Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn't share his brother's appetite for whiskey and killing, he's never known anything else. But their prey isn't an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm's gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living - and whom he does it for.

With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters - losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life - and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West, and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.

The Sisters Brothers

Patrick Book

Re-re-re-read and it’s still among my most favourites. 

Re-read having now seen the movie. It made me appreciate the movie more, and the movie made me appreciate the book more. I am not sure how that is possible. 

Regardless, this remains a remarkable story. DeWitt’s ability to combine subtle humour with very dark subject matter is so strong, and the ability to draw pathos from the reader, considering the brutality and at times near-evil, develops so well over the course of the book. I love it.

Ryan Mateyk

Eli and Charlie Sisters are two of the most feared men in the West, but Eli Sisters, our narrator, wants readers to know he's more than his actions. Charlie is bloodthirsty and feels no remorse but Eli is a bit of a romantic, looking for a good woman to settle down with, in a nice little town where he can open a store. He even gets quite attached to his sub-par horse. But if someone happens to get in his way...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And so goes The Sisters Brothers.

elizabeth

This was such a fun read to wrap up my year in fiction. While it has a broader, overarching plot, a lot of the chapters are little mini-adventures or vignettes. Are each of these chapters indispensable to the greater plot? I don't know. Probably not. But I also probably don't care. They're vivid and entertaining and build the brothers' characters (and their relationship!) that together serve as the focal point of the novel as a whole. I understand this episodic, sometimes aimless, style isn't for everyone. It worked for me. 

This book is decidedly a Western, but it dwells more on the characters and plot than the setting (at least compares to some other Westerns I've been into, namely Williams's Butcher's Crossing and in McCarthy's borderlands trilogy). I felt that it took itself less seriously than the others, too, despite it being dark and gross and cruel and unpleasant at times.

A very attractive  story in the humor and western genre. The story of two assassin brothers during the gold rush in America. With a  beautiful ending 

Shidehdeishidi

altlovesbooks

This just never came together for me. Two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters, are sent on a mission by the Commodore to kill a man for reasons unstated. The story, ostensibly, follows the brothers as they track the man down, but the actual plot is broken up into small short little vignettes of the brothers as they get into wacky hijinks along the way. 

The problem with this is that none of the stuff that happens throughout the book really has any bearing on the end or how they get there. Some of it is amusing in a way, but a lot just left me feeling a little impatient to get on with things. I was never really drawn into the Sisters brothers' quest to kill this man that needed killing, and the characters themselves, despite feeling like there should have been some sort of growth or change, never really went anywhere. I actually read too much into the story from the beginning, and was disappointed to read that things were played straight without too much deviation or plot twists.

I read it. It was a book. I'm done now.

Nora 

My friends at I reviewed it for our Books to Film Book Club this month. You can hear it here. Mostly of us definitely walked away as deWitt fans (less so the film)

Simrit

** spoiler alert **
           The book the Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt is a excellent example of a book that accurately represents the awkward relationships between siblings, and how a career can come in the middle of it. 

The Sisters Brothers follows Eli and Charlie Sisters, a pair of hired killers working for a man who goes by the name of the Commodore. Starting the book, they are given their newest mission: to kill a man by the name of Herman Warm. The story follows the Sisters Brothers as they journey to Warm, and their side adventures along the way. I’m not going to go too in-depth into the plot of the book- for that, you’ll have to read it yourself.

What I loved about this book is the contrasting personalities of the varying characters. Eli, a more gentle soul, shows remorse about the whole killing-murderous business that he and his brother find himself employed in. Throughout, he constantly second-guesses Charlie and his murderous tendencies. 

Speaking of Charlie. 

Charlie and Eli in the beginning of the book are like black and white. Unlike Eli, who is more soft hearted and human, Charlie is perfectly fine with murdering any person he lays eyes on. Not is he okay with it, he seems to revel in the thrill of killing living things. Think Sid from the first toy story kinda whack. 


