My Thoughts on “The House of Sand and Fog”
I finished Andre Dubus’ novel, The House of Sand and Fog, Saturday evening. First thought after turning the last page- “hmmm.” The book was alright; maybe a 6 out of 10. It had an overlapping and engaging story line/plot, semi-established character development and a fairly enticing writing style. I appreciated the time he spent working the characters thoughts and ideas and feelings into their actions and behaviors, but I sort of just felt like everyone overreacted in general. Things go from bad to worse in a few paragraphs. And I really wonder if all the characters would truly have acted so severely drastic? My attention was piqued at the opening chapter. I love historical fiction, so I was drawn in by the main character’s middle eastern ethnicity. However, that becomes background for the true setting, which was present day San Fran, and I could care less. Also, there were SEVERAL racy and dicey parts that turned a PG-13 book into well over a rated R book. Not really a fan of reading sexual, highly implausible ventures.
On an additional note, Sunday night, Jarod and I rented the film based on this novel. The movie was, in Jarod’s word, DEPRESSING. Indeed, and surprisingly, the movie followed the book well. The time line gets a bit jumbled and they rework the ending… but it was really quite similar. It even used some of the same lines!
Overall, I give it a thumbs down. I wouldn’t read it again (I could watch the movie if I really wanted) and I probably wouldn’t recommend it.
-b
