The Sisters Brothers
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Review
'Triumphantly dark ... The writing is superb ... deWitt has ensured another unforgettable pair their place in fictive lore' --Sunday Telegraph
'A blackly comic witty noir version of Don Quixote. DeWitt's story is hugely entertaining' --Financial Times
'Often blackly hilarious' --The Times
'An unsettling, compelling and deeply strange picaresque novel ... it has much to say about the business of being human' --Independent on Sunday
'A stunningly accomplished book. With this novel, deWitt proves that he is well on the way to greatness' --Dazed & Confused
'The Sisters Brothers confirms DeWitt as one of the most talented young writers around' --Sunday Times
'A powerfully realized work of narrative fiction ... the dialogue is sharp as a whip' --Times Literary Supplement
`A boldly eloquent adventure story full of sweat and casual violence about a man trying to live a better life' --Metro
'Bursting with vitality and driven along by a terrific pulpy energy' --The Herald
'DeWitt never misses a beat in what is a masterclass on the twists of the mind and heart'
--Scotsman
'A blackly comic witty noir version of Don Quixote. DeWitt's story is hugely entertaining' --Financial Times
'Often blackly hilarious' --The Times
'An unsettling, compelling and deeply strange picaresque novel ... it has much to say about the business of being human' --Independent on Sunday
'A stunningly accomplished book. With this novel, deWitt proves that he is well on the way to greatness' --Dazed & Confused
'The Sisters Brothers confirms DeWitt as one of the most talented young writers around' --Sunday Times
'A powerfully realized work of narrative fiction ... the dialogue is sharp as a whip' --Times Literary Supplement
`A boldly eloquent adventure story full of sweat and casual violence about a man trying to live a better life' --Metro
'Bursting with vitality and driven along by a terrific pulpy energy' --The Herald
'DeWitt never misses a beat in what is a masterclass on the twists of the mind and heart'
--Scotsman
Product Description
Oregon, 1851. Eli and Charlie Sisters, notorious professional killers, are on their way to California to kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm. On the way, the brothers have a series of unsettling and violent experiences in the Darwinian landscape of Gold Rush America. Charlie makes money and kills anyone who stands in his way; Eli doubts his vocation and falls in love. And they bicker a lot. Then they get to California, and discover that Warm is an inventor who has come up with a magical formula, which could make all of them very rich. What happens next is utterly gripping, strange and sad. Told in deWitt's darkly comic and arresting style, THE SISTERS BROTHERS is the kind of Western the Coen Brothers might write - stark, unsettling and with a keen eye for the perversity of human motivation. Like his debut novel ABLUTIONS, THE SISTERS BROTHERS is a novel about the things you tell yourself in order to be able to continue to live the life you find yourself in, and what happens when those stories no longer work. It is an inventive and strange and beautifully controlled piece of fiction, which shows an exciting expansion of Dewitt's range
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
100 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Read of 2011 so far!,
This review is from: The Sisters Brothers (Paperback)
I've been having a run on Western stories this year - from Elmore Leonard's early stuff to Joe R.Lansdale's modernist take on east Texas. I came across The Sisters Brothers completely by chance, but the arresting title and great cover held me up, so I took a punt on it.And what a punt it was - one of the most enjoyable books I've read for a long time...perhaps even ever. Now having finished the book, I find myself missing Charlie and Eli Sisters - gunmen for hire during the 1850s Gold Rush. We follow them to San Francisco, where they're looking to assassinate the wonderfully named `thief' Herman Kermit Warm. But, things don't always go to plan for the Sisters boys... The strength of this story lies in the rather deadpan delivery (narrated by Eli, the more thoughtful and conflicted of the two) between the brothers. The dialogues between the two - always bickering - is wonderfully constructed and loaded with meaning. In fact, I'd say the dialogues are as good as Leonard's and that's saying something. This is not a gunslinging western in the Louis Lamour mould - this is a really darkly comic, human story. Other reviewers have stated that it would be perfect for a Coen brother's movie, and I absolutely agree. From Charlie's constant `brandy-sickness' to Eli's fondness for a busted-up horse that hates him, it's deliciously dark and vicious in its humour. In short, I loved it. It is a relatively short read, but it's perfectly paced and weighted. The black humour isn't over-cooked and it never descends into farce, as such books are sometimes wont to do. I can't recommend this highly enough - I'd love to see it done justice on the big screen and it's one of the best couple of quid I've ever spent.
