The Sisters Brothers

English language

Published July 14, 2011

ISBN:
978-0-06-204126-5
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4 stars (46 reviews)

The Sisters Brothers is a 2011 Western novel by Canadian-born author Patrick deWitt. The darkly comic story takes place in Oregon and California in 1851. The narrator, Eli Sisters, and his brother Charlie are assassins tasked with killing Hermann Kermit Warm, an ingenious prospector who has been accused of stealing from the Sisters' fearsome boss, the Commodore. Eli and Charlie experience a series of misadventures while tracking down Warm which resemble the narrative form of a picaresque novel, and the chapters are, according to one review, "slightly sketched-in, dangerously close to a film treatment."The film rights for the novel were sold to actor John C. Reilly's production company and adapted into a 2018 film of the same name, with Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix playing Eli and Charlie, respectively.

2 editions

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Hired killers, Charlie and Eli Sisters travel from Oregon City to San Francisco to murder Herman Warm. On the way, one of them starts to question their line of business. The first half of the book is a surreal, dream-like ramble through an Old West populated with bizarre and wonderful characters. The second half gets a bit more plot bound and moves from comedy to tragedy via a parade of grisly deaths. The whole thing is very readable, funny, sad and strangely beautiful. Definitely worth reading.

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

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 …

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was a really wonderful entry point into the western genre that had me feeling all sorts of feelings beginning to end. We follow two brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters, two hired hands working for "The Commodore", as they hunt down a target they have been paid to kill. But leading up to that, they get into all sorts of antics, explore love, self image, and the complicated relationship between two adult brothers who have probably spent too much time together.

I'd say the pacing of this story is typical for the genre. We know where the narrative needs go, but the bulk of the book is made up of the interesting things they get up to along the way. I did find the end of the book to be a tad drawn out, but because I liked the characters so much, I didn't mind it. All of the characters …

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I’m giving it three stars because I like the pacing and the writing is really good but the story is not new. It’s a typical antihero western and any character who isn’t a white guy is two dimensional at best, stereotypical, casually racist or misogynistic which is disappointing and another sign of the author not breaking out of the usual western genre tropes. Not surprised this has been made into a movie. Should be quite entertaining.

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is like a comfortable pair of slippers, a good old western that moves along at a steady pace and doesn't disappoint. I always wonder why certain books get nominated for the big awards, but with the sisters brothers I can see why it was included.

Eli and Charlie are simple characters, not super clever but wily enough to stay alive in the wild west. Because Eli is narrating the story, everything has been written in short simple sentences, there are no long winded speeches full of philosophy to bore you, Eli just says it how it is. Eli and Charlie are brilliant characters and on their journey they meet quite a collection of odd people. The book has scenes of violence and scenes that are really moving.

Out of all the main-stream books I've read this year, this one is the best, looking forward to seeing what else …

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

Um. Yeah. This book. Not really sure what to say. It's probably the closest I've ever come to reading an actual Western. One practical issue with listening to this is that the discs were oddly mixed. For instance, disc 1 was 1 track, 45 minutes long. The next disc was something like 2 tracks, both 45 minutes long. Then some other discs were 1 track, 70 minutes long. That's truly irritating, and it made no sense.

I'm not sure I want to say much about the story until after our book group gets together to discuss it. This was truly odd. I'm still processing...

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I loved this book. This is exactly the type of book I want to read... filled with great characters, kooky events, just sort of transporting you to another place and time where you are continually charmed, amused and never for a minute bored. Whoda thunk a cold blooded killer would be so sensitive?

Excellent, read it!

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Enjoyable...Like a half waking dream. The ones you write yourself in the early morning waiting for the alarm clock to go off?

You know that lack of continuity? The dream you just keep pushing along?

In that sense this novel is a blank slate. Read it, and lay your own half waking dream rambling over it. Good times.

Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I would say this is something like the Cohen Brothers' take on the classic western, but I guess they've already done that. The humor is similar - contemplative but frequently absurd - and it has the rambling nature of O, Brother, Where Art Thou without directly mirroring (as far as I could tell) any classic epic poems.

I do like this tweaking of the genre and deWitt has created a couple of interesting characters here. Eli Sisters, the narrator, is somebody that could stick with you for a while.

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