![]() ![]() I did not like this book, however the narrators did a great job and probably caused me to dislike it less than if I had read it in print. A finalist for the National Book Award, an Oprah Book Club selection AND turned into a movie? Either there is something I missed here or the world has gone bananas. I don't even know where to start with this book. One caveat to this review: I have not seen the movie, so I came to the book without any movie-induced preconceptions. My only criticism - the brief interludes of music between sections are jarringly inappropriate. An amazing audiobook, one of the most satisfying I have listened to. Father, mother, husband, wife, child, sibling, lover, immigrant, native, boss, subordinate, trainee, soldier in a strict military hierarchy - Dubus manages to explore and say something interesting about all of these ties, with a bit of political and economic commentary that is subordinate to the more important themes. The book is a meditation on the many different ways we organize our relationships with others, and how many different ways those relationships can fall apart. The Irani ex-colonel is particularly finely wrought, but I found the others well done also. ![]() Yes, you know they are all spiraling down to disaster, but the author has caught the internal voices of the characters very well, sometimes exquisitely. I found this audiobook absolutely riveting - almost perfectly read, with the important twist of having separate male and female voices, given that the book is mostly a series of interior monologues from the various characters. ![]() HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!Īstounding characterizations, and wonderfully read However, in this case the narration could not be more perfect. Usually it is a mistake when an author narrates his/her own book. Perhaps, this is why some find it hard to take. The characters lives are developed methodically and perfectly to the extent to where the reader can clearly feel their pain. The film cannot hold a candle to the depth of this book. After listening to this book, I went to see the "critically acclaimed" movie. Each adversary contributes to the deterioration of the problem that leads to a shocking crescendo. The reader is steered into the lives of two completely opposite characters to look through their eyes from conflicting points of view. The back-and-forth voices of the male and female combatants work wonderfully. I feel that House of Sand and Fog is one of the best works I have had the pleasure to listen to. I have never been compelled to review a book before online. Just because a reader doesn't like the morality the characters, the story is nonetheless brilliant! I am a longtime Audible member. Just because the story is a TRAGEDY, doesn't make it any less of a wonderful literary effort. I believe the relatively low customer rating of this book is misleading. I enjoy Ben Kingsley's acting and I am sure he handles the Colonel's character very well but I will have to reserve seeing the film until some day when I am so overwhelmingly sunny and happy that I need to be brought down a few notches. Over-all, a book which seems highly over-rated to me. Those guys are not in business in my area. I want to hire those builders who built that roof deck so incredibly quickly. Is anyone in this book ever capable of making just one reasonably sensible judgement, one which does not inevitably lead to disaster? One positive. Has something like this every happened? I suppose so, but. To keep this very brief, my problems with this book revolve around several concerns: The complete ineptness of everyone in resolving the property tax problem early on and the string of negative coincidences creating the situation made for a less than believable basic premise for the book. I found that to be a bit disconcerting, but I do have to admit that the real world is not densely populated by all wonderful people. As the one other (so far) reviewer has said, no one in the book is likeable. I suspect I am going to be in the minority, but I did not like this book. I suspect I am going to be in the minority. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |