I have read very few books quite as bleak as The House of Sand and Fog, so saying that I “enjoyed” this book doesn’t seem quite appropriate. I was captivated by it. The story centers around a house and the people struggling against eachother to own it. Each chapter flip- flops from one voice, that of Persian immigrants, the Behrani family, to the other, a house keeper named Kathy Nicolo. I much prefered the story from the Behrani family, it was a mix of flashbacks of their lilfe in Iran and life as now as struggling immigrants. Kathy’s story was twinged with desperation, helplessness and too much sex (as far as I’m concerned). Read the book, then rent the movie, which won a few Oscars. It really made the story come to life.
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 composed of 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, and on impulse he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory to 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.
At many points while reading this book I actually found it quite hard to believe that it was true. The book read to me more like a Fredrick Forsyth novel than an autobiography of a senior inteligence office. It is a much better read than fiction as it is written by a man who has been there and done that.
