The Brothers K

Nice portraits of the members of the family. However, when you have so many of them (each quite lengthy), I run out of enthusiasm.

So, I felt the book in total was too long with too much contrived 'emo'.

Too long and boring. I could not finish it which is rare for me. All the baseball references and discussion were too much. I was told that the second half of the book was much better but I would not know since I did not finish it.

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??? The first two chapters have bored me out of my mind. I found The River Why to be a cherished work of art that I have read over and over, it flows so wonderfully, and yet this book does not. It is almost like it is written by a completely different person. I want to read it I really do. Do I just have to force myself into it.?

This author's books were recommended to me based on a book I was buying, and so I bought both The River Why, and this book The Brothers K.
I really tried to like The River Why, but I think the combination of the author's long winded style of storytelling coupled with more information regarding fishing-fly fishing in particular, made The River Why less than enjoyable for me.
The Brothers K is at least twice as long as The River Why, and the book is also over written, overly detailed, goes off on tangents that are sometimes interesting and sometimes not, but for me it does contain an actual story.
The first half of the book sets in motion and explains in heart detail the significant players for what happens later. I know this seems obvious but again a lot of the first half isn't all that relevant, at least I didn't find it to be, so I was extremely pleased that I stuck with the book because the second half more than makes up for the first half.
The story is about the Chance Family especially the three sons who come of age during the Vietnam war, and how their lives and characters are defined.
It also is about the Father and his dreams of playing professional baseball, and their mother who is devoutly religious, to the point of it being very detrimental to the family.
You will laugh, roll your eyes and maybe shed a tear or two reading the Brothers K, but you might also learn a thing or two, about courage, standing up for your beliefs, and question the relationship between religion and war.
This really is a fantastic book.

Years later, the images remain vivid: softball games at church summer camps, a former minor league baseball player attempting a comeback, late night conversations between four adolescent brothers. It has been nearly twenty years since I first read The Brothers K, David James Duncan’s iconic coming-of-age novel. After several re-reads, the Chance kids – now in their 60’s - have almost insinuated themselves into my extended circle of friends.

In the beginning, there was a prototypical Pacific Northwest mill town, a rambunctious family living there, some of the best baseball prose ever written, two members of the clan profoundly affected by the Vietnam War, while the specter of judgmental Seventh Day Adventism hung in the air like a November mist over the Columbia River.

Hugh Chance used to work in the mill until a paper roller seized hold of his thumb and cruelly transformed it into a mangled, useless piece of flesh. He is coaxed into attempting a comeback by a crusty old hillbilly of a former manager, a comeback aided and abetted by his four sons.

Cruelly encumbered by Christian fundamentalism, Laura Chance loves her family most of the time; in time, she’ll apply a religious litmus test to each member of the tribe and come to love some more than others.

Everett Chance, the First Son, worshiped his ball-playing daddy, was a mediocre-at-best player himself. In time, he’ll move to Seattle and the U Dub where he will become an indifferent student, a lippy street protester, a provocative columnist for the campus newspaper and an occasional disrupter of poly sci lectures.

Peter, the Chance Who Does Not Fit the Mill Town Archetype, disowns baseball, attends Harvard, travels abroad, eventually returns home to work in the mill.

Irwin “Winnie” Chance does not possess the analytical skills of his three brothers, but does possess elite athletic talent. While in high school, Winnie discovers the javelin and the sport of track and field quite by accident, leading to an athletic scholarship. After a freak injury ends his athletic career, Winnie will eventually lose his student deferment, will be drafted into the military, will be permanently scarred by the Vietnam War,

This great story is narrated by youngest son, Kincaid Chance, approximately the same age as the author. If one novel can adequately synthesize the giant themes of boys becoming men, religion, a fractured family and war, David James Duncan may have hit for the cycle with The Brothers K.

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. This book is the exception to that preference. If I could write an in-depth criticism I really would. I'd explain so it was clear to all of you why I love this book and how much I'd like you to pick it up. Needless to say, that isn't going to happen so here's why I like the book so much, for what it's worth.

It's funny. I laughed out loud and that really says something. It's written in a style where I actually "watch" the characters rather than read what they say. It makes for a lot of late nights but I really feel like I know these people. Characters are fully developed and realistic. The setting for the action of the story is described in a way that I can see it but that doesn't feel like a photograph. Simple descriptions of real places and events go a long way in creating a believable novel. Real people live here!

Religion and religious devotion are two themes present throughout and the struggles each family member has is something I can relate to. Even if you don't have first hand knowledge of religion I guarantee that you'll recognize at least one of the family members as someone you know. How a family deals with conflicting religious experiences and beliefs can be a dull topic but the author brings it to life and gives us food for thought along the way. It's not all fun & games; this book does have a lot of serious content but so does life. It's a great book and I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could. I'm in the process of re-reading it now and strongly encourage anyone looking for a great American novel to do the same.

This book was unexpectedly wonderful and heartbreaking.

While it took me a while to get into the book (and as someone from Washington with a familiarity with the Adventist church and an interest in Boston baseball I may be a bit biased) once I found myself hooked in Kincaid's story I couldn't put the book down. Following complicated family relationships in a time of turmoil the characters are memorable and intriguing. I wouldn't describe this book as a period piece by any means but it does a great job of depicting the uncertainty and experience of the Vietnam war.

Covering friendships and family and growing up this book has a little bit of everything.

The River Why may get more acclaim for Duncan, but THE BROTHERS K is one of my favorite books of all time.

It's a brilliant piece of fiction, and a family drama on par with the Hamiltons in Steinbeck's East of Eden.

Again, Duncan chooses a niche audience, this time the combination of baseball and religion, and breaks your overfilled heart with the love and complexity of a big family with competing personalities. All this against a nostalgic American era also fraught with our best and worst, this novel is full of enormous ideas and passion. To consider that he infuses this epic with the same comic relief he's known for is to be reminded that we'd all be incredibly fortunate to have DJD as our favorite uncle.

It's a piece that will only improve with age, and stands up to repeated readings, that'll not only further endear you to the Chance family, but to Duncan himself.

Incredible read. It pulls you along an epic story following a family in Washington State.

My favorite novels are the ones in which authors have a very detailed worldview and the author is using the book and their storytelling skill as a synergistic delivery mechanism. The author delivers wisdom and perspective on life in a very engaging way. He creates very intense emotions with the plot and explains why things happened the way they did and how they end.

This book is also one of the few that hits with legitimate laughs until the end of the book. When I read Catch 22 the humor was grating by the end. This book doesn't beg for you to laugh at continuous jokes. It creates tension and will pop it with a big satisfying laugh.

It's just extremely well written and will bring you through the entire spectrum of emotions multiple times and be able to explains the whys of intense situations in very satisfying ways.

If you like baseball that puts a bow on it. Read this book!

p.s. I consumed the audiobook and it was very good.

The River Why may get more acclaim for Duncan, but THE BROTHERS K is one of my favorite books of all time.

It's a brilliant piece of fiction, and a family drama on par with the Hamiltons in Steinbeck's East of Eden.

Again, Duncan chooses a niche audience, this time the combination of baseball and religion, and breaks your overfilled heart with the love and complexity of a big family with competing personalities. All this against a nostalgic American era also fraught with our best and worst, this novel is full of enormous ideas and passion. To consider that he infuses this epic with the same comic relief he's known for is to be reminded that we'd all be incredibly fortunate to have DJD as our favorite uncle.

It's a piece that will only improve with age, and stands up to repeated readings, that'll not only further endear you to the Chance family, but to Duncan himself.

Incredible read. It pulls you along an epic story following a family in Washington State.

My favorite novels are the ones in which authors have a very detailed worldview and the author is using the book and their storytelling skill as a synergistic delivery mechanism. The author delivers wisdom and perspective on life in a very engaging way. He creates very intense emotions with the plot and explains why things happened the way they did and how they end.

This book is also one of the few that hits with legitimate laughs until the end of the book. When I read Catch 22 the humor was grating by the end. This book doesn't beg for you to laugh at continuous jokes. It creates tension and will pop it with a big satisfying laugh.

It's just extremely well written and will bring you through the entire spectrum of emotions multiple times and be able to explains the whys of intense situations in very satisfying ways.

If you like baseball that puts a bow on it. Read this book!

p.s. I consumed the audiobook and it was very good.

This chronicle of a baseball family’s ups and downs in the ‘50s through the early ‘70s was expansive and (I’ll say it) breathtaking. Papa Chance, the father in this 500+ page tome has spawned, a hippie radical, a eastern-studies guru, a thorough narrator, a dense but lovable Adventist and two peculiar twin girls who have worked out a method of killing birds and cleaning up the dead that is a sight to behold. Roger Maris, Vietnam, Religion, it’s all here, folks. Warning: The next book you pick up after reading this (unless it’s freaking brilliant) is going to reek like you just stuck your head in a barrel full of fish heads. Smell the [baseball] glove.

