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The Sisters Brothers

Patrick deWitt

3.84 · Rating details · 81,248 ratings · 8,831 reviews

Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn't share his brother's appetite for whiskey and killing, he's never known anything else. But their prey isn't an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm's gold-mining cla ...more

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Hardcover, 328 pages

Published April 26th 2011 by Ecco

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Best Cover Art 2011 (Non-YA)

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2012 Tournament of Books

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Feb 23, 2020 Roxane rated it it was amazing

What a rollicking adventure. A great Western with amazing dialogue and narration. The ending falters but who cares? I was absolutely absorbed in this novel. Read it in a few hours. Loved it.

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Mar 04, 2018 PirateSteve rated it liked it

Saddle up and ride along with Charlie and Eli Sisters down a trail of dark comedy.
The horses are accustomed to gun fire but all your laughing out loud may spook'um a bit.

From what I've heard the production of this movie has finished and it should hit the theaters some time this year, 2018. Staring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Rutger Hauer and Jake Gyllenhaal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaCGq... ...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Jason rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012, reviewed, for-kindle

This book has the coolest cover ever. What’s great, though, is that the coolness doesn’t end there.

Charlie and Eli sisters are Gold Rush–era contract killers. They’re hired for what Eli hopes to be their last job, as he’d much prefer to hang his holster and settle down with a nice girl—or failing that, the first trollop that crosses his path. It makes no difference to him, really (dude is such a sweetheart). Charlie, on the other hand, is the less sensitive one. It’d be tougher to convince him t ...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Anmiryam rated it liked it

I wanted to love this book. It jumped off of my pile of shortlisted Booker Prize nominees and demanded to be read first. Everything about it shouted "Yes, it's literature, but IT's FUN." The premise is that of a classic picaresque novel -- Charlie and Eli Sisters, two professional assassins in 1850 are sent by their employer to hunt down and kill Herman Kermit Warm who may, or may not, have stolen something. In the course of their journey from Oregon to California, at the height of the gold rush ...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 21th-century, canadian, literature, historical, novels

The Sisters Brothersو Patrick deWitt
The Sisters Brothers (2011) is a historical novel by Canadian-born author Patrick deWitt. In 1851, Eli and Charlie Sisters, a pair of assassins of minor repute, are hired by a wealthy businessman known only as "the Commodore" to travel from Oregon City to California in order to murder a gold rush prospector named Hermann Kermit Warm, who is described to them as a "thief". Hard-nosed, plainspoken Charlie, more impulsive and aggressive than his younger brother E The Sisters Brothersو Patrick deWitt
The Sisters Brothers (2011) is a historical novel by Canadian-born author Patrick deWitt. In 1851, Eli and Charlie Sisters, a pair of assassins of minor repute, are hired by a wealthy businessman known only as "the Commodore" to travel from Oregon City to California in order to murder a gold rush prospector named Hermann Kermit Warm, who is described to them as a "thief". Hard-nosed, plainspoken Charlie, more impulsive and aggressive than his younger brother Eli, has a fondness for binge drinking and appears remorseless about the crimes he commits. Eli, contemplative and often sentimental, admires and looks up to Charlie but finds himself at odds with Charlie's apparent nonchalance about the directions their lives are taking. The brothers bicker constantly about money, the job, their horses, and each other's personalities. As they ride south, Eli and Charlie encounter many strange characters and endure a series of mishaps and adventures. Eli is first bitten by a spider and then must have a tooth removed, for which he is given morphine to numb the pain; his horse is attacked by a grizzly bear but survives despite a serious eye injury. Charlie frequently gets drunk and is too sick to ride the following morning, slowing their progress to California, which frustrates Eli. The pair hears rumors on the trail about a female bear with a uniquely red-colored pelt, for which a hefty reward has been offered by a man named Mayfield. Entering California, the brothers unexpectedly spot the bear and Charlie kills it, and they decide to bring it to Mayfield, who runs an inn in a town named after him. After being paid, Charlie insists they stay a night in Mayfield's hotel; Eli sleeps with the hotel's bookkeeper. Waking the next morning, they discover the red bear pelt is missing and suspect Mayfield will accuse them of stealing it. The brothers sneak to the stable to retrieve their horses and flee town, but a group of surly fur trappers who work for Mayfield stop them and demand they return the cash they were paid for the pelt. Charlie and Eli simultaneously dispatch these enemies with well-placed gunshots, and Charlie feels compelled to kill an innocent stable boy to eliminate eyewitnesses. Returning to the hotel, they find that Mayfield has fled. The brothers steal his enormous cache of gold bullion and hide it behind the hotel's stove for safekeeping while they leave to finish their business with Hermann Warm. Eli and Charlie reach San Francisco and seek out an acquaintance named Morris, whom the Commodore had instructed to keep track of Warm until the Sisters brothers arrived. Morris has disappeared, though, and the brothers must coerce the proprietor of his hotel to hand over Morris' journal. The journal reveals that Morris was approached by Warm, who has concocted an ingenious chemical formula that causes gold to glow brilliantly, making it highly useful for indicating the location of placer deposits in riverbeds. Warm demonstrated his formula to Morris and offered him a partnership in it, and the two have since teamed up to travel to the "River of Light", where they hope to test large quantities of it. Eli and Charlie realize then that the Commodore has duped them: Warm is not a thief but had simply refused to share his formula with the Commodore. Though Charlie wants to see the job done as intended, Eli hesitates to murder an innocent man, but they eventually agree to ride out to Warm's claim and finish the job, which Eli vows will be his last for the Commodore. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و دوم فوریه سال 2013 میلادی
عنوان: برادران سیسترز؛ نویسنده: پاتریک دویت؛ مترجم: پیمان خاکسار؛ مشخصات نشر: تهران، به نگار، چاپ دوم 1391، در 279 ص، اندازه 5/14 در 5/21 س.م.، شابک: 9789646332850؛ چاپ سوم: تهران، زاوش، 1392؛ شابک: 9786007283196؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، نشر چشمه، 1393؛ شابک: 9786002294937؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکای شمالی، داستانهای نویسندگان کانادایی، سده 21 م
پیشتر، از این کتاب بنوشته بودم، دیگری را خوش نیامده، و حذف شده، شاید هم به مقصد نرسیده باشد، در کامپیوترم بود، اما دوباره آن نوشته را نخواستم و اینجا نکاشتم، ماجرای کتاب، دربارهٔ زندگی دو برادر به نام‌های «ایلای (راوی ماجرا)» و «چارلی» با نام خانوادگی «سیسترز» است، که به‌ عنوان دو آدم‌کش، نامدار هستند. داستان در سال 1851 میلادی، در غرب وحشی آن روزگار، در «اورگن» و «کالیفرنیا»، همزمان با دوران تب طلا، رخ می‌دهد. «ایلای» و «چارلی»، به‌ دنبال کشتن «هرمن کرمیت وارم»، راهی «کالیفرنیا» می‌شوند، که در این مسیر رویدادهای بسیاری رخ می‌دهد، و پس از رسیدن به مقصد، ماجرا به شکلی دیگرگونه با نقشهٔ نخستین آنها، ادامه پیدا می‌کند. «پروتاگونیست» این داستان، هر دو برادری هستند که در کنار یک‌دیگر ماجراها را پشت‌ سر می‌گذارند. «برادران سیستر»ز در برابر «آنتاگونیستی» که هر لحظه صورت دیگر می‌کند، و از شخصی به شخص دیگر، بدل می‌شود، می‌ایستند. «برادران سیسترز» وسترنی سیاه، خیال برانگیز، و در عین حال کمیک است. «پاتریک دوویت» هنگام نگارش این کتاب، تحت تاثیر مجموعه داستانی کهن، مربوط به سده ی نوزدهم میلادی بوده است. کتابی که آنرا به‌ طور تصادفی در یک حراجی پیدا می‌کند.؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Sep 27, 2016 Adina rated it really liked it

Shelves: booker, canada, historical-fiction

Update on the movie!
Don’t watch the movie, read the book. Unfortunately, it did not have any of the atmosphere of deWitt’s novel. The appeal of the novel is in the voice of the narrator which could not be captured on the screen.

Review:
Not your classic western novel. Great name, wonderful cover, lovely content, amazing storytelling. Shortlisted for the Booker prize 2011.

I was watching a western comedy with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson when I thought that I should read a proper western novel at s ...more

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Jan 18, 2018 Peter rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, crime, literary-fiction, thriller

Satirical
The Sisters Brothers is an exceptional novel that is absorbing and delightfully original. While it’s a traditional Western with cowboys and gold-mining, it feels like a retelling with a modern atmosphere. The writing style is lyrical and the dialogue flows so effortlessly with its satirical interweaving of humour, brotherhood, loneliness, intrigue and murder.

The two Sisters brothers, Charlie and Eli are hitmen for the Commodore, who has contracted them to assassinate Hermann Kermit War ...more

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Mar 14, 2018 Debra rated it really liked it

This was a strange, quirky and oddly captivating book that I simply could not put down.

Eli and Charlie Sisters are not only brothers, but they are assassins put to the task of killing Hermann Kermit Warm. It seems that Mr. Warm, who by all accounts is a likable fellow, has stolen something from the Commodore, the fearsome and loathsome employer of the Sisters brothers.

The year is 1851 ant the two brothers make their way through Oregon and California on the hunt for Mr. Warm. Along the way they w ...more

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Aug 06, 2014 Dan Schwent rated it liked it

Shelves: lendable, 2014

When the Commodore orders the Sisters brothers to kill Herman Kermit Warm and take his mysterious formula, they have no idea the series of misadventures they will endure in the undertaking.

I've been interested in this book forever and nabbed it on the cheap when it popped up on one of my ebook newsletter things. It may have been that my expectations were too high but this didn't live up to the hype for me.

I liked the characters of Eli and Charlie Sister, natural born killers in the old west. T ...more

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Dec 17, 2013 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing

My original review may still be missing...
but this but this book is a $1.99 Kindle special today.
It's TERRIFIC....
If this historical FUN fiction... about two brothers has been on readers TBR list -- this is a great price.

I remember saying in my "lost review". It was the best 'dude' book I had read. And ... yep... still holds. Great 'dude' book that any female will adore.

I was 'liking' a new friends review on this book --and notice my review was missing in action (Iris??)....a Standing joke fo ...more

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Aug 14, 2019 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Western fans

Shelves: library, western, audio, 2019

This was an entertaining little western story. A collection of anecdotes chronicling the notorious Sisters Brothers as they journey West to complete a job in Gold Rush era California. It has all the elements you might expect in a western – gunfights, crazy prospectors, horses, grimy locales, outlaws, snake oil salesmen, women of the night, etc. – delivered in a sometimes dark, sometime humorous, sometimes thought-provoking fashion.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. The dialogue was quic ...more

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Jun 22, 2018 Paul Bryant rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels, modern-western

The Sisters Brothers is the son of True Grit, a funny, heartbreaking 5 star novel from 1968. Same genre – unconsciously-hilarious wild west memoir written in curious stiff slightly formal and stilted but purely beautiful language beginning at the beginning and driving the surprising narrative always forward without stopping to apologise to all the dead people and animals encountered en route.

At this point you may say that this thing has also been done recently and won a big bad Booker for itsel The Sisters Brothers is the son of True Grit, a funny, heartbreaking 5 star novel from 1968. Same genre – unconsciously-hilarious wild west memoir written in curious stiff slightly formal and stilted but purely beautiful language beginning at the beginning and driving the surprising narrative always forward without stopping to apologise to all the dead people and animals encountered en route.

At this point you may say that this thing has also been done recently and won a big bad Booker for itself - True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey. Yes, it is very similar, but Peter Carey over egged his pudding to a most nauseating level. You could not believe a word of it. It was catwalk fashion, it wasn’t what people really wear. Patrick DeWitt does not make this mistake.

Pedants and proofreaders may go a little crosseyed looking at the title, their eyes searching searching for the missing apostrophe – surely it should be The Sisters’ Brothers? But could they have made such a terrific error? No error, this is the story of two guns for hire whose surname is Sisters, and is narrated by the frankly fat one (he goes on a diet around page 50) Eli Sisters. They are already famous for shooting people and this is the story of how they came to change their ungodly lifestyle.

