HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus is a frustrating story because everyone is stupid. And they just keep piling on the stupid, one stupid action after the other.

Part 1 is full of sex and stupidity. That's a sign of a bad, at least second-rate, writer. It seemed he padded the book with sexual details that were unnecessary to the story except to show the reader that two of the characters didn't think with their brains.

Although the author seemed to be trying to get the reader to sympathize with all three main characters, I just couldn't. What was to like?

Part 2 gives glimpses of good writing. It made me wonder if two different people each wrote a different half of the book.

Although everyone except the Iranian teenager is stupid in Part 2 as well as Part 1, the author did make the reader sympathize sometimes in Part 2. For example, when Lester considered his kids (but was so stupid he didn't do that for long), when Behrani's wife's headache was so bad the description actually made my head ache, and especially when Behrani's thoughts were given during and after the episode with his son and Lester.

Unfortunately, the book didn't get good until the second half of the second part. These were the few pages of exceptionally good writing when the author described Behrani's devastation.

I felt sympathy for some of the characters but never got to a place where I could feel empathy for any of them. Each of the characters seemed to feel like their situations just happened to them, whereas their choices clearly led them to each stage of their story.