This is an incredible novel. It combines some of the best features of a group of my favorite novels--A Prayer from Owen Meany (the subject matter, interesting chracters, wonderful anecdotes and twists throughout the story), Catcher in the Rye (introspective chracters looking for their way in the world and inviting the reader to join the adventure), and A River Runs Through It (the gorgeous scenery, sports and religion, and again fantastic characters). It is a long novel, but don't let that frighten you because it reads quickly and will engage you for all 640 pages and leave you wanting to learn more about the lives of the Chance family, even after following them for 30 years. As a reader you become involved in all of their lives, your emotions become tied up in their successes and failures, and they seem like real people you have known your entire life. I could ask for nothing more from a novel about a family. The books also contains excellent dialogue, a diverse and engaging set of tagents, and subtely addresses several debates (Vietnam, religion, abortion, etc.) that have dominated the past 40 years--it will keep you thinking. I can not recommend this book highly enough, I loved it, and even if you do not like baseball, religion, or politics, around which the story revolves, you will like this book.

This book will have you laughing, crying, feeling anger, and many other emotions. The story of a family living in the 50s. 60s. and 70s will touch your heart. There were some areas that I found to be overly wordy and laborious, however, overall this is an interesting book. It took me a while to get into it, but I liked the way it wrapped everything up in the ending. I recommend this book; I think most people will enjoy it.

Just a great read. Baseball. The Vietnam War. Dysfunctional families. I ran across this at a bookstore in Hood River, Or. in the summer of '92. I had no idea this book dealt with the Pacific Northwest, just that I'd enjoyed Duncan's previous book The River Why. I started reading this book about 100 yards from the Wind River, and was astonished when the Wind was mentioned in the first chapter, and later in the book, was blown away when a protest march I was in in Seattle was also mentioned. I ended up staying a second night at Carson Hot Springs to finish the book(and have more huckleberry cobbler).

I just ran across an excerpt/short story from The Brothers K about 15 minutes ago in September/October 2007 issue of The Onion Magazine online. It deals with Kade and Papa heading up the Columbia after the Yankees-Cleveland game ends. The story's title is "He Sets Me In The Stream". It was a great surprise finding it, but of course, the big A won't allow me to post a link, but you should have no problem finding it!!

After more or less bitterly mocking my conservative Adventist upbringing with my very Catholic best friend 7 years ago, he laughingly recommended this book to me, saying it might help me "deal" with that upbringing to soothe away the bitter. Ohmymymymy.

I checked this out at 9 in the evening and by 4 in the morning had finished this...this...this...the word book, from this book-lover, does not do this book justice. This is the monster of books, the God of all books, it's been given a little book-sceptre and rules over all the rest of the book-ette proletariat. It's bourgeois book and beastie book. Even better, instead of pompously lording it over all the rest of the lesser books, it quotes them, loves them, welcomes them in for one big book party.

I have two copies of this book. One copy is signed and is missing three pages, and is ripped in two from reading it too many times. The other is yellowed and sits on top of my bedstand. I have parts of it committed to memory, and re-read over and over and over.

The thing that strikes me most about Duncan's style is his underlying foundation, his ability to find love in the most crazed places: from the Adventist church to Vietnam to Canada to the village dotted desert outside Pune. There is a certain naivete in looking for unmitigated love in these places, but while various of his characters embody that Dostoyevskyan naivete, I get the feeling that Duncan is an incredibly down-to-earth guy and that down-to-earthness meshed with mysticism, Adventism gone fanatical, non-violent violence, etc. leaves a lasting impression.

I would say his main foundation is that love is an uncontrollable force, it takes on faces we might never expect of it. We see that over and over again as we watch this family's epic story unfold so heartbreakingly and terribly.

As for my old friend's comment that "The Brothers K" might help me "deal?" Yes. And then some. I felt like someone had hit me over the head with a frying pan after reading this book. Maybe it was the staunchly Adventist Mama Chance who stepped out of the pages and gave me a good iron whack. Duncan called The Brothers K (and I might be misquoting him a bit) his 700-some page attempt at coming to terms with his own Adventist/Presbyterian upbringing.

