House of Sand and Fog

aruna · Jul 19, 2006

Just put it down and am dying to talk about it... anyone else read it? My rating: nine and a half out of ten. This is one book I won't forget so quickly.

davidhburton · Jul 19, 2006

I'll need to read it. The movie was brilliant...especially Ben Kingsley as Behrani!

aruna · Jul 19, 2006

I haven't seen the movie but Ben Kingsley sounds just perfect.

DeniseK · Jul 19, 2006

I read the book first and then saw the movie, both excellent, and yes, unforgettable. Ben Kingsley will send shivers up your spine, he does this character so well.

Inkdaub · Jul 20, 2006

I want to read it. I saw the movie and Kingsley was great but that is no surprise.

Perks · Jul 20, 2006

The movie was great. Great! I forgot to read the book. Thanks for the reminder!

David Erlewine · Jul 20, 2006

loved it

I thought Dubus 3 was amazing at shifting POV between the Colonel and "Jennifer". I finished the book much too quickly. Initially I avoided it to show up Oprah. I loved the book, liked the movie.

maestrowork · Jul 20, 2006

Great book and movie. It also shows you how to do 1st person (past or present tense) right with shifting POVs. Great characters and a gripping plot.

aruna · Jul 20, 2006

All I know is, now I've got to see the movie!

Lyra Jean · Jul 20, 2006

Didn't know it was a book. I did see the movie but I didn't get it. So perhaps I'll get the book and see if it makes more sense.

estateconnection · Jul 20, 2006

I haven't read the book, but I've seen the movie about five times. My father, on the other hand, read the book, but would not watch the movie because the book disurbed him so much. I want to read it to see if the book is more disturbing than the movie-doesn't seem possible. I am currently going through a business tax "snafu", and I keep thinking about the movie! Although, I haven't befriended a wayward cop or put my stuff in storage-yet

aruna · Jul 20, 2006

To all those who've read it: which of the characters irritated you the most? They were all flawed but had redeeming qualities, and all had the capacity to piss the reader off big time. I had a few words with the friend who lent me the book last night; she said she identified with Kathy completely in that she also does not open some of her mail, but that Behrani was the one she couldn't stand.
In my case, I could most identify with Behrani and his need for stability for his family (being in a similar situation, I guess!) but I uttery and completely couldn't stand Les. What a jerk, form the start. Why did he have to hit on Kathy, he was married for goodness sake, with kids! Why did he have to intervene! OK, OK, I know the answer - because there would be no story otherwise! But that just shows how much I was involved. I was totaly exasperated with him; without his fooling around the other two could have sorted out the mess in time.

This is one book where present tense really worked for me (apart from The Pacific Between, of course!)

The half-grade I subtracted from a perfect ten was the long flashback when we got to Lester's narrative. It distracted me and I skimmed and finally skipped it.

SPOILER

Except, after Behrani died, I had to wonder how he got to write the story! A total surprise, BTW. I just wasn't expecting it.

pdr · Jul 20, 2006

Yes, but...

you forget to tell the rest of us who wrote it!

aruna · Jul 20, 2006

Oh! Andre Dubus III

CaroGirl · Jul 21, 2006

Oh, wow. I liked it too. It has some flaws, but the breakneck pace toward the inevitable conclusion was just fantastic. It was a real wild ride and I could not put it down.

Personally, I hated Kathy. But I liked Behrani, and sympathized with him. I also really liked his wife. I'm neutral on Les, but found his attraction to needy, damaged Kathy a bit baffling. She must have been really good looking or something. (I haven't seen the movie)

Dubus intrigued me with the way he shifted pov and each character had such a strong individual voice.

maestrowork · Jul 21, 2006

CaroGirl said:
...She must have been really good looking or something. (I haven't seen the movie)

Oh yeah, she's gorgeous... in the movie

Played by Jennifer Connelly.

CaroGirl · Jul 21, 2006

maestrowork said:
Oh yeah, she's gorgeous... in the movie Played by Jennifer Connelly.

