A bleak beginning to the new year

After deciding it is time to read some adult books, I chose one with a title and cover that I really liked. Not always the best idea, but Oprah reinforced this one, so you know it's good *sarcasm*. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III is a bleak read. Taken from the point of view of two people battling for ownership of a house, this is a book that forces you out of your comfort zone and into the middle man position.

Kathy's husband walked out on her and all she has left is the house her father left her brother that she now lives in in California. Colonel Behrani is an Iranian immigrant who fled with his family to America during the Islamic Revolution because he was in the old regime's military. He works hard to support his family, but has a plan to start flipping real estate. The new house he moves his family into, just happens to be Kathy's house that the county wrongfully took from her. As Kathy fights to stay off the streets and get her home back, the Colonel fights to make his family feel normal again and lead them into a better future. Things start taking a turn when Kathy and a local cop, Lester, get involved. Soon the passive aggressive struggles over the house turn into full out war.

This is certainly not a beach read, but it is engaging. There is a steady under current of suspense that makes you want to know more about the characters and what will develop. The Colonel and Kathy both have broken pasts, albeit for very different reasons. The reader may identify with the characters, but they are not particularly heartwarming people. The writing style is a strong suit in this novel. The characters have distinct voices and the Colonel's sections are written in dialect with words in Farsi and the sentence structure of someone whose first language is not English. This can be a risky move, but it paid off.

This is a read for those looking for something real and unfiltered. It shows the perspectives of two people who are living hard lives and trying or attempting to get out of their situations and regain some semblance of a normal life. For read alikes, I would say Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck or As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner.