Bonnie G.’s Reviews > The Brothers K > Status Update

The things we do for love. Romatic love, filial love, friendship, these are flowers that bloom in the acres of (amusing and brilliantly written) parched earth. False idols abound -- organized religion, spiritualism, governments, temples of one's familiar, even to some extent baseball -- but the love of family, legal and chosen, is what turns out to always hold the winning hand. I did not entirely see that coming.

I thought this was the great American novel, but is it really the great anti-American dream novel? Grit matters not. Nothing you do keeps you safe or happy. The harder you try to do the right thing, the more screwed you are. The less you question things, the safer and happier you will be. Ayn Rand would hate this

He'd calculated that by considering the physical world "illusory" and burying his nose in metaphysical texts he could go on doing something comfortable while his ignorance and sufferings and hometown and troublesome family just fell away like so much ugly excess poundage.

Obviously, I question his calculations: to slough off half a self in hopes of finding a whole one is not my idea of good math. .

Technical obsession is like an unlit, ever-narrowing mine shaft leading straight down through the human mind. The deeper down one plunges, the more fabulous, and often the more remunerative, the gems or ore. But the deeper down one plunges, the more confined and conditioned one's thoughts and movements become, and the greater the danger of permanently losing one's way back to the surface of the planet.

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.

Enjoying this very much. Baseball, arch siblings, and Jesus, what more can I ask for?