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fabulous Read,
By
This review is from: The Sisters Brothers (Paperback)
I first heard about The Sisters Brothers when it recently made it onto the Man Booker Longlist - perversely enough, it was all the mutterings about it not being a suitable nominee plus some irresistible cover lust which made me even keener to read it.Firstly, a word of warning...this is not a pretty novel, it's set back in the 1850s during the California Gold Rush when men were men and horses didn't have whisperers. There are scenes of cruelty, to both animals and humans, so best to move on if this would detract from your reading enjoyment. It is 1851, the Californian Gold Rush is in full swing and our narrator, Eli Sisters, hired killer, is accompanying his older brother Charlie on an eventful journey from Oregon to Sacramento, to track down and kill one Hermann Kermit Warm. Their quest has an epic feel to it as they encounter a range of wild and wonderful characters en route, think Don Quixote meets the Coen and Blues Brothers with a dash of Cormac Mc Carthy thrown in for good measure. Yet, it doesn't seem derivative and ends up being a really fresh, original piece of work - defying categorisation. Eli is a psychopath with a (slight) conscience and therein lies the conflict between the brothers. Even as he relates their latest killing in his usual deadpan tone, you know his heart is no longer in it and he longs for a different life, even suggesting opening a store - Charlie is not particularly open to the idea... Their story is compelling but unsettling, dark but humorous and so cinematic, you can just visualise their adventures rolling onto the big screen. A very special novel which will entertain a wide range of readers including those biblio-butterflies who like a change of genre every now and then.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Saddle up for a great read,
By
This review is from: The Sisters Brothers (Paperback)
Invariably, the Booker Prize longlist contains one book that is more on the side of light reading than the more worthy and overtly literary fare that it is usually associated with. `The Sisters Brothers' is the 2011 choice. Set in the US in 1851, it details the adventures of two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters, who are hired hands for a mysterious boss known only as the Commodore. Narrated by Eli, who has slightly more of a conscience than his older brother, the story starts with the Commodore ordering a hit, for reasons unknown, on a certain Hermann Kermit Warm.The boys set out from their Oregon City base to Warm's known location in gold rush fever, San Francisco, but these two attract disaster, despite their feared reputation as gunslingers in the Wild West. There's plenty of comedy both of the more farcical, slapstick variety but particularly in the constant bickering between the more thoughtful Eli and his focussed older brother. It's hard not to like Eli, even though for all his seeming moral questioning of their way of life and attempts to treat people a little better, in the end he usually ends up reverting to his more psychopathic character traits. The style of the book is that of short chapters and so, particularly as the boys head West, the pace of the story gallops along rather faster than Eli's rather tired horse, Tub. It's a book that will have you wanting to read `just one more short chapter' before you put it down for the night. They encounter a breathtaking array of colourful characters on the way, and everyone is on the make in one way, shape or form. Talking of the trusty Tub, there is one note of caution for animal lovers, and particularly the more equine-loving readers, it is only fair to note that there are some potentially upsetting horse-related events later in the book which may cause the more sensitive reader some distress. So just be warned. There's also a fair bit of human suffering too, but these were hard times and if you are going to read a book set in that time, you can expect a certain amount of that. However, these were tough times, and this is nowhere more apparent than when the boys eventually end up in San Francisco. The shock of this urban sprawl to two boys more used to the plains is nicely drawn out. It is at this point that the story starts to develop a darker element which seems to jar with the earlier jaunty adventures. It does, though allow the reader to get to see more of the love and devotion of Eli towards his brother. Perhaps the story rather peters out somewhat towards the end, like a horse at the end of a long ride, but it's a hugely enjoyable read. There's dark humour and genuine sadness in places as well in the lives of these two unlikely heroes. It's hard not to like a book about two brothers with the name of Sisters. Thankfully, the book more than lives up to its excellent title.
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