The Sisters Brothers

DeWitt, Patrick. The Sisters Brothers. New York: Ecco. 201. Print.

First Sentences:

I was sitting outside the Commodore's mansion, waiting for my brother Charlie to come out with news of the job.

Description:

In 1851, the job Eli Sisters and his brother Charlie will take on is to kill a man who stole something from their employer, a man known simply as the Commodore. After all, they are the Commodore's hired guns and are quite good at their craft. Sounds like a typical shoot-em-up story set in the Gold Rush days, huh? 

But Patrick DeWitt's deadpan funny novel The Sisters Brothers is anything but typical or predictable. It is full of dark, quirky humor, ruminations about life, and spare, honest dialogue  

As Eli narrates their journey from Oregon City to San Francisco in his formal sentences, we learn more and more about these two brothers. Sure, they are cold, remorseless killers who have quick tempers and even quicker trigger fingers. But they also have ... well, really not much that redeems them. 

Yet we (I, at least) are riveted by them, root for them to overcome obstacles (human and non), and sympathize with them when results from their decisions run counter to the intentions. They are not cruel; they are simply loyal to The Commodore and their job. They have a bond between them as brothers willing to talk things out with each other and those they encounter with whom they have disagreements. What's not to like about these two other than their propensity for shooting people?

He is not bad, I don't think. Perhaps he is simply too lazy to be good.

Along the trail they encounter a variety of fellow travelers and wandering souls: a man who constantly weeps, an inventor with a gold-finding formula, trappers seeking the fame of killing the Sisters, prospectors, prostitutes, storekeepers, a dentist, a red-furred bear, and a broken down, one-eyed horse. There is drinking and shooting and injuries, of course, but the overall tenor is strangely funny, if tinged with sadness.

The creak of bed springs suffering under the weight of a restless man is as lonely a sound as I know. 

Hard to describe this slim book, but I highly recommend it for its characters, its calm narrative style, and its musings on life, death, and the undying relationship between two brothers. 

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood

Two young men, looking for hidden money, murder a family in the midwest. Their interviews, personalities, and history make up this fascinating, tautly-written history (previously reviewed here)

Beverly, Bill. Dodgers

Four teenage gang members are sent from inner city Los Angeles to the Midwest to kill a key witness against their gang leader. Along the way they try to preserve their perceived toughness in the cold of Wisconsin, trying to deal with the various competing personalities in their car, and facing decisions about violence and duty. (previously reviewed here)