Ivan, Dimitri, and Alexander–who’s not to love–each in his own way. I had 796 pages to learn how. This was D’s last novel and I think he wrote it over a decade. I did love, sort of, each of the brothers even though 2 out of 3 acted in unloving ways. His characters could have come out of the 21st Century–at least the stream of consciousness and some of the actions, although extreme, are eminently understandable. A woman wronged, testifies in court against the man who crushed her ego; a man who hated his father says he is guilty of his murder; a young boy from the wrong side of town takes on a pack of his schoolboy tormenters. Admittedly, his characters show the dark side more often than not. [7/11]
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