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Loading... The Garden of Last Days: A Novelby Andre Dubus
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. A dark view of humanity through the eyes of a terrorist preparing to blow up the twin towers, a young stripper and her 3 year old and a young father who has lost his rights to visit his son because of domestic violence. Well written but very dark. Not as engaging or enthralling as House of Sand and Fog. (  ) MaryC22 | Sep 8, 2009 |  Started out very good, I could hardly put it down. The last 1/4 just drug on and on however. I liked the main characters (April, Jean, AJ, Franny) but some of the characters (Bassam, Lonnie) were kind of boring. Even though Bassam was an intergral part of the story (perhaps even the MOST integral part) I just felt nothing for him. ( ) ljkiser | Aug 6, 2009 | I finished this book but I was struggling with it at the end. I wanted it to finish as I hated the creeping depression I felt most of the way through it. It was pretty seedy and sleazy in many parts too. It was also difficult because I could not find empathy for any of the characters even though I could see that the author was trying to do so. I particularly had trouble with Bassam & the other hijackers. I wonder if it was because in hindsight of the horrific event, no human being would easily work past that to see those people responsible independently of what they did. On a positive note, he is a gifted writer and, although minute in their detail, his descriptions are very vivid and insightful. And I must admit it was a powerful observation into how painful and dark some people's lives are making me thankful for all that I have. This novel is very hard to forget as a result. Peggy72 | Aug 5, 2009 | One night in late summer 2001 told through the eyes of stripper (April), AJ (a patron who was ejected from the strip club), one of the 9/11 terrorists, Asam and Jean, April's landlady and babysitter, who was admitted to the hospital forcing April to bring her 3 year old to work with her. The child is unattended and crying at the back door of the club when AJ sees her and takes her, thinking he is saving her. April entertains Assam, clinching her connection to 9/11. Pretty well written but too long for what was needed and clearly not up to the level of "House of Sand and Fog." ( ) brenzi | Apr 9, 2009 | This book wasn't as good as "House of Sand And Fog" in my opinion but it kept you interested.....just wasn't a page turner. (  ) txwildflower | Mar 31, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0393041654, Hardcover)From the author of the New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection House of Sand and Fog—a new big-hearted, painful, page-turning novel.One early September night in Florida, a stripper brings her daughter to work. April's usual babysitter is in the hospital, so she decides it's best to have her three-year-old daughter close by, watching children's videos in the office, while she works. Except that April works at the Puma Club for Men. And tonight she has an unusual client, a foreigner both remote and too personal, and free with his money. Lots of it, all cash. His name is Bassam. Meanwhile, another man, AJ, has been thrown out of the club for holding hands with his favorite stripper, and he's drunk and angry and lonely. From these explosive elements comes a relentless, raw, searing, passionate, page-turning narrative, a big-hearted and painful novel about sex and parenthood and honor and masculinity. Set in the seamy underside of American life at the moment before the world changed, it juxtaposes lust for domination with hunger for connection, sexual violence with family love. It seizes the reader by the throat with the same psychological tension, depth, and realism that characterized Andre Dubus's #1 bestseller, House of Sand and Fog—and an even greater sense of the dark and anguished places in the human heart. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:53 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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