Charlie basically kills at least one person from each location they go to. It’s like he’s trying to hit some kind of murder quota. Or something like that. 

But, as the book progresses, we begin to see a more human side of Charlie. As well as a more murderous side of Eli. 

Things progress to be not nearly as black and white as you would expect from a book such as this. 

*Minor spoilers ahead, don’t be spoiling things for yourself if you haven’t read the book yet.*

Eli’s temper definitely wasn’t something I saw coming. Since the entire book is written from Eli’s perspective, we always only heard his more innocent and childish thoughts, not wanting violence and cursing his brothers violent tendencies. So when Eli crushed some guys skull under his foot once he got mad- a very clear representation of what lies beneath the surface when it comes to Eli’s true nature. To be quite honest, Eli’s true nature is more scary than Charlies normal killing-everything-that-moves attitude. 

In contrasts, Charlie’s true nature is never truly revealed- we only see occasional moments of weakness and only glimpse of his kinder side- which is obviously not dominant in his personality- which is displayed through he treats people who he deems less important than him. 

The only time his nicer side is shown is when it comes to Eli- like when the Commodore asked him to leave Eli and find a new partner, Charlie stays dedicated to his brother. I mean, if that isn’t love than what is?

I was disappointed with the ending of this book, to be perfectly honest. With all the of the buildup in the book towards the ending, I didn’t expect them to end the book by going home to their mother and giving up their lifestyles as hired killers. I was expecting a fight, where they commemorate the ending of their career in a bang.

Instead, they ended up joining Warm and Morris on their pointless quest to obtain gold, all the while polluting the rivers killing wildlife (and themselves) in the process. My favourite part of the ending is when Eli kills the Commodore- I feel like that definitely commemorated the ending of their careers as killers. 

I mean, that's the best way to quit your job- if you’re gonna quit, you might as well do it with a mic drop. 

I think that this, overall, is a good book. It had its ups and downs, as all books do, but worth sitting down with a cup of tea to enjoy.

Very much enjoyed the first half or so. Not long after they get to San Francisco the book takes a strange semi-speculative turn and breaks from the more episodic format of the first half, which I didn't particularly like. Still an interesting and mostly enjoyable read.

Tuck

Jeannette Ordas

Wow, this is quite an adventure. The story is so well written and well crafted that I'm sure it will be a movie soon (made by the Coen Brothers, perhaps?). A brilliant, enjoyable read.

Ryan LaFerney

The Sisters Brothers (shortlisted for the Booker prize in 2011) is one of those rare genre novels. It's a western yes, but it is so much more than just your standard adventure novel. The story is dark comedy that is essentially about the bonds of family and human nature. The story focuses on The Sisters brothers Eli and Charlie, who are two famous paid killers working for the Commodore. They are hired to find and kill a prospector in San Fransisco during the Gold Rush. The novel presents their journey to California and their adventures while they are there.

The novel really is a psychological examination of what it means to have the same blood; to be kin. Eli and Charlie could not be more different from each other. Charlie is bossy, impulsive, a bit of psychopath, loves to drink and does not hold too much respect for his brother. Eli, on the other hand, is sensitive, loves his brother, cares for his horses, does not enjoy killing people uselessly and his dream is to settle down with a woman.

The story is told by Eli, in a gorgeous, wise voice that is also comic. One gets the sense that Eli strives to be a good man but can't quite escape the violent and disturbing nature that seems to run in his blood. This makes it all the more satisfying when the brothers' quest come to end and movingly, Eli returns home to his mother. It's not quite settling down with a woman per se that Eli longs for but it seems to be a sensible ending to this tragicomedy. 

Comparisons to Charles Portis (who wrote one of my favorite novels, True Grit) and Mark Twain are apt. This is dark, strange, funny, and unexpectedly moving frontier saga about the bonds of brotherhood, the dark nature of man, the power of greed, and the need for connection.

Alex Q

Not entirely convinced that Patrick deWitt isn't a pseudonym for the Coen brothers. A new favourite.

The Sisters Brothers

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