House of Sand and Fog

By: Andre Dubus III

Narrated by: Andre Dubus III, Fontaine Dollas Dubus

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

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©2001 Andre Dubus III (P)2001 HarperCollinsPublishers Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award Finalist, Adult Fiction, 2001

"We've got all the ingredients for an old-fashioned tragedy. Brilliantly written, and presented with feeling, this is one of the saddest stories ever told." (AudioFile)
"Dubus has created a novel that is nearly perfectly suited to the audio format....The reading by the author and his wife is sublime." (Publishers Weekly)
"Dubus sets out the growing confrontation with chilly ingenuity and a remarkably observant compassion....[A] fine and prophetic novel." (Los Angeles Times)
"Dubus writes gorgeous prose with a noirish edge." (Booklist)
"An enthralling tragedy." (Kirkus)
"Dubus...is clearly a talent to be reckoned with....House of Sand and Fog is a page-turner with a beating heart." (Boston Golobe)

Depressing

Very odd book. I almost quit 4 hours in. But because I was knitting while listening, I just let the audiobook continue. I'm glad I did.
The narration is lousy (the book version may be a better choice), BUT, that may be the way the author wanted it, since he was one of the narrators. Both female and male narrators were very monotone which added to this depressing story. Yes, be prepared, this is not a happy story in any way.
The book starts by describing the day to day lives of 2 totally different families. One is a military family escaped from Iran (naturalized US citizens). The other "family" is a recovering drug and alcohol addict, who's husband has left and she begins an affair with a married man.
We explore the lives, attitudes of all the characters and how they eventually merge together.
I found it interesting to listen to the lifestyle of the Iranians. Their thought process, the eating habits. (According to the book, when they drink tea, they put a sugar cube in their mouth, sip the tea and slurp is through the sugar cube. I'll have to try that.)
Trouble begins with a mistake on the city tax office's part. From their is a whirlwind of errors, misunderstanding, stubbornness that all escalates and merges these two families together forever. Unfortunately, the merge is by way of a totally downward spiral. One action leads to another, etc.
It reminds me of the movie "Falling Down", starring Michael Douglas, or a darker type of "Thelma and Louise".
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Great book but the ending

I thought the book was good the narrator's were great and did a absolute amazing job very easy to listen to them the womans monotone was very pleasant easily drawing you in you wanted to hear what she had to stay. the man's voices was stern to the point and not overly aggressive when not needed to be. I wish there was more to the ending it kindly left you like awe man now I dont know whats really become of them or how certain things played out. I guess it's just meant to leave you with your own assumptions on where this goes from here. but it was a great book overall. It also was very relatable as far as locations of these stories as im from the bay area the familiarity was nice.

Great Listening

Enjoyed this book and didn't want to interupt my listening time.

Riveting... Until it wasn't

At the beginning of the book I was raptured. The plot took a while to kick off but the characters were fascinating and kept me interested. After the climax-ish of the book it just dragged along. The falling action hardly played on these complicated and deep characters at all and then it was just kind of... over. Overall a really good book but don't expect much past the climax.

Dark

Though a dark and at times depressing tale, it was a different kind of thoughtful story. Bleak as it was, the characters were unusual and unique. Definitely a clash of cultures so stark it was a learning experience. The reading was well done...but I did tire of Cathy's whiny voice!

Like the movie with more detail

overall seeing the movie first and book second is a good idea for an series because you are typically disappointed by the movie. but now reading the book, I can say the screen adaption is fantastic. of course there are more details but really both are well done.

Astounding characterizations, and wonderfully read

I found this audiobook absolutely riveting -- almost perfectly read, with the important twist of having separate male and female voices, given that the book is mostly a series of interior monologues from the various characters. Yes, you know they are all spiraling down to disaster, but the author has caught the internal voices of the characters very well, sometimes exquisitely. The Irani ex-colonel is particularly finely wrought, but I found the others well done also. The book is a meditation on the many different ways we organize our relationships with others, and how many different ways those relationships can fall apart. Father, mother, husband, wife, child, sibling, lover, immigrant, native, boss, subordinate, trainee, soldier in a strict military hierarchy -- Dubus manages to explore and say something interesting about all of these ties, with a bit of political and economic commentary that is subordinate to the more important themes. An amazing audiobook, one of the most satisfying I have listened to. My only criticism -- the brief interludes of music between sections are jarringly inappropriate. One caveat to this review: I have not seen the movie, so I came to the book without any movie-induced preconceptions.

Sandy

I bought this download based on the reviews. The reviewers didn't let me down. I never listen to an audio book at home or in the car because I save them for the train commute but this book is a true " cant put down" book. I listened at work, at home,the car and even in the grocery store. I like the way this book makes you think about the 2 sides to every story. A truly though provoking story, I enjoyed every minute

Gripping

Dubus tackled many distinct voices and personalities--each a victim of life circumstances, but not one giving up until the end. My sympathies shifted from character to character as the story unfolded. I was moved by the hope expressed in the midst of hopeless situations, the continued efforts to look for one more solution--one more choice. Great Story!

Great story, beautifully narrated

This is one of the best audio books I have ever read. Beautifully written, perfectly narrated in two voices, timely in its content (politically and economically). Oprah comes through again with a winner.