I think this would be a good selection for a book club. I came away wanting to talk about it. Dubus is one of a handful of authors who can write with authority about the working class. I recommend pairing this book with his memoir, Townies. ( )

A disappointment from one of my favorite local fiction writers. It's about the Siddartha-type journey of Tom Lowe, Jr, who has a terrible fall from a roof while working construction. He loses his wife and his son to her custody when he becomes addicted to opioids during his rehab. We meet him when he's living in terrible pain, in a Massachusetts low income housing project, and decides to climb out of his miserable situation by becoming deliberately kind to everyone he meets. An admirable goal but tedious, as firstly he decides to steal mail from the wealthy banker who foreclosed on his home and take cash from the banker's credit cards, and then tells his neighbor and her boyfriend so that they get involved in the scheme too. Tom quits when he realizes this path is only leading him to more misery. We have seen this man before in many of the author's works, and I am just tired of that same character, redeemed or not. ( )

"For the thousandth time I think that I do not belong here. I do not belong here with any of these people."

Readers of Andre Dubus III will know that he often writes of America's underclass, its down-trodden victims of poverty and drugs and violence. This book is no exception. It reminded me somewhat of the books of Willy Vlautin.

For many years, Tom Lowe was a successful carpenter with his own prosperous business. He married slightly above himself, and he and his wife Ronnie had a son Drew. He owned a plot of land, and wanted to build a house on it for his family. He let himself be talked into taking out an adjustable rate mortgage, and he built a beautiful house with his own two hands, even though he knew the mortgage payments would stretch his finances to the nth degree. Unfortunately, he hadn't really fully understood the consequences of the adjustable rate feature. Still, when the rate increased, he was only a few payments behind. Then tragedy struck: a fall from a roof left him disabled and addicted to pain killers. He loses his business, the house and his family.

When the book opens, Tom has beat the addiction. He lives on meager disability checks in subsidized housing. He is trying to scrounge up enough money to go see his son on his son's birthday in a few days time. He is bitter, and wants revenge on the banker who talked him into the ARM, which he sees as the source of all his problems. He and his neighbor single Mom Trina have devised a plan to steal the banker's garbage and take advantage of credit card/cash advance offers the banker may have received in the mail (id theft/bank fraud).

The book follows Tom's life (and a sad and hard-scrabble one it is) over the next several days until and after his son's birthday. Despite its grim beginning, it ultimately turns heart-warming, maybe even Pollyanna-ish, as Tom comes across many people and random acts of kindness that begin to change his outlook on life.

Overall I liked this book, although I've liked the others I've read by him better (House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and Townie).

3 stars ( )

I'm giving this four stars for the writing. I appreciate that many readers found Tom's story inspirational but I disagree. His journey wasn't easy, yet it was which seemed highly unlikely to me. I found most of the characters, to be stereotypes and again, not terribly believable. Dubus painted a compelling story of how one bad event can spiral into a series of bad outcomes from which it's nearly impossible to recover. I admired Tom's determination and generosity. ( )

What a beautiful book!
Tom is disabled from a fall he took when he owned his own construction company. That fall began a fall of everything in his life. His marriage failed, he became addicted to painkillers, and his son became distant.
Now, his son, Drew, is turning 20, and Tom is trying to do everything he can to reach him to tell Drew that he loves him. But, life's circumstances keep getting in the way. Not until someone shows Tom some kindness does Tom realize that he needs to start opening up and letting kindness take over his life. He begins to accept his mistakes and make amends.
There was a bit of abuse and language in the book, but it seemed realistic and genuine. I will think about this book for some time. ( )