The Garden of Last Days: A Novel
by Andre Dubus III
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andre Dubus IIIEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2008-05-17
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
Book Reviews of The Garden of Last Days: A Novel
Book Review: Too many characters, not well-developed or appealing
Summary: 2 Stars
I usually only review books I like, but I'm making an exception for this one because I think there may be many people, like me, who loved "House of Sand and Fog" and waited eagerly for the paperback of this one. Unfortunately, it is similar to HOSAF only in that it explores differences in cultures and backgrounds and how these affect the trajectories of some of the characters' lives. But there are way too many characters, and they are all either poorly developed and/or extremely unappealing. To me, there was no one to root for, no one to identify with, no one who fascinated me, and no one whose fate I really cared about, with the possible exception of the older woman Jean. And in describing Jean in her Sarasota garden, the author writes: "She could smell the bougainvillea and hibiscus." A 30-second Google search would have informed the author that bougainvillea has no scent, and only a very few uncommon types of hibiscus do, and that is only a faint scent. This just seemed like such sloppy research--why not use jasmine and plumeria and make it realistic, instead of having the distraction of an error? Especially since the "garden" is part of the title, and presumably Jean's garden has some symbolic meaning. I don't really know because I cut my losses and stopped reading on page 175. It was just too long, and I wasn't looking forward to picking it up. So many of Dubus' sentences are just beautiful; the prose itself is skillfully rendered throughout but, for me, I'm sorry to say the characters and story just didn't work. I will look forward to his next book with hope that it will be an engaging page-turner like HOSAF. Mary Lee Moser, author,There and Back: A Journal Companion for Special Needs Parents
Summary of The Garden of Last Days: A Novel
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.
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