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    The Garden of Last Days: A Novel
    The Garden of Last Days: A Novel
    The Garden of Last Days: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Garden of Last Days: A Novel

    Written by Andre Dubus III

    Narrated by Dan John Miller

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    “So good, so damn compulsively readable, that I can hardly believe it.” ―Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

    In his stunning follow-up to the #1 best-selling House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus draws us into the lives of three deeply flawed, driven people whose paths intersect on a September night in Florida. April, a stripper, has brought her daughter to work at the Puma Club for Men. There she encounters Bassam, a foreign client both remote and too personal, and free with his money. Meanwhile, another man, AJ, has been thrown out of the club, and he’s drunk and angry and lonely. From these explosive elements comes a relentless, raw, and page-turning narrative that seizes the reader by the throat with psychological tension, depth, and realism.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJun 2, 2008
    ISBN9781423366614
    The Garden of Last Days: A Novel
    Author

    Andre Dubus III

    Andre Dubus III is the author of House of Sand and Fog (an Oprah’s Book Club selection and finalist for the National Book Award), Bluesman, and The Cage Keeper and Other Stories. He lives with his family north of Boston.

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    Reviews for The Garden of Last Days

    3.5/5

    254 ratings33 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      The House of Sand and Fog was so good I was excited to see another book by this author, but…Rape, sex industry workers, spousal abuse, kidnapping, and a Middle Eastern terrorist all get thrown at you. I started skipping the chapters with the terrorist because he was boring, and the ending with the main character was beyond lazy. Skip this one…
    • 4/5
      A stripper mom and her unwatched kid. A little uncomfortable suspense, but overall a pretty good read. Enjoyed House of Sand and Fog quite a bit more.
    • 5/5
      A 9/11 hijacker stops at a Sarasota, Florida strip club “for strength” several days prior and sets off a string of events involving a dancer, her daughter, a customer, a bouncer and the people close to them. They each have problems and doubts about their decisions and lives – including the hijacker. In alternating viewpoints, Dubus writes in intricate detail about each and what brought them to this point. The close examination allows each character to be discovered objectively despite the built-in prejudices most of them elicit.
    • 4/5
      It took me a long time to get into this book but once it clicked, I hurried on.It was reminiscent of House of Sand and Fog because 95% of the characters were tortured individuals. Probably everyone except the little girl! It wove together five characters and their stories - a woman, who's a stripper and the mother of a three year old girl whom she brings to her club one night when the woman downstairs can't babysit; the older woman downstairs who's prone to anxiety attacks; a patron who gets his wrist broken when he's being thrown out by a bouncer; a bouncer who's attracted to the stripper and someone on their way to their final mission.
    • 5/5
      A really compelling look into the lives and minds of a handful of people in Florida, in the days leading up to 9/11. Excellent writing and insight, and not quite as tragic as House of Sand and Fog.
    • 2/5
      READ IN DUTCH

      The premise was good, and I liked the title as well. Unfortunately, those were like the only positive aspects I recall from reading the book.



      It is about the people who had chance-meetings with the terrorists who later hijacked the planes on 9/11. But it was so boring. It took me a lot of discipline to pick up this book each day and finish reading. Nothing really happened, or I just couldn't care about it.



      Part of the problem was probably in the writing. There should be a balance between showing and telling, which was absolutely absent. And everything is spelled out before you, all the tragic backstory is told, nothing is just implied. (As if the author didn't believe we could find out some things ourselves)



