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Title: A novel which should be a short story
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. The tedious description was ad nauseum. Poor development of sand and fog symbolism. One reader called the Colonel's ownership of Kathy's house as "freedom from pretense" and that he ends as a hero. If anything, his determination to make a profit from the sale of the house and his suicide in uniform underscore pretense and superficiality. Furthermore,Lester's desecration of law and order while wearing his uniform points to a more meaningful metaphor. Additional focus on structures - Kathy living in cheap motels, her car, a shack in the woods - shows a transient nature which Colonel Behrani eschues. Enough foreshadowing makes the ending plausible:the Colonel's temper and abuse, his focus on control and Kathy's irrational behavior from page one. Lester is a poorly developed character. The novel reads like an author's first write which should have been a short story.
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