Help with reading a pattern

[Smeets2]

I am new to all of this.  Can someone please explain how the brackets and ** /* ‘s work please?  In a step by step way? Thanks.  

[NCcountrygal]

https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/how-to-read-crochet-pattern

[Granny Square]

^ That is an excellent reference that can answer a LOT of questions, not just brackets and asterisks in written patterns but also how to read stitch diagrams, yarn weights, all sorts of good stuff.

Probably the item in your list that throws most people off is the double asterisk.  It's just a place marker which you completely ignore until it tells you not to ignore it.  Most commonly it has to do with dealing with the stitches at the very end of the row, where you stop short of completing the last stitch pattern repeat to make the end stitches mirror the beginning of the row.