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The Brothers K [Paperback]

David James Duncan
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 1, 1996
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
 
Once in a great while a writer comes along who can truly capture the drama and passion of the life of a family. David James Duncan, author of the novel The River Why and the collection River Teeth, is just such a writer. And in The Brothers K he tells a story both striking and in its originality and poignant in its universality.
 
This touching, uplifting novel spans decades of loyalty, anger, regret, and love in the lives of the Chance family. A father whose dreams of glory on a baseball field are shattered by a mill accident. A mother who clings obsessively to religion as a ward against the darkest hour of her past. Four brothers who come of age during the seismic upheavals of the sixties and who each choose their own way to deal with what the world has become. By turns uproariously funny and deeply moving, and beautifully written throughout, The Brothers K is one of the finest chronicles of our lives in many years.
 
Praise for The Brothers K
 
“The pages of The Brothers K sparkle.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Duncan is a wonderfully engaging writer.”—Los Angeles Times
 
“This ambitious book succeeds on almost every level and every page.”—USA Today
 
“Duncan’s prose is a blend of lyrical rhapsody, sassy hyperbole and all-American vernacular.”—San Francisco Chronicle
 
The Brothers K affords the . . . deep pleasures of novels that exhaustively create, and alter, complex worlds. . . . One always senses an enthusiastic and abundantly talented and versatile writer at work.”—The Washington Post Book World
 
“Duncan . . . tells the larger story of an entire popular culture struggling to redefine itself—something he does with the comic excitement and depth of feeling one expects from Tom Robbins.”—Chicago Tribune

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Duncan took almost 10 years to follow up the publication of his much-praised first novel, The River Why, but this massive second effort is well worth the wait. It is a stunning work: a complex tapestry of family tensions, baseball, politics and religion, by turns hilariously funny and agonizingly sad. Highly inventive formally, the novel is mainly narrated by Kincaid Chance, the youngest son in a family of four boys and identical twin girls, the children of Hugh Chance, a discouraged minor-league ballplayer whose once-promising career was curtained by an industrial accident, and his wife Laura, an increasingly fanatical Seventh-Day Adventist. The plot traces the working-out of the family's fate from the beginning of the Eisenhower years through the traumas of Vietnam. One son becomes an atheist and draft resister; another immerses himself in Eastern religions, while the third, the most genuinely Christian of the children, ends up in Southeast Asia. In spite of the author's obvious affection for the sport, this is not a baseball novel; it is, as Kincaid says, "the story of an eight-way tangle of human beings, only one-eighth of which was a pro ballpayer." The book portrays the extraordinary differences that can exist among siblings--much like the Dostoyevski novel to which The Brothers K alludes in more than just title--and how family members can redeem one another in the face of adversity. Long and incident-filled, the narrative appears rather ramshackle in structure until the final pages, when Duncan brings together all of the themes and plot elements in a series of moving climaxes. The book ends with a quiet grace note--a reprise of its first images--to satisfyingly close the narrative circle. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

If John Irving reimagined The Brothers Karamazov as one of his kooky families and Thomas Pynchon did a rewrite, the result might be something close to this long-awaited second novel by the author of The River Why ( LJ 2/15/83). The brothers are the Chance boys, sons of Papa Toe, a minor league pitcher whose crushed thumb is replaced by a transplanted toe, and his devout Seventh Day Adventist wife. Like Dostoevsky's Karamazovs, the Chances speculate on the nature of God, delve into the nuances of what constitutes moral behavior, experience evil, suffer from criminal acts, and, finally, determine that God is love and love redeems. But these are American boys, and although their lives contain some terrible moments, this is essentially a comic novel. Among its many merits, it reflects far better than most fiction the wide variety of Sixties experiences, giving student radical and Vietnam grunt alike their sympathetic due. Baseball provides the central metaphor for this huge hypnotic novel, but although in that sport a "K" indicates a strikeout, here it scores a home run.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 645 pages
  • Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback; 1ST edition (June 1, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 055337849X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553378498
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Let's just say it's one of those books you end up telling everyone to read. "mapledaisy"  |  20 reviewers made a similar statement
The characters are real, funny and you laugh and cry all at the same time. m. mithnot  |  12 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
101 of 104 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Epic & addictive. July 7, 2002
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Sigh. Who has time for the epics anymore? Not a college student, it would seem. "Read?" most scoff. "I haven't got time, what with my busy schedule, for a short story, let alone a big book that reaches nearly 700 pages in length."

Still, somewhere out there is the rare reader who likes the challenge an epic presents, loves to get lost in fascinating, multi-layered characterizations and plots that expand over decades.

For those readers, there is David James Duncan's 1992 offering, "The Brothers K." It excels on all those fronts I just mentioned, and on several more.

But when a friend recently handed it over to me, suggesting that I take a look, I too balked at its size:

"Look at it! Are you trying to kill any semblance of a social life I may have? This thing is mammoth and unwieldy!"

But my friend was persistent and so I went home and took a look. And soon became lost in the words, the story, the characters.

"Brothers K" is about the Chance family. Father Hugh is a mill worker who used to be the most promising baseball player around, until an accident at the mill cost him his dream. Mother Laura clings obsessively to her Adventist religion, since it once protected her from the darkest hour of her past.