Having been raised solely Adventist I find it necessary to point out that some of the theology he attributes to Adventism is incorrect, particularly that Adventists don't believe in a literal hell. The culture, which is ultimately what matters in a book like this, he has portrayed amazingly well, right down to the children's rooms being in the church basement. I understand, from an interview he had with Dan Lamberton of Walla Walla Adventist College, that he was originally trying to write about Baptists, which is bigger and more mainstream and therefore more meaningful to readers, but found himself always returning to his Adventist upbringing, finally switching over altogether.

This book was amazing. While I'm not sure that Duncan would like that I felt hit over the head by a frying pan wielding Mama Chance, it turned out for me, and it keeps turning out. This book "holds multitudes." I can read it and come out crying and laughing and head-achey and glowy and furious and excited depending on which page I'm turning to and which character I'm reading about.

So. Should you buy this book?

Dear friend, buy two copies of this one, for one will fall apart on you for all that page turning.

This is the sort of novel whose difficulty is matched only by its reward; you will find yourself not wanting that final page to come. The fact that this was written over twenty years ago, with no second, equally-weighty tome on offer, speaks to how difficult it must have been to write. I wish the author would write again.

Quite simply, The Brothers K is my favorite all-time read and David James Duncan my favorite all-time author. After devouring Duncan's first novel, The River Why, the story of fishing-obsessed Gus Orviston and his search for peace, I couldn't wait for his next offering. The Brothers K did not disappoint. It is a brilliant novel that intertwines the innate conflict of family with religion, baseball, politics and love. Duncan is a masterful storyteller with an unmatched wit, a steady hand for plot development and an understanding of the human spirit like no other. He has the ability to weave words like Steinbeck. And his characters literally leap off the page, burning their way into your psyche and soul. As an author, myself, I am humbled by his talent. But as a reader, I thirst for more. In fact, in response to the age-old question, 'If you were stranded on a desert island and could have only one book, what would it be?', my answer is simple -- The Brothers K. Salmon Run

Putting down a good book and thinking is common. When I finished, The Brothers K just left me smiling (I felt rather like Irwin Chance). Through the weaving narratives of a family of eight (and their love interests, distant relations, and pets), David James Duncan tells a story of people, of place (mostly Eastern Washington), of an era (the '60s), and of ideas (Eastern philosophy and Christianity, baseball and fishing).

The Chance family is dysfunctional in too many ways to count. The father seems to be an atheist. The mother is a devout adventist. The children are split along similar secular and sectarian lines. As baseball, the clergy, politics, and war threaten and succeed to drive them apart, love pulls the family back together. At points in this book, you will not be able to stop laughing. At others, you will be forced to stop reading in sadness. But in all of it, humanity shines through. Duncan's book is a pleasure to read.

THE BROTHERS K is a remarkable story spanning just over a decade in the lives of the Chance family. Comprised of Papa Hugh, Mama Laura, brothers Everett, Irwin, Pete, Kincaid, and twin sisters Beatrice and Winifred, the Chances are a baseball loving, God-fearing (most of them anyway) family living during the height of the Vietnam era.
The Chances struggle with issues of religion, humanity, love, life, and death throughout the novel - themes that are always relevant. While the story focuses on the Chance brothers, Duncan has a way of giving each character a distinctive personality and voice all masterfully led by youngest brother Kincaid, who narrates the saga. THE BROTHERS K is a masterfully crafted story that is funny, tragic and hopeful. After 645 pages, I had fallen in love with the Chance family - each and every one of them - and was sad to say goodbye.

I discovered this book when i was wandering through a town in northern canada along the alaska highway. i was supposed to be doing some work, but the evenings were dull, i'd read the books i was carrying, and so i wandered into the library and managed a short-term loan.
the title caught me as a rip-off, and it was a book-of-the-month selection, but i was a stranger in a strange land.
i started, and then did almost nothing else for three days. i cried in a 24 hour trucker's restaurant. some reader before me had smoked hand-rolled cigarettes, fossil sediment of his read was layered by alternated tobacco tendriles and smudged ash.
it felt like i was in a community with that other book-loaner, and i felt good that i had shared this book with someone.
duncan drew me through the characters to look with compassion at others around me. i feel like a better person for having listened to this story.
it is a book you will give away but never lose.

I would recommend The Brothers K to anyone, but most specifically to those who are interested in family life in the Northwest during the turbulent 60s. This 640 page novel, though flawed in some respects, is worth your time.

