The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang

There is a modern and culturally Chinese version of Brother's Karamazov running through this book from start to finish that is hard to miss. The exception to that characterization is the scope. This is focused : one restaurant, one town, and one crime that will transform the family’s fortunes and it all takes place in Wisconsin. Leo Chao is the patriarch and he has all the personality traits that made Fyodor so unlikable. He is crass, openly disappointed in his offspring, competing with them to bed women, deriding them when it doesn't happen, and most of all, telling him that he controls the purse strings at least until he is in the ground. His wife Winnie is still alive, but she has moved into a spiritual house and escaped, leaving her sons behind. Dagou is the oldest, and like Dmitri before him, he finds it hard to cut the apron strings, and is a bit hopeless with money, making him more vulnerable to his father's manipulations. Ming is the successful version of Ivan, and James is the virginal innocent like Alyosha and none of them have shaken the mantle that their father has impressed upon them. Much like in Dostoevsky's version of this story, we empathize with and are infuriated by each of the brothers, and the criminal justice system doesn't come out looking much better either.