Together, they have four boys and two twin girls. Everett is the oldest, a charming, witty rogue who doesn't share Laura's faith. Peter is next, and is a fellow cynic. Irwin is the large and innocent third child. Kincaid is a blank slate, who serves as the readers' eyes in the guise of the book's narrator.

The twin girls, Bet and Freddy, come later and more or less fulfill the role of younger sisters to the four brothers and little else, although they have a heartbreaking scene involving their grandmother's death that paves the way for the story to come full circle later.

Those are the characters. There is a plot, but Duncan takes it so lackadaisically and slow across the sands of time that in essence it can all be summed up in one word: Lifetime. For this is very much the saga of the Chance family, and all of their adventures therein.

We literally see the Chance boys grow up before our very eyes, watch as their characters age and grow, or regress, experience life and flirt with death.

Around halfway through the book, the four brothers (the "K" is an allusion to "The Brothers Karamazov," by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) each go off in search of their own way; Everett becomes a draft-dodger, Peter a philosopher, Kincaid a hippie, and Irwin goes to fight in Vietnam.

There is no rush on Duncan's part to tell the story, and so there can be no rush from the reader to finish it.

For this is a book in which the getting there is very much the draw, and readers are rewarded their patience by Duncan's sense of humor, sometimes gentle, other times abrasive, many times subtle and always hilarious.

But if you're the sort who seeks immediate gratification and "lite" escape from your reading, "Brothers K" is told in a series of broken up chapters and chapters-within-chapters, making it easier to simply pick it up, read a section or two and then return to whatever else you were doing.

If you can, that is. It's a hypnotic, intoxicating read, which will make putting the book down difficult.

And when you finally do finish, if you're like me, you will be so moved from the whole experience you will have to leave the room and walk the book off. It's that good.

Upon returning to your room, of course, there will be the brand-new temptation to pick it up and start all over again.

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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS PURE ART February 18, 1999
Format:Paperback
Being a native Oregonian and having a husband who is a baseball fanatic, I suppose it was only a matter of time until I found my way to THE BROTHERS K. It is without doubt, the most entertaining and fulfilling novel I have ever read. The 700 pages went too fast! I grew to love the Chance family as I laughed and cried with them through the pages of Duncan's opus, and I postponed reading the last pages as long as I could, simply because I did not want it to end. Duncan provides an unbelievably complex, yet brilliantly clear portrait of a family as it comes of age, careening through the turmoil of adolescence, religion, war, sickness and love. THIS BOOK IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST-HAVE IN ANYONE'S HOME LIBRARY!
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars ! July 16, 2000
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
THIS BOOK IS TRULY AMAZING! Not knowing anything about baseball, the 60's, organized religion, or having a large family, i found I could relate to every character in an infinite number of ways! Duncan's writing is fabulous and the characters are wonderful, the story is epic, and the book with its 700 pages was far too short in my mind! I wish every book was as joyful, bitter, heartwrenching and funny as this one. EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT! The world would be a better place.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining. Pretentious
The baseball is good although occasionally inaccurate in details that, in this context, need to be perfect. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Scott Paist
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book
My daughter was given this book as a reading assignment. As always, I read everything my children are required to read unless I have already read it. This book so enthralled me. Read more
Published 14 days ago by MelsMovies
5.0 out of 5 stars Family & Religion
I first came across this book in college (1998) and have loved it ever since. I don't often re-read books because there's so much out there I want to read and so little time. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Justin
5.0 out of 5 stars All time great
I love to read, pretty much will read all genres. This book is one of the best I have ever read. I also love sports, so I love the baseball stories and analogies used in the book. Read more
Published 2 months ago by G. M. Clifford
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
Given as a gift and the person can not stop talking about how well it is written. The plot is well thought out and the characters are intriguing.
Published 5 months ago by barcamv
3.0 out of 5 stars Predictable, but good
I'm not going to make this long or try to summarize the characters and plot like everyone else has, so I'll just give my brief review of The Brothers K.

I liked it. Read more
Published 7 months ago by deeshette
5.0 out of 5 stars I HAVE READ THIS BOOK 3 TIMES
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ...I HAVE READ IT 3 TIMES AND IT NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE ME...IT IS WONDERFUL...IT TAKES YOU TO A PLACE FEW OTHER BOOKS EVER CAN.. Read more
Published 7 months ago by RIZZMAN
1.0 out of 5 stars Cuss Words Abound
My son picked this from a required reading list for his 9th grade English course.

We quickly discovered hundreds of instances of all kinds of cuss words. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Murphy Crowson
1.0 out of 5 stars Help!
with everyone else LOVING this book, why cant I get past the second chapter?. After reading The River Why I just cant seem to get into this book....What am I missing??? Read more
Published 9 months ago by Judy L. Stirling
5.0 out of 5 stars Really fun read!
I'm not into baseball, but you don't have to be to love this story - follow these brothers through their lifetimes. A long read, but never boring.. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lorraine
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The Title
i think duncan answers your question in his introduction to part five, also entitled "brothers k" he begins this section with his own dictionary-like definition of the term "k"
May 21, 2009 by A Reader |  See all 2 posts
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