In the course of the narrative, which shifts from first-persons by both Kathy and Behrani, or an omniscient voice for Lester's portions, the reader gradually learns the history of all three characters, and watches with fascination and horror as things go from bad to worse, building to a climax that will leave you gasping and shaken. A tempestuous, ill-advised affair ensues, as Lester tries to help her get her house back. Kathy is evicted from her home by a Deputy Sheriff, Lester Burdon, who, though married with two children, falls in love with Kathy. Due to a clerical error re unpaid taxes, her house is seized by the county and auctioned for a very low price to one Massoud Behrani, a former Colonel in the Iranian Air Force who'd been forced to flee Iran at the time of the revolution there. She cleans houses to make ends meet and lives in a small house (the one of the title, inherited from her father) in a coastal village near San Francisco. Kathy Lazaro is a thirty-six year old woman who is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, recently abandoned by her husband. I mean, WoW! This is simply one helluva good read.The plot centers around three people.
It's a story that begins slowly but quickly picks up momentum and then grabs you by the scruff of the neck and keeps you turning pages deep into the night because you simply HAVE to knw what happens next. Kingsley, carrying his body like armor, sculpting each line into a bitter dart of pride, plays fierceness with a powerful tug of sorrow.HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, by Andre Dubus III, was a blockbuster bestseller nearly 20 years ago, and now that I've finally gotten around to reading it, I can see why. He’s a fallen Middle Eastern warrior who transforms himself into a scrappy American capitalist. Behrani has no sympathy for Kathy, yet in trying to better the lives of his wife (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and son (Jonathan Ahdout), he is hardly a villain. She is ultimately to blame for her predicament (she didn’t bother to open her mail, hence the missed eviction warnings), though it’s easy to see why she takes up with a dogged cop (Ron Eldard) who’s willing to smash the rules to get the house back. Behrani plans to sell it as quickly as he bought it (at four times the price), and for Kathy it’s less a nest than a base of survival. Neither party, ironically, has much love for the house. It would be easy to imagine a version of this movie played for xenophobic revenge, with, say, Michael Douglas growling out the line ”Start packing - ’cause this is my house!” The fascination of ”House of Sand and Fog” is the way that it twists and tangles our allegiances.
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