The Brothers K is one of my all time favorite books and David James Duncan is one of my all time favorite authors. His first book, The River Why is an American Classic and is on many critics best lists. It is deeply philosophical and delves into one man's struggle with God and fishing. The Brothers K, Duncan's second novel, came 10 years later. It is a much bigger book, that portrays the tangled interaction of an American family during the tumultuous Vietnam era. Hugh Chance is a former minor-league baseball player. His career was cut short by an industrial accident and the thumb on his throwing had has been replaced by a toe. His wife is deeply religious. His six kids are are all dealing with growing up in the 60's; they range from an atheist draft dodger to a devote of eastern religion to a devout christian who ends up in Vietnam. The family interaction is in turn hilarious and intensely sad. The themes the author tackles are grand, but the book is immanently readable. It may get a little out of control at times, but it comes together in the end, a must for me. I love a book to end with some sense of closure.
One embarrassing thing I will add in closing: I met David James Duncan at a reading in Portland several years ago. I had brought a nice copy of The Brothers K to be signed. He looked at it and said, "oh, this is valuable, I need to do a good job on this," to which I replied, "this is the best book I have ever written." I didn't realize my mistake, but my wife was kind enough to point it out. I of course was hugely embarrassed and was standing there like an idiot trying to apologize, when Duncan says, "don't we all rewrite books in our head as we read them?" Wow, what a nice guy for not making me feel like a total idiot.
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1 comment:
It is not my fault that there was an awkward silence after you accused MY favorite author of plagiarism. Outing you for taking credit of his work was the right thing to do. I stand by it
-your wife
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