Book Review: "House of Sand and Fog" by Andre Dubus III

★★★★★★

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 Nicolo is a troubled young woman 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 doomed by their tragic inability to understand one another, the three converge in an explosive collision course. Combining unadorned realism with profound empathy, House of Sand and Fog marks the arrival of a major new voice in American fiction. — Annotation 1999 National Book Award finalist, Fiction.

House of Sand and Fog leaves me wanting. I need to know what else happens. I found myself saying “That’s it? But what about Lester? And what happens to Kathy’s house?” What am I talking about? Kathy Nicolo loses her house and it is immediately auctioned off and bought. It is the buyer who we come to sympathize with because he’s the first character we meet. Massoud Behrani is an Iranian immigrant who picks up trash during the day and mans the register at a convenience store at night. But this is not the man he once was. He used to be a colonel, an important man, a man of respect. This is what resounds throughout the story about this character. His need for respect. Into the equation comes Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon who comes to Kathy’s house to evict her. Lester helps her move her things and eventually becomes too attached.

While there is a bit of a romance in this story, it centers on Behrani and his family trying to live out the American dream. What they saw on television and heard about America back in Iran, only it isn’t truly all that it seems. With the purchase of the house, Behrani believes it is the start to his regaining his fortune, his rightful place in life—his respect. Also with the sale of the house comes the demise of Kathy’s life. She has nowhere else to go and no means to maintain a life living in motels until she can get her house back.

I was kind of bored with Behrani’s story once things got rolling. In fact, I thought he was a bit of a prick. I understand his desire to return to the good life, but doing it without any regard for others is selfish. He leaves everyone in his family out of the decision making because he is used to having people obey him. He is used to being in charge. I found myself wanting to yell at him that he is no longer “the man” and needs to get used to his new station in life. Going around thinking he is still a colonel and demanding respect is not realistic. No one takes the time out to get to know your background nor do they really care to.

I got into Kathy and Lester’s story more because these two characters are truly a mess. It’s like watching a train wreck, knowing you should turn and look away, but can’t. Everything about them, from how they get together to where they end up by the end of the story, it’s all a huge mess. But there are good times in between the wreckage. I kept reading thinking something will go right for them, something will change, and Behrani will do the right thing.

I’m torn between really loving and simply liking House of Sand and Fog because it has me thinking about so many different things. Seeing the other side of the coin is enlightening, but also a bit scary. It makes you wonder what you would do in any of these characters’ situations and I still haven’t come up with an idea.

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Elle

Writer, mother, realist, cloud lover, daydreamer, dessert enthusiast, sweet tea addict, perfectionist, and lover of life and Christ, but not in that order. http://www.fanfiction.net/~vikingloverelle