Title : The Sisters Brothers
Author : Patrick DeWitt
Genre : Western
Publisher : HarperCollins
Pages : 325
Rating 4/5
I generally do not read westerns; this is my first. And having said that that, I will say that this is not a traditional western, because it seems quite “literary”. A story set during the Gold Rush of the 1850s, this book is violent, dark, poetic and funny all at the same time. And that’s quite surprising because it is about a pair of for-hire killers.
Charlie and Eli Sisters are brothers who work for the Commodore. The Commodore gives them a task or a target and they make short shrift of it. Having been so long in this business, the brothers have built up a reputation for being ruthless. The Commodore has now asked them to kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm, and to this end, the brothers travel by horseback (this is the 1800s remember) to California where Warm is situated. Henry Morris, the Commodore’s scout, has gone on ahead and is keeping an eye on Warm until the Sisters brothers get there.
Along the way the brothers encounter all sorts of colorful characters – a (sort of) witch, a dentist (when Eli has tooth problems), gold prospectors and crime bosses. Most of these characters are dangerous and wish them ill :
He cut a piteous figure with his little purse of money, pinching the strings the way one holds a dead mouse by its tail. We followed him outside and watched him tightening and refitting his clothing and saddlebags. He seemed to want to give a speech, but the words either did not come naturally or else he considered us unfit to receive them, and he remained silent. He mounted his horse, leaving with a curt nod and look in his eye that said: I do not like you people.
By the by we get better acquainted with the brothers, and they’re a peculiar twosome. We gather that Eli, the younger of the two is a bit of a softie, and a romantic at heart. Charlie is harder, often “brandy-sick”, and in his cold, unflinching attitude more the “traditional” assassin than Eli. The book is told in the first person, from Eli’s point of view, and in his voice there is humor and philosophy; if it came to choosing the thinker of the two, Eli would win hands down :
…And as we left the musty basement, heading up the stairs and into the light, I felt two things at once: A gladness at this turn of fortune, but also an emptiness that I didn’t feel more glad; or rather a fear that my gladness was forced or false. I thought, Perhaps a man is never meant to be truly happy. Perhaps there is no such thing in our world, after all.
Partick DeWitt develops this book by presenting characters and events in meticulous detail. His language is simple, but the words are structured in an archaic, round-a-bout fashion. The dialect the brothers speak is unusual – it is formal and wordy and grammatical, and to me, reflected the time of the 1850s. This story thus felt authentic – from the language to the characters to their day-to-day jaunts, peculiar as they were. It moved fast, the characters kept coming as the brothers moved from town to town. Yes, they committed many murders, but, and this will sound incongruous, they (especially Eli) really weren’t a bad sort. I’ve got to applaud DeWitt’s skill – to build two characters, both ruthless killers, and have the reader be interested in their well-being.
The humor in the book is quite natural, and embedded in the thoughts and conversations of the two brothers. Here are the two discussing their “crazy” father, and craziness in general. Keep in mind that these are two men who think little of separating a man from his body :
How is it that people go crazy?
>> It’s just a thing that sometimes happens.
Can you go truly crazy and then come back?
>> Not truly crazy. No, I don’t think so.
I’ve heard a father hands it down to the next.
>> I have never thought of it. Why, do you ever feel crazy?
Sometimes I feel a helplessness.
>> I don’t think that is the same thing.
Let’s hope.
This book has many violent encounters, but it not of the bloody/gore variety. It is an entertaining read – totally engrossing, and one which caused me to often collapse in laughter. Highly recommended.
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