An excellent aspect of the Brothers K is its primary narration by Kincaid Chance, the youngest of four brothers, however the best thing about the book is simply the writing. This is an engaging story told in an engaging way. Duncan is not only gifted in relaying a message, but much of his writing in simply astounding in its careful, yet complex, delivery of a complicated story. Duncan sucks the reader into the family, and places you into the contexts of its characters. Difficult as it may be, we understand the frustrations of Hugh Chance. We deplore Laura Chance's destructive addiction to her religion, but we find solace in her attachment to it. Hard to understand? Absolutely, but realistic. And probably most important is how the family functions together. Extremely real.

My favorite passsages of the book occurred early when Kade is trying to bring his father out of his funk. I also really enjoyed the baseball connections, they helped to really cement the feel of the novel, as well as the Chance family's passion. The Ted Williams and Roger Maris stories both worked well with developing the plot. The story elements that describe Hugh Chance ressurecting his pitching career are classic human struggles. I also enjoyed the too little covered Irwin, who was the family's bastion of religious idealism.

I came to dislike Everett Chance, as well as the mother, though I tried to work my way through them. I also thought that Duncan did not make Everett realistic enough for me, though I suppose on some level, as a character, he worked well. Everett was just so insanely fanatical, and without a real purpose. I suppose it could be argued that millions of Everett's exist, but I found him hard to stomach. I also thought that his idea of saving Irwin was lackluster, and I didn't get the point of making it a mystery.

This is a huge novel, not just because of the 640 pages, but because of the breadth of information the reader is required to not only read, but understand, as well. Being a huge novel filled with complex issues, we have to understand that there will be flaws, and flaws do indeed raise their ugly little heads. Missing, I thought, was the inevitable connection to the music of that time and the characters. It was as if music didn't exist for any member of the family. In fact, until the seventies, it was never mentioned. I find this very unusual that a family wit six children, not one of them would be wrapped up in popular music to any degree. I found myself asking, "How is that possible?" I know how pervasive music was in the 50s and 60s, and particularly, in the Northwest, a stronghold of rock and roll, individual as it was. Northwest America rocked all though the 60s.

The book does have other flaws, such as mentioned earlier with the rotating narration having no valid connection to what was going on in the plot. I thought the book would have flowed better had the narration been confined to Kincaid Chance, as opposed to the wandering, once in awhile narration by Everett. Editing was indeed a problem for me, also. I had to wonder how some of the errors slipped by, those being in style, as well as grammatical.

Nonetheless, this is a superb novel with much to offer any reader. The setting is great, the story is addictive, the family is real, and the result is pure entertainment. I wasn't happy with the ending, though I don't know how I would improve upon it. I guess I thought it a bit trite and whimsical when balanced against the bulk of the book. Almost like it was tied up with a nice little ribbon and bow. It's almost as if the story died at a certain point, and Duncan didn't know what to do to ressurect it and then kill it.

Throughout the three weeks I spent with David James Duncan's Chase family, I found myself emailing quotes from The Brothers K and recommending this book to friends and business colleagues alike. Though written in 1992, it feels so like today in its approach to religious fanaticism, war, and politics. It's time for this book to enjoy a much deserved revival. By turns hilarious and heart-wrenching, often philosphical and meandering to distraction, one finds at conclusion that it was all there for a reason. The paths that wind through baseball, religion, politics, and family relationships all converge into a most satisying whole. Truly one of the most thoroughly enjoyable reads of my life.

David James Duncan is the greatest storyteller of
our time. He weaves together life events with the
inner workings of the mind and heart so well that
you don't know how absorbed you really are until
you've finished and realize you MISS these people. The arguments, the tragedies, the triumphs and the day to day trudge to work make you love these people as your own family. My brother-in-law is Irwin. My friend Josh is Peter. Am I Kincaid? Was my Aunt June Mama? This is truly the most absorbing story of a family I have ever read. It is a must-read in my book. Oh yea, and there's baseball in there too, for all you fans out there.

In some ways BETTER than "The River Why," but then again the perfect follow-up. Duncan growing as an author, and just as funny, sweet, sad, multi-colored and deep, like the reflections of sky and stars off his rushing waters, and as deep as the fish swimming therein. About the only complaint anyone can have with David James Duncan is WHY doesn't he write more? Not many people write as well or as richly as William Goldman, or make it all seem so effortless, but Duncan is one contemporary author, who like Goldman, seems one part philosopher and one part magician and two parts poet, an ethereal recipe for a great writer. If you love to read and haven't yet read David James Duncan, get "The River Why" and "The Brothers K" together and prepare yourself for weeping/screaming/laughing jags that will keep you going through many days -- these are books you will read more than once, and will treasure forever. And like me, you'll feel the overwhelming urge to share Duncan with those you love best.

