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The Sisters Brothers
 
 

The Sisters Brothers [Kindle Edition]

Patrick deWitt
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)

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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

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

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 393 KB
  • Print Length: 338 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0887842895
  • Publisher: Granta Books (5 May 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B005DI9E8S
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #279 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
126 of 131 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
A Fabulous Read 7 Aug 2011
By Lovely Treez TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format: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.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Steed
Format:Kindle Edition
I was sold on this book being a dark comedy and although it is a wonderfully entertaining read (no doubt about that), the comedy aspect did not have me laughing out loud like the fabulous dark comedies of Tom Sharpe's Wilt or Tony Royden's The Dealer. So if it's belly laughs you are after, maybe best you look elsewhere.

The Sisters Brothers is written in such a way that every chapter is a tale within itself and so I found the book was easily put-downable (suitable to my lifestyle), but each chapter was enjoyable and was all relevant to the overall story. I really liked the that it was set in the in the background of the wild west (something new to the books I have been reading). Charlie and Eli Sisters are likeable rogues and I enjoyed narrative between them. I agree with other reviewers that The Sisters Brothers does have a Coen Brothers film feel to it.

If you like the occasional western with a deadpan since of humour, then this book is well worth considering.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Loved it!
Nothing to add. Just wanted to give it 5 stars because it merits it (and I don't think many books do). If anyone can recommend similar great reads, I'd love to hear about them.
Published 1 day ago by Kindler
Decent story, lifted by an interesting milieu and fun characters.
An amusing and well-written novel, The Sister Brothers tells the story of two murderous mercenaries during the Californian gold rush. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Rupan M
FAB read
A book club choice and maybe one that I would never have chosen but so glad I read it what a great book. Read more
Published 9 days ago by H. Ramshaw
An excellent, readable book
This is a wonderful book, even straight from the title (Eli and Charlie have the surname "Sisters" and are brothers). Eli is our narrator and he has an unusual, quirky voice. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Tinhead
Loved it ...yee haaa
The moral ambiguity in the novel made me uneasy, in that you may find yourself wanting the brothers to escape justice, despite the terrible crimes they have committed for money,... Read more
Published 14 days ago by KAT.A
Cracking!!!!
What a brilliantly original book! Coen brothers through and through, I loved it! The characters, and especially the stories of the horses, poor horses :-((
Published 15 days ago by Ms. M. L. Kellett
Thank you, The Wife. And BBC2 "The Review Show"
Thanks to my Wife for watching The Review Show and advising me to go for this very affordable Kindle version of The Sisters Brothers. Read more
Published 16 days ago by S. Corbett
Pleasantly surprised that I liked it
A western is probably one of the last type of books I would ever read, but I found myself going back to look at this book several times and based on the great reviews I decided to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Michael63
More than a Western
In a book where an eyeball being scooped out of its socket is just one of many gruesome happenings, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt will more likely stay with you due to the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Covered by Clark
Silver Surfer
This is the first time I have read a western novel and only did so reading the reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can see why many thought it would make a brilliant film. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. Pauline Truscott
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To me, luck was something you either earned or invented through strength of character. You had to come by it honestly; you could not trick or bluff your way into it. &quote;
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spent the rest of the night rewriting lost arguments from my past, altering history so that I emerged victorious. &quote;
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When a man is properly drunk it is as though he is in a room by himselfthere is a physical, impenetrable separation between him and his fellows. &quote;
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