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A review by sidharthvardhan
Brothers K, The by David James Duncan
4.0
There is a lot of baseball in there - because the father was a baseball player and various developments in his career are closely followed. Later his sons too had failed Baseball careers with high school teams - actually their baseball careers foreshadowed their failures to achieve what they could in life. Besides there are a lot of baseball quotes.
There are a lot of literature references too, mostly Russian - the title nods to Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, there are other nods too – a character named after Myshkin from ‘The Idiot’; chapters named ‘The Bland Inquisition’, ‘The shoats from underground’, 'Kwakiutl Karamazov’ etc. Big great authors are often quoted - which is a thing I love, books quoting books.
There is also a lot of religion in there; mostly creating friction among characters having different religious opinions – the Bible is the most quoted and misquoted book. Another book often quoted is Budha's biography. The mother is deeply religious Christian and want to force her belief on the children, the later ressist it.
There is also a lot of politics in there, mostly focused on U.S.-Vietnam war – and oh! There is that war in there too, mostly destroying and disturbing lives as wars always do. Almost all characters who aren't in army are against war.
But above them all, it is story of a family surviving through their differences and problems created by fate, religion, war and their own mistakes as the four brothers live their lives. Their father is a baseball player and the mother is a deeply religious Christian – two things they inherit and lose.
From among four brothers – Everett is by nature a rebel; an agnostic and a political protester and loses his way in trying too hard to change the world.
Peter is a scholar, the religious one but changes his religion to Buddhism - in his quest for knowledge (he comes to India), he leaves much of his life behind and realizies his mistake only too late.
Irwin is a conformist (always a mistake), a real love-them-all type of person – the only one who held on to his mother’s church and which resulted in his doom. The failure of careers of these three brothers is symbolized in the title (‘K’ in baseball stands for “Strike out’)
There is a fourth brother and two sisters (twins) as well. I can't share much as the story is spoilable but there is that whole spectrum of characters and the narrative is full of humorous punches - it is a little like a story from a family comedy sop but with realistic characters having realistic issues. Not something I usually look for in books, but it is hugely entertaining. And it covers so many countries - we see characters who have been to US, UK, India, Canada, Vietnam and Russia.
There are a lot of literature references too, mostly Russian - the title nods to Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, there are other nods too – a character named after Myshkin from ‘The Idiot’; chapters named ‘The Bland Inquisition’, ‘The shoats from underground’, 'Kwakiutl Karamazov’ etc. Big great authors are often quoted - which is a thing I love, books quoting books.
There is also a lot of religion in there; mostly creating friction among characters having different religious opinions – the Bible is the most quoted and misquoted book. Another book often quoted is Budha's biography. The mother is deeply religious Christian and want to force her belief on the children, the later ressist it.
There is also a lot of politics in there, mostly focused on U.S.-Vietnam war – and oh! There is that war in there too, mostly destroying and disturbing lives as wars always do. Almost all characters who aren't in army are against war.
But above them all, it is story of a family surviving through their differences and problems created by fate, religion, war and their own mistakes as the four brothers live their lives. Their father is a baseball player and the mother is a deeply religious Christian – two things they inherit and lose.
From among four brothers – Everett is by nature a rebel; an agnostic and a political protester and loses his way in trying too hard to change the world.
Peter is a scholar, the religious one but changes his religion to Buddhism - in his quest for knowledge (he comes to India), he leaves much of his life behind and realizies his mistake only too late.
Irwin is a conformist (always a mistake), a real love-them-all type of person – the only one who held on to his mother’s church and which resulted in his doom. The failure of careers of these three brothers is symbolized in the title (‘K’ in baseball stands for “Strike out’)
There is a fourth brother and two sisters (twins) as well. I can't share much as the story is spoilable but there is that whole spectrum of characters and the narrative is full of humorous punches - it is a little like a story from a family comedy sop but with realistic characters having realistic issues. Not something I usually look for in books, but it is hugely entertaining. And it covers so many countries - we see characters who have been to US, UK, India, Canada, Vietnam and Russia.