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. I can't express the love I found here. My father played baseball in Hawaii during WW II and afterwards played softball well into his 50s as a fast pitch softball player. I grew up in this world and grew up in the 60s so thank you for writing this beautiful book.

The Brothers K is filled with spectacular moments of humor,
drama, and action. This book is an absolute must-read for
anyone who enjoys thinking about the meaning of their
existence in a very strange world.
Although this book is not for baseball lovers only, it has
many great baseball moments. Especially check out the scene
where Papa Chance tries to explain the true nature of the
strike zone to his young son!! A ***** scene!! This book
is filled with them!! And don't forget to check-out Duncan's
other all-star novel, The River Why

Quirky but not too (which is a good thing), unique, complex and entertaining story - had a few dry patches in the end but well worth it. Largely about baseball but not in a way that precludes people who don't like baseball from enjoying the story. On the contrary, you will finally feel part of that crowd. Also involves a degree of non-dogmatic spirituality. The spirituality in some of his other books renders them unreadable to me but not here. He hit a home run with Brothers K.

The Brothers K is a heartfelt journey through the life of the Chance family. You are drawn in deeper and deeper with each turn of the page and fall madly in love with the characters. You hope with them, you hurt with them and you even dream with them. The Chance family trials are something that an everyday mom, dad or kid could relate to. You hope with the family as the father, once a pitching phenomenon, is hoping for a surgery to help him pitch again after losing a finger in a mill accident. You are bummed when they tell you that its not going to happen. Throughout the whole story you are enticed by the hardships they face. The families diverse views on religion, for me at least, played a fairly recognizable role in the story. The mom, a devout Seventh-day Adventist, boycotts motherly things for the three children that chose not to attend church. The dad is attempting to build back the family he feels like he is slowly losing to religious battles, athletic competitions and science experiments. While the children are trying to find their place in the scheme of things.
The athletic talents, or lack thereof, of the sons in the Chance family is something to be reckoned with. Irwin, the amazing javelin thrower, is wanted by the baseball coach to hit behind Peter, the two-time All-State centerfielder, heir to the Chance Baseball Dynasty throne, who is also wanted by the track coach to sprint and take the team to the championship. While Kinkade and Everett were set on the JV-B team. The story explores athletics from all angles, the ups, the downs, and the placebos, like eyeglasses, placed by the athlete himself.
This story is really about the hardships that families in the 60's faced everyday, while throwing in the occasional problem that even the families of the 2000's could face. The baseball represents a struggle, a struggle to do something that you truly want, to be able to work in a place you love, instead of working somewhere like a mill where you are just working to survive. It teaches you to never stop trying, to believe in yourself. As papa Chance said, "...There are two ways for a baseball player to get the pitch he wants. The simplest way is not to want any pitch in particular. But the best way, he said-which sounds almost the same, but is really very different-is to handle the very pitch you're gonna get. Including the one you can handle. But also that's the one that's gonna strike you out looking. And even the one that's maybe gonna bounce off your head." This quote explains the way baseball can relate to life. Never stop trying to work with what you can handle, don't stop at what you can handle but persevere and keep trying.

Am a harsh critic, and often don't understand how books win the big awards, but this one deserves all the accolades it gets. The character development was exquisite, and as crazy as things got, it all rang true for me. Fell in love with each of the characters, none of them perfect and each one a whole, complete human being. Truly a masterpiece.

Somehow, David James Duncan captures the American
family in his epic. The story is driven by the characters varying interests and talents, especially baseball and buddhism, but also the 60's politics and then Russian Literature. The characters are well-developed and by the end I was dying to find out more. I'm hoping Mr. Duncan decides topublish another book soon. I'd also recommend River Teeth and The River Why to anyone and everyone. David James Duncan has established himself as one of America's best contemporary writers.

This was perhaps the best and most powerful novel I've ever read. It seems a little long at first glance, but after the first 200 pages, the reader is so caught-up in the lives of the characters that the remaining 400 pages seem to fly past. On one level, it's the story of a family trying to survive through difficulties. On another level, it's a stark examination of personal values and inner convictions, in which the author voices questions few people would dare ask. It's been two years since I read it, and I still haven't fully recovered.

