book! I was compelled to keep reading it, even though I could see no possible outcome that would be good. The four main characters were all well crafted, illustrative of the many different ways we can be self destructive. They are very real...and sometimes I just wanted to scream at them for their myopic views. The author chose to shift the narrative mostly between 2 of the charac...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
Everyone
The reason I love this book is because it beautifully presents a problem from two sides, then let's the reader decide which side he or she supports. This isn't foxnews. The author transitions from chapter to chapter between the two main characters, using wonderful language for each, and then lets the reader decide. Neither of the characters were perfect, but neither could be classified as "bad guys". Andre Dubois III is my favorite modern author, his short stories are also amazing.
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