All the way through Eli struggles with the horrible stuff these brothers find themselves doing. He doesn’t want to shoot all these people but he finds he seems to have to. It’s upsetting. He gets so mad at these people making him have to shoot them that he wants to shoot them. What a conundrum!

Horses, especially a wonky donkey of a horse called Tub, feature very prominently. Strong believers in animal rights and all vegans should be advised that there are more than a few scenes in here that are guaranteed to make all individual hairs on their body, should they have any, stand straight up perpendicularly. Poor old Tub. And what happens to the beavers is most distressing too.

What happened to the fifth star? Well, Eli Sisters is a compelling narrator all right but him and his brother are a tough sell. They’re really not nice people! And the ending, the one after the actual ending, was strange, like one of those unresolved chords they sometimes end a song with.

So, 4.5 stars. Don’t feel bad Mr DeWitt, I don’t never hardly give out 4.5 stars. ...more

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Aug 03, 2017 Joe Valdez rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned, western

I was sitting in my car outside the Mission Viejo Public Library waiting for my friend Townes to come out with some books. I had told him I was in a western frame of mind and to pick me up something published rather recently. Like what, Townes had said. Like, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, published in 2011, I had said. I did not go inside with Townes because there was a cute South African librarian working there and I wasn't happy about my looks at the moment.

Townes came back with four I was sitting in my car outside the Mission Viejo Public Library waiting for my friend Townes to come out with some books. I had told him I was in a western frame of mind and to pick me up something published rather recently. Like what, Townes had said. Like, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, published in 2011, I had said. I did not go inside with Townes because there was a cute South African librarian working there and I wasn't happy about my looks at the moment.

Townes came back with four books. These books were The Sisters Brothers for me and some Russian novelists for him. Townes was critical of my choice being such a slim volume, associating page length with shallowness. But having finished two Larry McMurtry epics, I was ready for a terse, exciting western. Not exciting as in stagecoach chases and such, but exciting in terms of storytelling or perhaps writing. I was recently surprised by how much I enjoyed Cormac McCarthy.

Now if you've read two paragraphs of this book report, are wondering where any of this is going, but still reading anyway, then The Sisters Brothers might be the book for you. It is a western about two brothers who are hired killers. There is Charlie, who's been put in charge on a job to kill a miner run afoul with their powerful employer, the Commodore. Then there's Eli, who narrates the story. Like me, Eli is a romantic who doesn't know how to get to the point.

Eli tells about encountering people on the trail. Charlie drinks a lot and is apt to shoot anyone who gives him what he thinks is a good reason. He also condescends to his brother. A lot. I would say Charlie is psychotic, but that Eli is idiotic. For one, he tells and tells and tells a story that goes nowhere. Kind of like this book report. Second, Eli rides with his brother despite being treated so poorly. Third, he stands around while Charlie boozes and mistreats people. Fourth ...

This is how Patrick deWitt writes the first 97 pages. Oh, the fans might say, you shouldn't have quit because the book gets really good later on. This sounds like something Eli might say. In other words, idiotic. I have no time to give a new author 100 pages plus to grab me, not when I have Terms of Endearment on the shelf. The Sisters Brothers is the type of book that Larry McMurtry's characters would use as a doorstop. Or maybe target practice. Or maybe the pigs would eat it. ...more

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May 03, 2011 Annet rated it really liked it

Shelves: wilderness-books-can-usa, crime, weird, family-ties

Great read, I love it...

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Jul 23, 2013 Arah-Lynda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-said

I am so not the target audience for this story.
I mean it’s a western.
Right?
Still the cover art kept pulling at me

It’s the 1850’s, gold rush, California
And the Sisters Brothers are two killers for hire,
on the trail; on a job.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it, from the get go.