I wrote the title for my review, because I believe that we shouldn't love books. Instead we should let books teach us, accept what we can accept, swallow what we can swallow, and, if we must, disagree--in the end we should turn back to life and be better thinkers and feelers. Duncan is dangerously talented in the sphere of fiction writing, particularly the Brothers K--dangerous in that his prose paralyzes your awareness of thoughts and emotion, and you are so tempted to just LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! the book that you almost fall into a trap of endless appreciation. Quick comment though. He does move you, and as much he moves you, he makes you think in new ways, but for me, I gathered the message that he wants us to find our own epic stories as well, our Chance dynasties--whether they'll be written and read by others or not. That's what his book makes me obligated to do: find a story that is equally great, to me if not to anybody else, and be thankful that i have lived it. Good literature we love. GReat literature teaches us to use that same love to be worthy livers of life. ARt is successful if it does that much. Thank you Mr. Duncan. Godspeed on your next work (but no pressure if you do want to take a break for a while--you deserved it with this one). Yours in writing.

This was a wonderful, quirky, funny, tragic, heartwarming portrayal of family life set on the backdrop of the 1960s. It had the enjoyment of a John Irving novel, but much better - PG and not so over the top. You'll just love every one of these characters. And if you are a baseball fan, all the better.
A friend handed this book off to me as she finished it, not knowing I was a baseball fan. I looked at the 600 pages and rolled my eyes - and then I started reading and couldn't stop. She had to attempt reading it twice to get through it - thought the beginning dragged. The second attempt won her over. I didn't feel this way (one attempt was enough to win me), but I imagine if you aren't a baseball fan that portions will not be as interesting to you. However, so much more is going on that there is plenty to keep everyone entertained.
A bonus for me is that these kids come of age around the time I did. But I don't think you'll need to have lived through the 60s to enjoy it.
You'll laugh, you'll cry - and come away very satisfied.

As with Duncan's other (equally amazing) novel, The River Why, there is no good answer to the question "what's it about?" The only answer for the Brothers K is "baseball...sort of." I'm not much of a baseball fan, but I'd loved The River Why (which is about fishing...sort of), so I gave it a shot, and I'm extremely pleased that I did. Modern musings on family and philosophy. Duncan is well worth a read

This book is for those who LOVE language. The voice of the narrator Kincaid Chance grows and changes during the lifecycle of the book and the effect is absolutely masterful. The ideas expressed, baseball imagery, turns of phrase, word pictures and descriptions of family life and the turmoil of the 50s and 60s are familiar but also fresh and funny. This book is pure enjoyment.

This is a rich, wonderful novel. Towards the end, I intended to read over lunch. One hour stretched to two, then even longer. I laughed out loud several times, and then cried. The waitress finally came over and asked, "Okay, what are you reading?! I've got to get a copy!" Everyone who loves great writing, wonderful characters and beautiful storytelling needs to get a copy. This kind of book doesn't come along every day - maybe not even every ten years. It's breathtaking.

To be honest I picked this book because I thought it was about baseball and in fact one of of the themes in the book does follow that route but The Brothers K, both humorous and serious, has much more to say! This book zeros in on the changing family values of many American families in the 50's through 70's that I could really relate to such as the role of religion, politics, school, and war in a tumultuous time. Family "get togethers" in the Brothers K we're unpredictable and potentially volatile as expectations and aspirations often collided passionately. Most readers will enjoy the roller coaster!

I am writing this review solely because I want people to hear about this book. It is absolutely amazing and I want everyone I know to read it. Whenever someone asks me what it's about, I falter because it covers so much of American ideals and history. It is an amazing character novel that makes you want to meet everyone in it from the protagonist down to the Sunday school teacher. Duncan depicts everyone with such detail. The first time I read this book I couldn't put it down and I've had the same experience after reading it three more times. There is so much to it that you'll never be satisfied.
When my friend recommended this book to me he said these words, "This guy (Duncan) writes with so much passion. there are characters in here that say everything you ever wish you could have said." He's right. This book is perfect and I dare anyone to find flaws with it.
If you've ever wanted to know exactly what to say and when to say it, you should read this book. Not only will it increase your desire, but it will satiate it. READ THIS BOOK!!! it's so good

