The House of Sand and Fog (book)
December 24, 2003 11:15 a.m.

This book was one the biggest disappointments I have read, somewhere up there with Breakfast of Champions. I really really hated this book! And why the hell they would want to make a movie of it. ….It’s just boring has hell!

I first learned of this book though Oprah’s book club. The author was on the show talking about it and he had a fantastic sense of humor, and he seemed really articulate and just intelligent and funny…he just seemed like a cool guy and he was so excited about the book. He’s also the son of a somewhat famous author I had never heard of and there for his own debut was highly anticipated.

Now when he was talking about the book he was saying how there was this big dramatic and horrible climatic ending and no matter what he did he couldn’t get it to end any other way. I expected this to be a really dark and twisted book Noir. But it really didn’t do it it for me.

The book is about these 3 characters, all of which have some aspect of them which is entirely foreign to the others, from Nationality to addiction, and for some reason this keeps them from really understanding one another and the conflict because intensified because of these misunderstandings.

But….These characters had to be the dumbest I’ve ever read about. They make the stupidest mistakes and which is the root of all their problems.

For example female in the story is divorced (I think I’m remembering this right) and she received a bill from the banking saying that if she didn’t pay this bill by a certain date then the bank will come in and seize the house. Now if I remember right the bill had something to do with a tax charge about running a business in the home and she’s convinced that her ex husband used to handle all that and it must be a mistake (which it is) so she figures that if she just ignores the situation the problem will go away, until the cops show up on her doorstep and evict her.

So the bank sells the house to this other guy and he bought it for as an investment so even when it was proven that the bank made an error he is still refusing to sell it back for the amount that he paid. ..Now this might make him an asshole but he’s the one with the deed. And the chick can’t live in any other house because it has sentimental value.

By the end of the book I was hating all 3 of the main characters and didn’t give a shit about any of their problems or situations because the chick is a moron addict, the guy who bought the house is greedy and power hungry and that gets in the way of his better judgment and still treats all people like he’s superior to them even though he has lost his position in life. And the last guy just throws his life away on what seems to be a pathetic puppy love excuse of a whim. All of them, idiots. All their problems are their own making and I had no sympathy or empathy and wished the would all just quit whining

Now why the hell the made a movie of this I dunno. Eh…and maybe I’ll rent it one day just to see if the movie is better than the book.

I just don’t understand why this book was loved and praised and awarded as much of it was. I hated it. But….I’m not the type to start reading a book and quite (except the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe that when I got a decent away in and was fighting to read it Libby took it back from me and told me to stop and she’d loan it to someone else. I didn’t think it was funny, and it was an elitist allegory. But that’s just me.) So yeah, I had to finish the damn thing.