Product Description

When Kathy, a young recovering alcoholic recently separated from her husband, fails to a open a series of tax letters that have been sent to her in error, the State of California seizes the house she and her brother have inherited from her father. The State sells the house at auction to Behrani, a former Iranian Air Force officer. Unable to parley his skills into a job in aerospace in the US, the house represents an entry into real estate and a passport to the future of his family and his own version of the American Dream. For Kathy, its loss is the last of a series of insults life has dealt her. When she becomes involved with a married policeman who takes up her cause, the stage is set for a gut-wrenching tragedy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92776 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. "House of Sand and Fog" opens with a highway crew comprising several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the US four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing". A father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chances of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory with disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.

Dubus tells his tragic tale from the viewpoints of the two main adversaries, Behrani and Kathy. To both of them, the house represents something more than just a place to live. For the colonel, it is a foot in the door of the American Dream; for Kathy, a reminder of a kinder, gentler past. In prose that is simple yet evocative The House of Sand and Fog builds to its inevitable denouement: one that is painfully dark but unfailingly honest. --Alix Wilber

Amazon.co.uk Review
Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew comprising several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the U.S. four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing." The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chances of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory with disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.

Dubus tells his tragic tale from the viewpoints of the two main adversaries, Behrani and Kathy. To both of them, the house represents something more than just a place to live. For the colonel, it is a foot in the door of the American Dream; for Kathy, a reminder of a kinder, gentler past. In prose that is simple yet evocative The House of Sand and Fog builds to its inevitable denouement: one that is painfully dark but unfailingly honest. --Alix Wilber

From the Publisher
'the finest novel of the year' Time Out
'the finest novel of the year' Time Out

'a novel of tremendous impact' Sunday Times

'stunning and original... From the moment one starts to read their story, one has no choice but to stay with these characters until the end ... Beautiful, gripping and highly intelligent' The Times

'One of the best American novels I've ever read' James Lee Burke

Customer Reviews

A literate, compulsive read
"House of Sand and Fog" is the story of people whose dreams, though fairly ordinary and mostly achievable, turn out to be built of highly illusive materials, such as sand (upon which you cannot build a house) and fog (through which you cannot see the truth).

Author Dubus tells the story from the perspective of three characters: Kathy Nicolo, who owns and loses a modest, 3-bedroom bungalow in northern California and who is a recovering coke addict and alcoholic; a former colonel from the Shah's Iranian military and now a legal citizen of America who acquires Kathy's house through a county auction; and an intelligent though troubled and dissatisfied American policemen who starts a relationship with Kathy after serving the official eviction notice

This is a book as much about the effects of bureaucratic mistakes and their attendant nightmares, as it is about people and their almost fated inabilities to break free of bad habits and destructive behaviours. At the same time, it's about life in a free country, dreams of betterment, and shaking free of the past.

Big themes. Well handled.

The different perspectives show the American dream and our unalienable rights --- shelter, prosperity, the pursuit of happiness or, failing that, at least a decent enough relationship. The reader is never really certain which character deserves the most empathy; they each have their fatal flaws and also their very real charms.

As the story builds to its tragic conclusion, you will find yourself completely gripped and increasingly worried. This is a page-turner. And it's very, very good. While the book could have done with some good editing towards the end --- maybe ten or 15 fewer pages, especially regarding Les Burdon, the policeman --- it is well worth reading and really memorable.

Highly recommended.

A Dark, Gripping Tale Of The American Dream Gone Awry
Persian immigrant, Massoud Amir Behrani, is a former colonel in the late, deposed Iranian Shah's air force, and a man who takes life very seriously. He is an intelligent, well educated man, who used to be respected in Iran as a person of position, power, and means. Behrani's former life, with all his efforts to build it, seems like it was constructed on a sea of shifting sand. He came to America with his wife, son, and daughter four years ago, with limited funds, and has spent almost all of his money setting his family up in the manner to which they had been accustomed. Appearances mean much to Behrani. His dream of attracting a wealthy, eligible suitor for his daughter by living above his meager means, has been realized. His daughter is finally married, and established in her own home. After extensive job searches, he is reduced to working as a trash collector on the California highways with other immigrants; men he would have given alms to in his native land. Angry and humiliated at how far he has fallen, Behrani decides to invest his remaining funds in a house that has been put up for auction at a Sheriff's Sale, because the owner had not paid back property taxes. He wants to restore the house and sell it at a large profit, which he hopes will enable him to provide his family with their former lifestyle, and restore some of his lost dignity.

Kathy Nicolo is a depressed, quietly self-destructive woman; a recovering alcoholic and addict. Describing the success of her recovery program, Kathy says, "I had already stopped wanting what I'd been craving off and on since I was fifteen, for Death to come take me the way the wind does a dried leaf out on its limb." Her house, in the California hills, is all she has. It is a symbol of stability, and a reminder of a gentler past. She is adamant in her refusal to give-up her home because of a bureaucratic error.

Sheriff Lester Burdon bears terrible news when he delivers the eviction papers to Kathy. She confides in him, and he becomes obsessed with helping her fight for justice. Lester finds himself falling deeply in love with Kathy, although he is married and has addiction problems, and much personal baggage, of his own.

The contested ownership of the house on Bisgrove Street is the fulcrum of this intense novel's plot. Three people compete with increasing desperation, for the title to one small house, which has a different meaning for each of them. The tragedy lies in the inability of all three to understand one another.

"House Of Sand And Fog" is told from two points of view. And Andre Dubus III, is a master at describing each character's thoughts, and a wide range of emotions, very credibly, with much empathy, conviction and compassion. All of his characters are complex, well developed and believable. Dubus' simple narrative style is elegant, dark, and rich in detail. The plot is riveting - filled with suspense! The novel builds to a tragic, and almost inevitable, conclusion. This book is hard to put down. Highly recommended!
JANA

A wonderful discovery.
Other reviewers have described this book as unpredictable - it certainly is. There are so many twists and turns in this book, without it seeming they have been added for effect. The central characters are well drawn, the story original and profoundly touching and the ending...well, as others have suggested, it will wrench your heart. This book is a wonderful discovery and I can see why they have made it into a film, but cannot imagine how any film could do justice to the depth of the novel. It may sound trite to say it, but this book is worth your time. Wonderful.