Charlie Sisters has the lead here, but it is Eli that will take you there.
And tell you all about his horse, poor Tub, and the women he meets along the way.
How he feels; what he wants; how he sees things, love and some alarmingly, g ...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Florence (Lefty) MacIntosh rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Hooked by the title and cover

Recommended to Florence (Lefty) by: michael edwards

Shelves: lit-canada, noir, wit, reviewed, favs-recent, 2013, duster, historical-fiction, indulge, awards

What the....really not sure what I just read. Yippie-yi-yo-kaye?
Like the *cover it's edgy, aptly tagged as 'cowboy noir'. Avoid it if you’re looking for a traditional western, no white hats, no riding happily off into the sunset. Same thing if you look for nice characters to bond with. A couple of hired guns Eli and brother Charlie Sisters aren’t particularly likeable unless you have a soft spot for psychopaths, Eli’s border-line and brother Charlie full-blown. Hey, they had a tough childhood.

R What the....really not sure what I just read. Yippie-yi-yo-kaye?
Like the *cover it's edgy, aptly tagged as 'cowboy noir'. Avoid it if you’re looking for a traditional western, no white hats, no riding happily off into the sunset. Same thing if you look for nice characters to bond with. A couple of hired guns Eli and brother Charlie Sisters aren’t particularly likeable unless you have a soft spot for psychopaths, Eli’s border-line and brother Charlie full-blown. Hey, they had a tough childhood.

Read this if like me you’re not particularly into westerns, you just like books that are different, original. It IS bent, but it's also fun, a rip-roaring yarn with prospectors, gun fights, whores and drunks. There’s even a witch, and an inventor by the name of Hermann Warm. Such an amiable fellow almost a shame to kill him.
It's Eli’s story, narrated in this cool, dispassionate almost formal tone, I loved the dialog. A remorseful killer with a philosophical streak "here is another miserable mental image I will have to catalog and make room for" and the heart of a poet. He consorts with whores "I knew in my heart it was false, and afterward always felt remote and caved in." He'd rather be with a lady but really needs to work on his come-on lines. "Dear Miss, I wish you would wash your face and be nice to me. I have money”
I did like him, figure anyone who gets all excited about a toothbrush can’t be all bad.

Warning: There’s this whole bit with poor Tub the horse. Didn’t ruin the story but uuggh... I guess I understood where he was going with it. (view spoiler) So squint your eyes, skim, do what you have to and remember it's fiction☺

*Cover art by Dan Stiles: Fun to see such excitement over a cover, a win-win for the author and the artist. Stiles is from Portland, Oregon, seems he's been specializing in promo for rock bands - found this link to his work if you want to check him out "http://www.danstiles.com/" ...more

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Jan 05, 2016 ֆɦɛʟʟʏ ȶɦɛ քǟȶʀօռ ֆǟɨռȶ օʄ ƈʊʀʍʊɖɢɛօռʟʏ ƈʀօռɛֆ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2016, 4-stars, funneh

$1.99 on Amazon Kindle: December 21, 2017

I've floated this before when it was on sale, but it's really good and deserves a shout-out! :)

1 DEC 2016: $1.99 on Kindle. This was really good, I thought! I recommend!

Review also found at : https://theparanormalpaladin.wordpres...

The setting for this book is during the time of the Gold Rush in California. Most people are dirt poor and lots of them headed west to try and make their fortune, but ended up starving to death, getting murdered, or died by so ...more

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Jan 29, 2019 Michelle rated it really liked it

Recommended to Michelle by: Beverly

I'm not generally a fan of Westerns but I do like different and quirky, and "The Sisters Brothers" is both. The story basically follows the Sisters brothers to California where they hope to kill a couple of guys and steal a formula for their boss, the Commodore. One brother, Charlie, seems to have no conscience while the other brother, Eli, has quite a bit of reservation about what they do. These men have very hard edges and do as they please. Although I know what they’re doing is wrong --I just I'm not generally a fan of Westerns but I do like different and quirky, and "The Sisters Brothers" is both. The story basically follows the Sisters brothers to California where they hope to kill a couple of guys and steal a formula for their boss, the Commodore. One brother, Charlie, seems to have no conscience while the other brother, Eli, has quite a bit of reservation about what they do. These men have very hard edges and do as they please. Although I know what they’re doing is wrong --I just can’t help rooting for them.

