210 pages
English language
Published Nov. 5, 2011 by Granta Books.
Hier geht es anders zu als sonst im Western, mehr kann ich spoilerfrei nicht sagen. Frauenfiguren natürlich weiterhin ein Problem, aber immerhin müssen sie hier nicht als billiges Werkzeug die Handlung vorantreiben, sondern schauen nur gelegentlich mal rein. Es passieren unerwartete Dinge!
Too many people review westerns as if the word "revisionist" was a dirty word, or as if it were a scavenger hunt for anachronisms. I think a good story trumps both of these concerns, and that's what DeWitt has written here.
Charlie and Eli Sisters are feared assassins in Oregon Territory in 1851. Their boss sends them on a mission to Gold Rush California to kill a prospector, no questions asked. As they make their way through the Oregon desert and over the Shasta pass, Eli's conscience begins to awaken and he starts to question the arc of his life. The story is told in Eli's surprisingly educated (for an assassin) voice, as he begins to picture a better life while helping his alcoholic brother acquire bottles of morphine to treat his hangovers.
The readability of this one is off the charts. I finished it in less than a day, …
Too many people review westerns as if the word "revisionist" was a dirty word, or as if it were a scavenger hunt for anachronisms. I think a good story trumps both of these concerns, and that's what DeWitt has written here.
Charlie and Eli Sisters are feared assassins in Oregon Territory in 1851. Their boss sends them on a mission to Gold Rush California to kill a prospector, no questions asked. As they make their way through the Oregon desert and over the Shasta pass, Eli's conscience begins to awaken and he starts to question the arc of his life. The story is told in Eli's surprisingly educated (for an assassin) voice, as he begins to picture a better life while helping his alcoholic brother acquire bottles of morphine to treat his hangovers.
The readability of this one is off the charts. I finished it in less than a day, which for a book of its size is astonishing. I don't think any book since Douglas Adams has pulled me along so quickly.
I found one anachronism in The Sisters Brothers, but it didn't bother me. Eli mentions a tuxedo, when as far as I can tell no such thing existed in 1851.
I really liked this one. Western more in the style of Deadwood than Eastwood. More eccentric than romantic. Which obviously are good things.