Out of all of the brothers, I found myself connecting mostly with Everett, the eldest. He was the first one of the children to challenge the existence of God, therefore challenging his mother's beliefs and authority. He became a radical that the other brothers found comfort in. "Dear God, if you exist," says Everett while praying aloud at the dinner table (Duncan, 168). Never before had any one of the children contravened the values of their mother, and Everett's actions earned him three strikes to the face from Laura as well as one to Irwin. Three of the brothers, Everett, Peter, and Kade, all grew closer from these events due to the consequences they each endured by going against their mother in what later becomes known as the "Psalm Wars." Irwin, however, remained faithful to his mother's wishes and continued in his devout ways. I too have grown up around a very religious environment and have never been allowed to really question my faith. For twelve years, I have learned about God and the wonders he has created. Like Everett, I am continually challenged with the topic of whether God exists or not. "Unlike Irwin, Bet, of Mama, I don't even believe in God" (Duncan, 547). I find this quote rather harsh and my feelings, although independent, are not as strong as this passage expresses. Though I believe in a greater being, I am not positive about the existence of God.

I have never read a book that ripped emotional respoce the way this one did. I have never read a book in which the use of the english language could so capture mood a given story, the feelings of multiple charactors and a never ending cumpultion to keep reaidng no matter what time you have to get up for work. David James Duncan is why we still print books, why we read them, amd why we feel.

A family of eight - four boys and twin girls - being raised in small-town Camas, Washington by their very mormon mother and ex could-have-been-pro baseball playing dad. It spans the decades of the 50's, 60's and 70's as narrated by Kincaid, one of the younger boys. It's so immense and chock full of drama, life, and baseball statistics, I can't even begin to tell you the plot, since it holds so many sub-plots over so much time. ALL of the characters are memorable and the book is so long you really have a sense of completion after you read it (which is great for people who read too fast!) Let's just say it's one of those books you end up telling everyone to read.

I was at a consignment shop, browsing through the used books. The cover blurb on the paperback's spine shouted: "The must-read book of the year!". I thought - yeah, sure. But I figured I could chance eighty cents, how bad could it be? Well. I have seldom been so drawn in or enthralled. Duncan is a master - rich characters, amazing descriptive powers, multiple plot lines that could each stand on their own but are woven into a substantial and satisfying tapestry. What's it about? It's about a lot of things. It's about 700 pages long. It's about your family, and mine.
The cover blurb was right. You must read this book.

The struggles the Chance brothers face and the life choices each makes mirror those of the nation's youth during the Vietnam era. Each of the brothers' choices in light of the Vietnam War; Everett to flee to Canada, Peter to seek student deferment, Irwin to claim conscientious objector status but serve his country when his status was denied, and Kincaid's medical deferment represent paths taken by young men at the time. The divergent paths of each brother divided the family, just as the choices of American youth divided the nation. In the reuniting and healing of the Chance family, Duncan implies that the nation can also mend the wounds caused by this turbulent era.

Irwin's remarkable triumph conveys Duncan's message of hope for apparently dismal futures. Duncan's The Brothers K rightfully received the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Award and the American Library Association Notable Book of the Year Award. These well-deserved awards honor Duncan's artfully delicate explanation of the ambiguities of family, religion, and war for timeless generations.

David James Duncan's brilliant work is the story of a family living in the Northwest through the 1960s. The family Chance makes it through four boys, two twin girls, Hugh's (the father) life in baseball and at the mill, a fanatically religious mother, college, draft dodging, Buddhist enlightenment, and comes out as one of the most intriguing and genuinely special families I have ever known. I must say that the Brothers K is my favorite book. Duncan's prose [draws] you in and won't let you out. His writing is witty, eye opening, hilarious, and wonderful. I would recommend this book for just about anyone, even if you know nothing about...especially if you know nothing about baseball, Eastern religions, Vietnam, the 60s, or living in a large family and making it through all that life throws your way.

Family, religion, politics in the 1960s Pacific Northwest all told through the prism of baseball. Positively brilliant! Compelling! Dazzling! Characters you'll never forget. I haven't worked in a bookshop in a decade, yet in the last three years I sold 37 copies of this for my local independent store JUST by proselytizing. Read this book.

Just great fiction, set mostly in a small town in the 1960's, this is no formula novel. I had no idea where it was headed till I was at least 2/3's of the way through, but that was fine because the writing and characters (both parents, four sons and two daughters) are so compelling. I expect to re-read this one. Humor, tragedy, and just plain grit - terrific.

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!