The Brothers K

The Brothers K is a 1992 novel by David James Duncan, an author, fisherman, and environmental advocate from the Pacific Northwest. It builds on the sporting and spiritual themes of The River Why, Duncan's first book, but on a much larger canvas, focusing on an entire family instead of a single protagonist. Duncan uses multiple points of view to reinforce this effect by including material supposedly written by different family members in the broad narrative by Kincaid Chance. The novel tells the story of the Chance family as they pass through the turbulent waters of Papa Chance's minor league baseball career and the upheavals of the Vietnam War. It is also a deeply religious novel about love and family and spiritual growth and the difference between church and religion. The title is a reference to Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and to the baseball abbreviation for a strikeout.