Oh, yeah, sure. She can be cute. In certain light.

aruna · Jul 21, 2006

I don't know Jenifer Connolly. But somehow, gorgeous doesn't really tie in with Kathy's character which I suppose is really, really mean and "lookish" of me. I imagine someone with her character flaws to be slobbish in looks as well: overweight, slouching around, greasy hair, unkempt, most unattractive.

maestrowork · Jul 21, 2006

It's Hollywood -- they have to cast a beautiful woman. Also, Les wouldn't be so interested in her if she wasn't halfway decent-looking.

This is Jennifer Connelly:

But she's also played "ugly" before, such as her role in Requiem for a Dream.

CaroGirl · Jul 21, 2006

I agree, but she did have a doe-eyed, vulnerable air about her. Les must have like that. In the absence of stunning looks, why else would he be attracted to her? (This was a flaw in the novel for me)

aruna · Jul 21, 2006

maestrowork said:
It's Hollywood -- they have to cast a beautiful woman. Also, Les wouldn't be so interested in her if she wasn't halfway decent-looking.

Yes, I'm aware that her being attractive is part of the set-up, so as to get Les drawn in. Looking at the book from more of a distance, the whole Les thing appears to me a bit unrealistic. How could he risk everything for someone as dysfunctinal as this? Was it really love or just his groin speaking in a rather .. uh... :tongue

overwhelming way? How could he exchange his beautiful family for such a loser? Yes, she HAD to be a real looker; that was the only thing she had going for her. But it makes Les all the more shallow and unlikeable for me.

(Carogirl, I wrote this before reading yours. I agree with you here.)

maestrowork · Jul 21, 2006

I think that's the thing. Without a clear picture of whether Kathy is attractive or not, we can only speculate, and it makes it difficult to understand why someone like Les would, as you said, "risk everything and his family for a loser like her" unless there's something for him either physically or emotionally. I do know men who like dysfunctional women -- somehow they feel like they can fix these women.

That's the risk a writer takes when he's not specific about the character's descriptions. Using our own imagination, the readers don't necessarily associate Kathy's character with "beautiful" and that makes Les's attraction to her and his action rather baffling. We must, then, assume that she must be a looker and even so, there's something really dysfunctional and unlikable about Les.

Valkyrie1 · Jul 25, 2006

Hi

I saw the movie, but haven't read the book.

I initially sympathized with Kathy, but ended up despising her for her self-pity and narcissism. She reminded me of a parasite as she sucked the life from everyone around her to gain her own ends.

I disliked Wes from the get-go. A man who would dump his family to play the White Knight to such a skank elicits my contempt, not pity.

I disliked Behrani at first, but came to admire him. When he realized how much others were suffering from his pride and arrogance, he took stock of the situation and became a better man.

He began to take responsibilty for his actions. His code of ethics and innate goodness kicked in. He thought of both the consequences of his actions and the poor example that he set for Ismael, his son.

He saw that he could protect his family--an absolute MUST for Muslim men from Middle Eastern societies--without being a bully or a tyrant.

Now I must read the book to see if he is as sympathetic as the Kingsley character.

aruna · Jul 25, 2006

Thanks, Valkyrie, you have summarised my own feelings about th ebook very well.
At first I thought Behrani rather pompous, and I had questions about his past in Iran - I felt he was an unreliable narrator, and probably did more nasty stuff than he admitted to. ( I doubt that the movie could have gone into this as well as the book - but I will check.)
But as the story developed I found my admiration for him growing - regarding his relationship to both his son and his wife, and his daughter, and even regarding Kathy. Of all the main charcaters, he was the only one who grew. Kathy and Les just went downhill - fast.

Valkyrie1 · Jul 27, 2006

You're right, Aruna. Les and Kathy really buckled when under pressure.

Unlike Behrani, neither appeared to have the spiritual or moral resources to face their challenges with any measure of grace. Instead, they chose to wallow in the muck. That's what makes them so revolting to me.

House of Sand and Fog

On a wing and a prayer

Purveyor of sacrilege

On a wing and a prayer

wrapped in plastic

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Fear the Death Ray

On a wing and a prayer

Two years old now.

On a wing and a prayer

On a wing and a prayer

Living the dream

Fear the Death Ray

Living the dream

On a wing and a prayer

Fear the Death Ray

Living the dream

On a wing and a prayer

Fear the Death Ray

On a wing and a prayer