House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

Bookends Inaugural Meeting 
Monday January 12, 2004

Location:     Louise's home
Members:   Virginia, Francoise, Louise, Bea, Carmen, Louise P., Joanne, Marvel,Wilma, Gisela

Louise chose the book and had two points that she wanted to discuss

1)    What would you have done if you were in Colonel Behrani’s shoes?

2)    She felt that we were all descendants of immigrants and wanted opinions on   

        this because the family in the book was originally from Iran and moved to the US.

A very lively discussion ensued.  What a great book to provoke discussion.  Everyone had an opportunity to speak and many opinions were expressed.

Some comments that were made throughout the evening were:

“This book is like a freight train speeding along.

A comparison was made by two participants to “A Fine Balance” by Rohinston Minstry

The book was unsettling

The book was riveting

It made you re-establish your morals

What a moral dilemma

The epilogue was bizarre!!

Perhaps if two women were left to deal with the situation the outcome would have been completely different [instead of macho men protecting their women folk] ”

Overall I think that the book was well received.  It was “black”, it was unbelievable at times and you just wanted to shake the characters – how could they let that happen??? But it certainly garnered a very lively discussion.

The next “Bookends”  meeting is scheduled for March 5 at Bea’s house.  The book that we will discuss is “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Tracy Chevalier.