At first, nothing the brothers do or encounter is particularly unusual for the time and place: starving children in the woods, men driven insane by solitude, noisy whorehouses and dirty saloons. But Patrick deWitt keeps these brief chapters cantering along from one tense fix to another as the brothers slaughter, drink and sleep their way south.

It’s all rendered irresistible by Eli Sisters, who narrates with a mixture of melancholy and thoughtfulness. There is a lighthearted exasperation in his words. Despite being not entirely quick, Eli's voice makes reading the book a treat. It's smooth and seamless, shot through with dark humor, pared and antique without being overdone.

“The Sisters Brothers" frontier is more poetic than realistic, but as easy to slip into as the old HBO series "Deadwood." But where an onscreen western shows the setting, this book has few descriptions of landscape or buildings they visit. What gets described, instead, are bodily woes: Charlie's worse hangovers include lots of vomiting; Eli has injuries that bleed and swell(view spoiler). There is something very human in all this blood and guts, in their grim and gross and comic physicality. This humanness, with the humanness that Eli is growing into, give the novel warmth and depth.

As the novel runs along, the story shifts in unpredictable directions, slowing the pace for a surreal finale in the woods that’s touched with alchemy. The black humor drops away entirely for what Eli calls in his earthy poetic voice, “a tangle of grotesqueness and failure.” After capturing the fireside camps and saloons in perfectly drawn vignettes, deWitt strips these two lethal brothers of more than they ever thought a man could lose --and then surprise us again with a twilight scene that’s just miraculously lovely. This is not a book full of building climax and resolution, but rather a steady path with a justified resolution.

I will say that “The Sisters Brothers” was unexpected. It’s a western on the surface, but beyond that -- it is more of an exploration of human connections and man's purpose. The complicated story of two brothers who are so different from each other, but still brothers in the end, is a story we can all relate to on some level. ...more

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May 29, 2012 Richard Derus rated it liked it · review of another edition

This ho-hum review of a ho-hum book got tricked up a bit and stuffed in a corner at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

Oh, and if for some odd reason you have an opinion about my moving reviews off Goodreads, do feel free to keep it to yourself.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Beverly rated it really liked it

Oh, dear! This was a grand take on brotherly love, how things fall apart and redemption. It seems we can just keep going along and letting chance lead us or stop and go our own way. Hired guns, the brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters, have gotten stuck in a groove working for a right basterd, called the Commodore. They usually don't know why he wants them to kill someone, they just mindlessly do it. All that changes this go around when the younger brother Eli questions why.
Darkly funny and heart wr ...more

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Apr 17, 2013 ΕιζΝιηΕ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-artbooks-and-comics, favorites-lit-historical-fiction, ficgenre-western-clssc-and-rlstc, ficgenre-historical-fiction

A-yep. The Western is dead.
description

Yeah, I'm happy too, because I love stories about the bloody history of the not-so-new world. As much as I love the great Western classics, their time is up. The Western has carried a lot of negative shit in its saddle-bags, shit that needs to be buried with it. The Western began as Historical Fiction, obviously, but it's popularity soon made it a genre all it's own, one especially overloaded with clichés and predictability. It started selling myths as political propa ...more

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May 22, 2018 da AL rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-literary, audio-books

This rating is purely for the audiobook publisher, which I would've given negative stars if I could have. I didn't finish this book -- how can an audiobook publisher sell in good conscience an audiobook with only one track to a cd?!