      I was really disappointed, I wouldn't recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Although the plot on this book was a little off, the writing style of this book made it a great listen. Interesting combination of events and characters. Unlike others, I like this better than House of Sand and Fog.
    • 4/5
      I first heard about the novel "The Garden of Last Days" by Andre Dubus III from a Stephen King column in Entertainment Weekly. He raved about the book so glowingly that I put the title down on my list of books to watch for. This was in 2008, and I have finally read the novel.I don't know that "The Garden of Last Days" is quite as good as King said it was -- a blurb from that column appears at the top of the paperback cover -- but it is still a terrific novel, the kind that gives book clubs lots to talk about.The story has no main character. There are no heroes and and no villains. Even Bassam, the young man who within a matter of days will be one of the 9-11 terrorists, isn't really a villain in the context of the novel. He is just another lost soul, like everybody else.April is a stripper in a men's club near Bradenton, Fla. One night her sitter is ill, so April takes her 3-year-old daughter to the club with her because she needs the money. She enlists others to watch Franny in the dressing room while she entertains Bassam, who calls himself Mike, in the VIP room. He pays her thousands of dollars to keep her with him.Meanwhile, Franny wanders away while nobody is looking, exploring the dark club in search of her mother. The child is taken by A.J., an intoxicated man whose arm was broken earlier in the evening when he was tossed out of the club by a bouncer. When A.J. returns, he sees the girl and takes her, believing he is doing a good deed. He drives away with the child, uncertain about what he should do with her.Much of the air comes out of the plot about half way through the novel when Franny is recovered, but by then readers will be fully involved in the lives of the characters and the knowledge of what will happen on Sept. 11 and they will want to keep reading, even if some of the tension is gone.Dubus puts us into the mind of each of his characters, showing us what each sees and feels and thinks. It is a masterful piece of writing.
    • 2/5
      The best thing that can be said about this book is that it zips along. Unfortunately that is the pretty much the only good thing to be said about it. Of the principal characters, only AJ the lonely trucker is both believable, sympathetic and engaging. And unfortunately his story arc ends around three quarters of the way through the book. Of the others, April, the stripper with the inevitable heart of gold, is one dimensional, although Dubus' descriptions of some of the mechanics and logistics of working at a strip club are interesting. This one dimensionality of April's character makes it hard to care about her, when we are clearly meant to empathise with the problems of a single mother, just trying to get ahead as best she can. Lonnie, the bouncer, is if anything, zero dimensional. There is absolutely no depth to his character at all and you keep wondering why he is constantly appearing.But the worst of it is Bassam, the jihadist. His point of view is so badly written that I kept laughing out loud - which I am sure was not the author's intention. I understand the desire to try and write about the twin towers bombers from their perspective, but in Dubus' hands it just sounds like an American trying to imagine what its like to be a young Saudi man, and although I am perfectly happy to believe that the bombers suffered some doubts, and that like all young men they were distracted by thoughts of sex, these pages and pages of ludicrous scenes with Bassam and April in the strip club, as Bassam battles with temptation, both attracted and repelled by the naked women at the same time, are just embarrassingly juvenile. Admittedly after the strip club, as Bassam prepares for his mission, the style settles down a bit, but I just knew that there was going to be a scene with a prostitute at some point. And lo, on Bassam's last day, here she is. Absurdly cliched. And if I had to read a woman's breasts referred to again as her "nuhood" I think I'd screamAnd the end wrap up also felt cobbled together, as though the author had got bored with his characters too. I can't blame him
    • 5/5
      The book takes place in the couple days leading up to 9/11. April is a dancer at the Puma Club for Men in Florida. When her landlady/babysitter, Jean, is rushed to the hospital with chest pains, April decides to take her 3-year-old daughter, Franny, to work with her, not wanting to lose out on a night's earnings. A.J. is a man separated from his wife and son by a restraining order and is looking for love in all the wrong places. Bassam is a young Muslim man who believes everything American is evil but is equally fascinated and repelled by the dancers at the club. All of these characters are at a crossroads, and the decisions they make have major consequences in their lives and others'. It was a dark but realistic story that made me think.
    • 3/5
      Suspenseful novel set around 9/11 2001. Brilliant balancing act that weaves recent history with half a dozen personal stories. Dubus has a knack for creating characters who, simply by pursuing their desires and trying to make their lives tolerable, set themselves on a collision course with tragedy.
    • 4/5
      It took me a long time to get into this book but once it clicked, I hurried on.It was reminiscent of House of Sand and Fog because 95% of the characters were tortured individuals. Probably everyone except the little girl! It wove together five characters and their stories - a woman, who's a stripper and the mother of a three year old girl whom she brings to her club one night when the woman downstairs can't babysit; the older woman downstairs who's prone to anxiety attacks; a patron who gets his wrist broken when he's being thrown out by a bouncer; a bouncer who's attracted to the stripper and someone on their way to their final mission.
    • 2/5
      i had the audio version and even after 2 CD the story was only a few minutes in. About 90% of the story are the incidents of one single night with a few flashbacks. Not sure if people would really act like this in real life and if people can be really so brainwashed. But my moral of the story is that likfe is just not fair and you can only help yourself.
    • 5/5
      A very intense book that moves incredibly slowly at first – you can read for an hour and find the storyline has moved on only a few minutes. Then towards the end things start to speed up, before a rapid sprint for the line in the final chapters. Set in the days and hours leading up to 9/11, the novel follows a small cast of characters in Florida. Chief among them are people you wouldn’t perhaps expect to like – a stripper, a wife beater, and a terrorist. But in his meticulous prose the author sets out to understand all these people, to make them and their motivations and goals real. I found myself empathising with the wife beating character when he faced a gut wrenching dilemma partway through the story. Such is the strength of this novel, which ultimately invites the reader to decide where their sympathies lie, and why.
    • 2/5
      I'm glad I got this from the library and didn't buy it.. it doesn't even compare to The House of Sand and Fog, unfortunately. Completely unlikable characters-- even the kid!
