Andre Dubus’ latest novel, The Garden of Last Days, is concerned with the same themes as his previous effort, The House of Sand and Fog — exploring how globalization and the intersection of cultures impact everyday lives. This time it’s multiple people in south Florida just before 9/11, all of whom are drawn with psychological nuance and uncommon authenticity.
How does he do it? “I think authenticity comes from two main areas,” Dubus says via e-mail. “One, getting the facts of an experience right (the correct caliber weapon a cop carries, etc.) and, two, getting the truth of it, which is a more complex and challenging thing to pull off.”
The Garden of Last Days is uncanny in its understanding of human frailty. It’s also one hell of a page-turner, a skill Dubus believes isn’t going away anytime soon: “There will always be people who will want to curl up under a blanket and reach for a bound book of words that become sentences that become paragraphs that become real people living real lives that miraculously take us deeper into our own.”
Dubus discusses The Garden of Last Days at 7 p.m. June 10 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.
Get details and find nearby bars and restaurants here.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2009.