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Dec 16, 2018 Agnieszka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018, reviewed, ebook, wild-wild-west

I enjoyed it very much. The title, the cover, the whole ridiculous journey of the two misbegotten killers and colourful human menagerie they met on their way. The Sisters brothers are ruthless killers but, God help me, I don’t know how they even managed to not get killed in that world. The novel is absurd and grotesque, brutal and ugly. But it’s also funny, you can’t help it, just admit that. And all these apparently mismatched ingredients feel suprisingly refreshing. I watched plenty westerns a
I enjoyed it very much. The title, the cover, the whole ridiculous journey of the two misbegotten killers and colourful human menagerie they met on their way. The Sisters brothers are ruthless killers but, God help me, I don’t know how they even managed to not get killed in that world. The novel is absurd and grotesque, brutal and ugly. But it’s also funny, you can’t help it, just admit that. And all these apparently mismatched ingredients feel suprisingly refreshing. I watched plenty westerns as a kid, I still have my favourite films and actors, and singular scenes that particularly got to me are still vivid as if I watched them yesterday. Though this genre is not my favourite, though some claim western is already dead but I think Patrick deWitt very deftly managed to create from formulaic schemes kind of more universal tale. I'm not implying that one to be morality play or something but between the absurdities some serious stuff can be found too.

Eli, the younger brother is kind of ursine, you know, big and chubby guy. He also is more calm and good-natured from the duo, more reflective and willing to make a change. Or perhaps more tired of killing. His older brother for a change is more violent and rather blindly following orders from their employer, mysterious Commodore. Besides he's a heavy drinker. Though Eli seems to know better:

He is not bad, I don't think. Perhaps he is simply too lazy to be good or later: Our blood is the same, we just use it differently.

The novel is set in Oregon and California ( San Francisco in the spotlight - a town peopled in morons exclusively) during the gold rush. DeWitt populated it with some memorable individuals and language feels very natural and vivid. The author employs first person narrative and I think Eli’s voice, simple and accurate, is a fine choice. He’s hilarious even without intending to but he's capable of in-depth reflection too, and it sounds quite natural and unforced. Some scenes definitely are not for faint hearted ones. Poor, poor Tub. Well, Westword even showed is somewhat distorted mirror, even spiced with extreme dose of irony and dark humor was not the friendliest place in the world. Someone said even it reads like McCarthy only with humour. Well, kind of.

I know the novel was filmed recently and am genuinely curios now how it translated into the movie. Considering level of violence and surrealistic aura names of Coen brothers and Tarrantino spring to mind quite naturally. Though neither of them stood behind the camera.

...more

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Dec 17, 2018 Carol rated it really liked it

Shelves: ebook, western, read-2018, fiction

What a crazy ride in the old WILD west!

But, BEWARE........"What a life it is for man's animals, what a trial of pain and endurance and senselessness."

The year is 1851. The gold rush is emerging hot and heavy, and Eli and Charlie Sisters have a job to do....as hired guns.

With a long ride ahead of them from Oregon City to California, the brothers hit the trail and encounter what seems to be never-ending bizarre setbacks and strange characters....many dangerous and life-threatening.

Filled with

...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Melki rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adventure, love-the-cover, western, best-of-2011

Masterful storytelling highlights this deceptively simple tale of the Sisters brothers, two lowly paid assassins on their way to commit murder and collect their wages. While Eli yearns for a different life and serves as the conscience of the duo, Charlie is the trigger finger. He is violent, remorseless and prone to destructive habits. I've read very few westerns. This one puts me in mind of Pete Dexter's "Deadwood." Gritty and realistic - you can smell the mud and blood.
It's sometimes hard to t ...more

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Jan 11, 2020 Edward rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, reviews, western

Check out my review for this fantastic book on Grimdark Magazine at: Grimdark Magazine

The Sisters Brothers, a tale of one man wanting to be better, a tale of the quirky realities of the Wild West and one that made me fall in love with this style of story-telling.

  “…but I could not sleep without proper covering and spent the rest of the night rewriting lost arguments from my past, altering history so that I emerged victorious.”  

I really must take my hat off to Patrick deWitt. His prose captiva ...more

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May 19, 2011 Amanda rated it really liked it

Shelves: blog

I like reading about bad people in fiction. And, lest we jump to conclusions, it's not because I'm a bad person myself (at least not in the torture or kill people kind of way; no, the sins in which I dabble are much more pedestrian than that), but it's because I like peering into those dark little corners of their brains. And, what is often the most frightening and fascinating is when I find that, really, they're much more like me than I care to admit.

