"House of Sand and Fog" by Andre Dubus III

Plot synopsis by Wikipedia can be found here.

"House of Sand and Fog" (henceforth shortened to "HSF") is not one of the usual books that I will pick up on reading the introduction at the back cover, mainly because the introduction at the back's so blah, and gives no clue into the gripping storyline that had me tuning out everything but the book during the few days I sat reading the book in the express bus on the way to work.

My colleague was the one who highly recommended the book to me, telling me it was a good read. As I recall, we were discussing "Revolutionary Road" and I was raving about its storyline and we got to talking about other books, and somehow this came up.

The storyline, if you have read the plot synopsis by Wikipedia, is innocuous enough, but what I liked about HSF was how the character built up was cleverly interpersed with the plotline. Usually for novels, one tends to root for one side or the other, but HSF had me sympathising with both sides, and biting my nails (figuratively, of course!) as to how the tussle for the house would resolve itself.

The story is told from Behrani, the disposed Iranian Colonel who flees Iran to seek a better life for himself in America, and Kathy Nicolo, a recovering drug addict, whose house has been taken from her due to a mistake by the authorities. Behrani seizes the chance to better his life by buying the house at a low price, which starts the struggle for who has the rights to the house. The tussle drags in the whole Behrani family and Lester Burdon, a police officer.

I won't spoil the book by talking about the ending here because half the enjoyment of the book was wondering how this Gordian Knot would resolve itself. I confess I was still hoping for a happy ending, but really, as the book progresses, one really realises that things often have a way of evolving until it is all but out of control, and careening towards the one sure path of tragedy. And only when it is too late, did one realise that maintaining a stand actually costs so, so much.

How tragic human life can be, that only with hindsight is it 20/20. How apt the book title, literally "sand and fog".

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

(P.S.: No picture of the book, not for lack of trying. A search did not carry the version I read. :P)