The narrator of Brothers is his brother's keeper, trying to impose order on the domestic vortex caused by the latter's inadequacies and demands. He tells the story in order to retain a grip on himself, trying to analyze their relationship in a clinical way, but his account is infected by his brother's problems. Their relationship of dependence and authority begins to turn: is he reading and rearranging the written account of their relationship? This insistent, precise novel draws the reader into an intense world as enclosed as a mystery story.