Status Updates From Les Frères K

Religion takes a hit in this book. The fanatical Adventist mother's bombastic preacher tears apart a happy family filled with curiosity and good trouble.

Babcock's brimstoning allowed each listener a total cessation of energy and thought, severed each from his neighbors, and reserved for each the dignity of his or her privacy until the embarrassment of their botched togetherness could end.

Dosteyevsky becomes more relevant as we deep dive into Christian religious fanaticism, renunciation of faith, and the search for other gods (plural). I still see no need to have read Karamazov, but I might not recognize the need because it has been so long since I read that book, and mostly I found it dull and pedantic. (Yes, I am a Philistine.) Mostly this is about family, its disintegration, and its lasting bonds.

There is a screwball comedy energy to the prose. I find myself laughing, but 99% of what is being said is not funny, and about 90% is downright tragic.

Some grounding in baseball is important; none is necessary in Russian lit. I have a glancing acquaintance with the game, and often go years without attending a single game, but I know enough rules and lore. If you don't, I think this would be baffling.

If Don DeLillo, Philip Roth, and Tolstoy teamed up on a book about a family in Oregon in the 1960's, it would be this, I think, but it is still early on.