BOOK: House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

i took a course in my sophomore year in Fakulti Pengajian Islam, (the only girl with gleaming black, long straight hair in the only lecture hall in the whole uni practicing gender separation) and get to know a very beautiful Iranian lady, Azadeh. my parents, just went for their overseas trip to Holy Land and took a lot of pictures from Jordan. so, i talked to her of Jordan and what little i knew of Iran. from her, i knew that Iranian speak Persian, not Arabic. she speaks Arabic because she studies at Jordan uni.
and how can you miss "Children of Heaven"?. click on to see the trailer

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edit: the trailer was cr*ppy. sorry, i've just checked it. the trailer failed to trailed the film. its a brilliant film. and i mean, really, brilliant in a very humble way.

if i have a chance to travel in the Middle East, i'll certainly put Iran in my itinerary. that, after i manage to pull all my courage to even think of going there. wars devastated the land and made it almost unsafe for women travelers to enjoy traveling in these part of the world.

the House of Sand and Fog was a story of Iranian family seeking asylum in the States, fleeing a new reign of power in their homeland. Behrani, a former military intel specializing in purchasing military weaponry (high salary) found himself with lowly jobs of picking trash along the highway and tending a small convenience store at night. he lived a double life, as he ought to keep appearance in order to get his daughter a suitable suitor. after his daughter married to a successful doctor, Behrani and his family moved to a smaller bungalow he got at a bargain price.

the bungalow was belong to a recovering alcoholic lady who was forced to leave her house because she failed to pay her tax. she befriended the policeman who evicted her and got in an affair with him. while struggling with his domestic chaos (divorcing his wife and leaving his kids), the policeman tried to help her to get her house back, up to a point he threatened the Behrani family to leave the premise.

the story ended tragically, with the lady hospitalized, the policeman jailed, Behrani and his wife went back to Iran to face a firing squad and his only son died, shot by the policeman.

this is a story, where you dont know who to pity. because, it seems, everyone was a victim.

and if you think the storyline's horrible enough to make a good movie, yes, there's a movie version of this book. Ben Kingsley played Behrani. and if you wonder how the author can even think of writing such heartbreaking story, do click Andre Dubus III. i read the book 3 times, each read tempted me to change the plot. its too helpless.

i'll give 3.5/5. because, i dont see a point of clearly defining the numerous sex act(s).

long overdue doc, but, ya, finally a review.