Name: The Garden of Last Days
ISBN: 9780393041651

Andre Dubus

Andre Dubus, III

Reluctantly bringing her daughter to her men's club office when her babysitter falls ill, stripper April endeavors to keep her child safe while servicing a wealthy foreign client, while a drunken regular angrily retaliates for being thrown out of the club. By the author of House of Sand and Fog.

A Novel

The Garden of Last Days

Melody Izard

Each of the main characters is doing the right thing. April is a stripper with a three-year old daughter, dancing because that’s the easiest way for her to make money and the quickest way for her to save enough to buy a house for her and Frannie to live in. AJ sees a small child wander out of the strip club, crying for her mother and he rescues her from what could happen to her, and from a mother who would take her to such a place. And Bassam is doing only what Allah would have him do. 

The idea for this novel is a good one. But Dubus just can’t quite execute it. It is excruciating slow. We hear every strip club patron yell for pussy we learn the name for every flower in Jean’s garden and we even get a cutting of each at the end of the novel. We hear every prayer to Allah and know every temptation Shaytan throws out to the terrorists. I was glad when I made it to the acknowledgements.

The Garden of Last Days A Novel

Reviews

Highlights