Take Pulp Fiction, for example, which may b I like reading about bad people in fiction. And, lest we jump to conclusions, it's not because I'm a bad person myself (at least not in the torture or kill people kind of way; no, the sins in which I dabble are much more pedestrian than that), but it's because I like peering into those dark little corners of their brains. And, what is often the most frightening and fascinating is when I find that, really, they're much more like me than I care to admit.

Take Pulp Fiction, for example, which may be my favorite movie of all time. Sure, you've got some of the old ultraviolence, but what's really chilling is to see how it's part of the average work day for Jules and Vincent. Their days are filled with conversations both philosophical and mundane, punctuated by acts of violence that they accept as part of how their world works. When we think of men who can kill, we think of monsters, depraved beings who have no moral compass, an inability to reason. While that is certainly sometimes the case, sometimes we find that--behind the monster--there is just a man, one who knows that what he is doing is wrong, but does it anyway: for money, for love, for power. And what worked for Pulp Fiction is what works for The Sisters Brothers.

Charlie and Eli Sisters are two of the most feared assassins in the West, working for a shadowy figure known only as "The Commodore." Charlie, the older brother, is ruthless and power hungry, while his brother, Eli, is a sensitive sort who is prone to violence when he becomes enraged--a tool often used by Charlie to his advantage. Even in adulthood, Eli is relegated to the archetypal role of the younger brother, haplessly following and obeying his older brother, while occasionally challenging Charlie just to see how far he can be pushed.

The brothers are sent by The Commodore on an errand to kill Hermann Kermit Warm, a prospector who has crossed The Commodore in ways unknown to the brothers. Not that it matters as their job is to kill and not ask questions. The journey there provides the brothers with adequate time to be attacked by a bear, run into a backwoods witch, visit a brothel, and encounter characters curious and strange. As the men travel, we see them banter back and forth, every bit true siblings, alternately needling each other's quirks and weaknesses and then engaging in profound conversations about their beliefs and shared history.

The dialogue between the brothers is the real treat of the novel--witty and peculiarly formal (think Charles Portis' characters as portrayed in the Coen version of True Grit). As he longs for love, worries about his weight, discovers the joys of dental hygiene, and wrestles with his disdain and admiration for his one-eyed, cantankerous horse, Tub, Eli Sisters is the more relatable of the two brothers. However, before one can become too attached to either character, a scene of needless and wanton violence reminds us that both of these men are killers and, for all the contemplation of human nature the two engage in, it proves as difficult to put down a gun as it is to pick one up.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and at Shelf Inflicted ...more

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Aug 15, 2017 Lyn rated it really liked it

Coen Brothers film alert!

Coen Brothers film alert!

Or Wes Anderson. Or Quintin Tarantino.

Actually I see on IMDB that the film will come out in 2018, directed by Jacques Audiard. Jake Gyllenhaal will portray Warm (great casting), Joaquin Phoenix as Charlie and John C. Reilly as Eli (GREAT casting!)

So what’s all the fuss about? Patrick deWitt’s 2011 novel pays playful homage to the literary western in this delicious dark comedy.

Infamous western hitmen Charlie and Eli Sisters are on their latest ass ...more

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Jan 11, 2014 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

FRICKIN AWESOME!!!!!

The Best **DUDE** book 'ever' My 'girlie' friends might even enjoy this whimsical-wonderful-change-of-pace!!!

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Sep 21, 2018 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: modern-lit, western, 2018

The Sisters who kill together stay together.

Eli Sisters and his older brother Charley are a couple of killers working for the Commodore in 1850s Oregon. Their new assignment is to journey to San Francisco during the latest gold rush and kill a chemist named Hermann Warm. Along the way they kill some people and Eli learns how to brush his teeth.

I’d been meaning to read this one for years, and the trailer for the movie finally got me off my ass. Unfortunately, I found myself a shade disappointed i ...more

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About Patrick deWitt

Patrick deWitt

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Patrick deWitt was born on Vancouver Island in 1975. He is the author of Help Yourself Help Yourself (2007, Teenage Teardrops), Ablutions (Feb. 09, Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt/Granta), which was named a New York Times Editors' Choice book, and The Sisters Brothers (May 2011, Ecco/House of Anansi). He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and son.

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