    • 4/5
      A stripper mom and her unwatched kid. A little uncomfortable suspense, but overall a pretty good read. Enjoyed House of Sand and Fog quite a bit more.
    • 4/5
      I found this similar to House of Sand and Fog in the way the alternating, tense chapters provided multiple viewponts. Several characters depict the events just before 9/11 and almost all of the characters make bad decisions. The characters include: April, a beautiful stripper who had to bring her 3 year old daughter, Franny ,to work one day. Also Bassam who is a practicing pilot whose ultimate mission may by the Twin Towers, Jean who loves to babysit Franny is she is not suffering from an anxiety attacke. ---and AJ, a rejected dad and husband ..who gets his wrist broken by the strip club bouncer for putting his hands on one of the girls. The plot is taken up by the missing daughter and the convoluted plan that AJ undertakes, but the sub plot of Bassam and his wavering between enjoying the flesh of the western world or submiting to the jihad that will help to punish these infidels is the most interesting. Dumas writes that he spend a lot of time researching this book and it was interesting to know that some of the terrorist did in fact enjoy these pleasures of the flesh on the eve of thier religious mission. All in all I enjoyed this very plot driven novel. In reading about the book, I realized that Dumas was born on Sept 11 and have to wonder if having this event mar his birthday created some kind of interest in writing about these last days.
    • 2/5
      Boy, I sure wanted to like this novel, but it ended up being so flat. I'm not sure if the characters just never resonated with me or I did not care for the subject matter, but I could not care one iota what happened to ANY of these people (and they seemed absurdly cliche, especially the oh-so conflicted stripper mom, hasn't that been done before, and before, and before?). I kept on reading hoping it would get better, but it really just ... did not. The writing is fine, what kept me engaged probably, but this talented author needs better vehicles for his skills. It's amazing that jihad, terrorism/911 and a strip club in South Florida could be boring, but it all sure was. I think if even one of the characters was likeable, it would have helped. The predictable "wrap up" at the ending was just rather goofy and tacked on. Anyway, just "blah" ... I don't recommend this one, to anyone, for any reason.
    • 3/5
      I hadn't read this author before and when I was browsing some comments on this book on Amazon, it looked like most people enjoyed this but consider The House of Sand and Fog a better book. I first heard of this after Stephen King's glowing review in EW. It's an engrossing story about an exotic dancer named April who brings her 3-year-old daughter Franny to work one night when her regular babysitter is hospitalized. April had no other backup babysitters (I know how that feels). Two of the other main characters are patrons of the Puma club where April works. One is a Muslim man named Bassam, the other is a down-on-his-luck construction worker named AJ. The tension mounts because you just know something bad is going to happen but you're not sure exactly what and then when it does, you've no idea how it'll play out. I read this book very quickly. It is perhaps a bit longer than it needs to be -- sometimes there's just too much description that doesn't really seem necessary. The two main male characters seem to be more fleshed out than April. But that said, it was a good story. I may check out a reading that the author will be giving later this month at a local bookstore. Maybe I'll get my book signed.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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."
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      The strength of this book is also its weakness. The story centers on the days prior to 9-11 and the exploits of one of the soon-to-be infamous hijackers. Bassam is torn between the temptations of the life to be had in this society he detests and that he considers evil, and his devotion to Islam and the great honor that has been bestowed upon him (amongst other things). We see the world through his eyes and it is an enlightening perspective at first.He winds up at a strip club in Florida and there he spends thousands of dollars on a stripper named Spring, drinking and smoking the whole time. His torment is almost unbearable at times, and you learn much about the terminology the jihadist use to refer to non-believers along with the anger toward our infiltration of their holy land and our way of life in general.The perspective starts to wear thin toward the end of the book as the passages in which Bassam confronts his doubts grow longer and more repetitive. There are other major characters and their story lines are engaging and intertwined with Bassam's but you finish the book thinking mostly of him and wonder what use everyone else was. As such, I thought the book dragged on a little long.
    • 3/5
      A book about people sinking down to the point of catharsis. Some recover, some muddle through, some sink even deeper. A sad book, with little hope on display.
    • 5/5
      Excellent clash of cultures novel combined with what if the last days before 9-11 could be seen through the terrorist's eyes? Fascinating story in which a young woman forced to work as a stripper to support her young daughter crosses paths with an Arab man entranced by the easy morals of our culture and a man pushed to the brink by a failed marriage.
    • 3/5
      Following on the heel of House and Sand and Fog, this book just didn't measure up. Some interesting moments, but disappointing overall. Stephen King... what were you smoking when you said it was the best book you read all winter? I'm guessing it must have been the only book you read. All of the various storylines were predictable as were the characters. Could have, should have, would have read something else...
    • 4/5
      From dancing girls to what it means to be a responsible parent. A very good read.
    • 1/5
      I'm a fast reader, so an audiobook is more of a time commitment than most books get from me, including most books I like. I did not like this book. I don't know why I listened to all of it, but I felt compelled, for some reason; if I were reading it, I would've done the same, so that's no different. But an audiobook is interminable in a special way.Why are Dubus' characters always at such a crisis point, as in House of Sand and Fog? For some reason, it really bugs me. And the internal dialogue of the terrorist didn't seem that genuine to me--nor did that of the little girl. This may have been exacerbated by the guy reading the book. I think it's hard to do either of those well, however. I'll just say that I couldn't wait for 9/11 so that at least one of the annoying characters would be gone; unfortunately, that happens way at the end of the book, and there isn't much aftermath.
    • 4/5
      This is a solid. well-written novel!
    • 4/5
      Although I read this book in a matter of 24 hours, I was somewhat dissappointed. It was a compelling read to be sure, and the characters internal struggles with their past and their current demons bring humanity to those that it is often easy to pass judgement on. But I think that by cutting 100 pages or so the author could have been just as effective.