Also an award-winning film, this novel by Andre Dubus III paints a surreal and smoky picture of San Francisco and the coastline just south. If you are planning to drive down Highway 1 south from San Francisco, read this book first. My boyfriend and I drove from San Francisco to Carmel last summer, and we had both recently read The House of Sand and Fog. It was fun to imagine the contested house in Corona (a made up town) as one of the many bungalows in the small towns lining the coast south of San Fran, or searching among the suburban homes off the highway for Lester Burdon’s house. It’s easy to imagine such a dark story taking place in the emerald evergreens and foggy hills in the region.
Kathy Nicolo, a former drug addict, is left by her husband with her sole possession: a bungalow her father left her. When the house is taken away from her mistakenly by the county, Colonel Behrani, exiled from Iran, buys the house cheap at auction. The house means everything to him and takes the last of his savings. It is his last chance to make a new life for his family in America.
This tightly woven novel alternates between first person sections by Kathy and the colonel. The reader switches loyalties just as often while the battle for the house on Bisgrove unfolds. The ending is utterly heartbreaking, but you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens.
Try to forget the movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t until you’ve read the book and driven through the area. The book’s characters are much more homely seeming than the movie, especially Jennifer Connelly’s version of Kathy. She is never as distraught or sweaty as I imagined Kathy to be.
Andre Dubus III writes a compelling novel that beautifully uses the landscape of northern California to enhance the story.
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