SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JAKE GYLLENHAAL, JOHN C. REILLY AND JOAQUIN PHOENIXA BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST AND A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Publishers Weekly • Amazon • Hudson Booksellers • Washington Post 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 … 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 claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living-and whom he does it for.
With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters-losers, cheaters, and ne’er-do-wells from all stripes of life-and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.
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I was charmed by the atmosphere of this book from the start — it feels very cinematic, and I think it would make a fantastic video game. It’s a Western story told in an intriguing, insightful style, and the plot thumps and bumps down the stairs to a satisfying ending. There are lots of short cameos by characters whose stories I would’ve loved to …
I picked up this book on a whim when I saw it in a BookBub promotion email. I’d never heard of it, but it looked just offbeat enough for me to give it a go. I’m glad I did.
The characters carry this book from cover-to-cover, and I just couldn’t put it down no matter how hard I tried (unfortunately, I sometimes have to do things other than …
I didn’t know I wanted an Old West picaresque novel, but I did, and Patrick deWitt delivers with THE SISTERS BROTHERS.
Eli and Charlie Sisters are notorious killers. They are also, like so many of us, trying to understand why they do what they do and how they fit with the world and family around them. Eli straddles the extreme of intense love and …
Patrick deWitt’s novel “The Sisters Brothers” was published in 2011 by Ecco. The novel transforms the classic Western genre into a dark and funny tale of redemption and loss. Or maybe it is loss and redemption. Take your pick.
Eli and Charlie Sisters (the Sisters Brothers, get it?) are on the road to another killing. Killing folks is what they do …
Definitely an original take on a western. Not always sure where it was going. Could feel sympathy for them, especially one, despite their unlikeability. Highly recommend for something different to read. Being made into a film.
A very original approach to an old west setting/story. Highly entertaining with a great, dark sense of humor.
Humorous and brutal at the same time. Good read. Most enjoyable
I’m not sure what I expected from this book, but I got something different. The narrator’s voice is original and the story was compelling.
I really enjoyed this book. It was unusual and very well written. The Sisters Brothers were killers but they were also philosophers, especially they younger less attractive one. They argued, but had each others backs. They were very different as brothers and this was a very different book. It was original.
The book COVER interested me SO MUCH, I had to investigate! The Sisters Brothers are on a job. Gritty, Violent- John Pruden reads with SUCH earnestness, it’s captivating! I guess I DO like Westerns!
Every so often a book comes along that is so far from your usual reading genre that you are convinced that you won’t like it.
Enter this one, a western featuring Charlie and Eli Sisters, two hired gunmen, on their way to kill a gold prospector in California. See? You won’t find anything else like this on my reading list.
But I devoured this book …
If you love Gold Rush tales, Angle of Repose, Deadwood, Of Mice and Men, and the film O Brother Where Art Thou, this book is for you! A gorgeous cowboy noir novel. Funny, terrific details, haunting, aching, humane writing. Spare but not spartan. And fun!!!!!
Charming, quirky, odd and hilarious. Wild, weird and western. This book really grabbed me, with its steady point of view, two characters of dubious means and narratorial trust, and a rollicking fresh take on the old west, whatever that was!
Not what I expected for a western. It’s funny, and the writing is simply brilliant. The humour helps you through this violent and haunting story.
Hurry !! Read it before you see the movie
Not something would normally choose to read, as it’s pretty violent, but this was a book club choice (by our only male member!) and it was a bit of a revelation.
Fabulous characters
Awful characters, slow moving
Actually i stopped part way through. Too violent and nihilistic.
Weird!