Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Sisters Brothers” as Want to Read:
The Sisters Brothers
by
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
Get A Copy
Hardcover, 328 pages
Published
April 26th 2011
by Ecco
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Sisters Brothers,
please sign up.
Popular Answered Questions
Adam
I was picturing W. Earl Brown as I read it (he played Dan Dority in Deadwood)
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Sisters Brothers

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
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

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
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

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 ...more
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 ...more

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

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
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

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
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

اووووف پسرررر این دیگه چی بود! :D
برادران سیسترز جدا از تکنیکهای ناب نویسندهش در دیالوگنویسی، شخصیتپردازی، پایانبندی و چارچوبِ کلی داستان، یه طنز سیاهِ قلقلکدهنده و در عین حال، یه جاهایی تلخ و گزنده داشت که بیاندازه آدمو به فکر فرو میبرد. غیر از خودِ سوژه و داستان دوتا داداشِ آدمکش- که به قدر کافی دیوونهوار هستن که دیوونههایی مث من خوششون بیاد :دی - کنشهای بین دوبرادر و سوژه فرعیهای داستان چقدر ماهرانه کاشته شده بودن. از جریان عاشقشدنهای پی در پیِ ایلای تا فلشبکهای اندک اما به جا ...more
برادران سیسترز جدا از تکنیکهای ناب نویسندهش در دیالوگنویسی، شخصیتپردازی، پایانبندی و چارچوبِ کلی داستان، یه طنز سیاهِ قلقلکدهنده و در عین حال، یه جاهایی تلخ و گزنده داشت که بیاندازه آدمو به فکر فرو میبرد. غیر از خودِ سوژه و داستان دوتا داداشِ آدمکش- که به قدر کافی دیوونهوار هستن که دیوونههایی مث من خوششون بیاد :دی - کنشهای بین دوبرادر و سوژه فرعیهای داستان چقدر ماهرانه کاشته شده بودن. از جریان عاشقشدنهای پی در پیِ ایلای تا فلشبکهای اندک اما به جا ...more

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
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

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
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

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
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

Aug 14, 2019
Matthew
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Western fans
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
I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. The dialogue was quic ...more

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 ...more
At this point you may say that this thing has also been done recently and won a big bad Booker for itsel ...more

Great read, I love it...

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 ...more
Townes came back with four ...more

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
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

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,
wit,
reviewed,
2013,
duster,
indulge,
historical-fiction,
awards,
noir,
favs-recent
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 ...more
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 ...more

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
...more

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
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

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
Darkly funny and heart wr ...more

میخوام به یه چیزی اعتراف کنم ، من یه عادتهایی توی کتابخونی دارم که بعضی وقتا به نظرم خیلی مسخره است ، مثلا اگه موقع خوندن یه کتاب از داستان خوشم نیاد واسه اینکه از خیر خوندنش نگذرم و نیمه کاره رهاش نکنم و روحیه ام رو واسه ادامه ببرم بالا اون وسطا یه کلک میزنم و میرم سراغ خوندن یه کتاب کم حجم دیگه که فضای ذهنی ام رو عوض کنم، بعضی وقتها هم برعکس واسه بیشتر کردن هیجان خوندن یه کتاب که خیلی تعریفش رو شنیدم قبل از خوندن، یه کتاب دیگه بعنوان دست گرمی میخونم که وقتی رفتم سراغ کتاب مورد نظر قشنگ تشنه تش
...more

برادران سیسترز دو تا آدمکش حرفه ای، خشن و دوست داشتنی هستن که با هم کار می کنن.
رابطشون غریب اما مستحکم.
داستان کشش خوبی داره، پر از خشونت و طنز.
خیلی حس دیدن یه فیلم تارانتینو رو به خواننده می ده، یه جاهایی مرگ های بی دلیل و خنده دار، دیالوگ های بی ربط ولی جذاب.
کتاب به تازگی توسط ژاک اودیار تبدیل به فیلم شده با بازی خواکین فینیکس، جان سی رایلی و جیک جیلنهال که تا یک ماه دیگه اکران میشه و انتخاب بازیگرها واقعا عالیه. این فیلم نامزد جایزه بهترین فیلم جشنواره ی ونیز امسال هست.
رابطشون غریب اما مستحکم.
داستان کشش خوبی داره، پر از خشونت و طنز.
خیلی حس دیدن یه فیلم تارانتینو رو به خواننده می ده، یه جاهایی مرگ های بی دلیل و خنده دار، دیالوگ های بی ربط ولی جذاب.
کتاب به تازگی توسط ژاک اودیار تبدیل به فیلم شده با بازی خواکین فینیکس، جان سی رایلی و جیک جیلنهال که تا یک ماه دیگه اکران میشه و انتخاب بازیگرها واقعا عالیه. این فیلم نامزد جایزه بهترین فیلم جشنواره ی ونیز امسال هست.

A-yep. The Western is dead.

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

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

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
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

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
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

Brimming with the spark of old westerns, Patrick DeWitt goes all out to stamp his mark on the wild-west, which resulted in a cracking read that was a hell of a lot of fun. Even though I am still scratching my head as to why I liked it so much. Because in places, it's pretty stupid. Take away the brutal realistic nature of Blood Meridian, add some Coen brothers dark humour, and an oddball bunch of characters, and we have The Sister's Brother's.
It all begins with the image a horse on fire, so anim ...more
It all begins with the image a horse on fire, so anim ...more

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
May 22, 2018
da AL
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audio-books,
modern-literary
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?!
...more

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 ...more

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
It's sometimes hard to t ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 Reading Chal...:
![]() |
11 | 32 | Nov 19, 2020 05:31PM | |
Tournament of Books: The Sisters Brothers | 21 | 107 | Sep 27, 2020 06:13PM | |
Play Book Tag: [Poll Ballot] The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt - 4 stars | 5 | 9 | Jul 17, 2020 04:55PM | |
Play Book Tag: The Sisters Brothers 3 1/2 stars(POLLS) | 1 | 11 | Feb 20, 2020 02:09PM |
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.
...more
Articles featuring this book
We're all on Team Book here at Goodreads. But we're loyal, not oblivious. Every once in awhile, movie and television adaptations can...
83 likes · 99 comments
7 trivia questions
2 quizzes
More quizzes & trivia...
2 quizzes
“The creak of bed springs suffering under the weight of a restless man is as lonely a sound as I know.”
—
111 likes
“...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.”
—
90 likes
More quotes…