The Sisters Brothers

by Patrick DeWitt

Oregon, 1851. Eli and Charlie Sisters, notorious professional killers, are on their way to California to kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm. On the way, the brothers have a series of unsettling and violent experiences in the Darwinian landscape of Gold Rush America. Charlie makes money and kills anyone who stands in his way; Eli doubts his vocation and falls in love. And they bicker a lot. Then they get to California, and discover that Warm is an inventor who has come up with a magical formula, which could make all of them very rich. What happens next is utterly gripping, strange and sad. Told in deWitt's darkly comic and arresting style, THE WARM JOB is the kind of Western the Coen Brothers might write - stark, unsettling and with a keen eye for the perversity of human motivation. Like his debut novel ABLUTIONS, THE WARM JOB is a novel about the things you tell yourself in order to be able to continue to live the life you find yourself in, and what happens when those stories no longer work. It is an inventive and strange and beautifully controlled piece of fiction, which shows an exciting expansion of Dewitt's range

• ISBN10: 1283264315
• ISBN13: 9781283264310
• Publish Date: 1 January 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 27 August 2014
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: House of Anansi Press
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

I picked up The Sisters Brothers purely because of the fantastic cover. However, I didn't recognise the shapes on the covers at gun-slinging cowboy types, so I was quite surprised when the story started be set in the "wild west" of the Californian gold rush.

Had I known this, I probably would have missed out on this through and through fun and fabulous story of Eli and Charlie, the hired assassins who embark on a journey to finish a "job" and find more than they bargained for on the way.

The relationship between the brothers - which is testing at times - gives the story some depth but doesn't detract from the entertaining episodes that Eli and Charlie seem to tumble into. Actually, the two characters - Eli trying to calm down both his and his brother's temper, and Charlie stirring things up a bit- balance out nicely and add to the galloping pace.

Best read while listening to the Magnificent Seven soundtrack.

Warning: Do not read any passages of this book aloud while in the ear-shot of a horse. It will not thank you.

[jamiereadthis]

This feels like it was made to be a Tarantino movie. The characters, the dialogue, the bloodbaths all save Tarantino the trouble of botching the source material. And that’s fine— it’s entertaining— it just means the story didn’t do much for me beyond being a story that I read for a few hours and forget when I’m done. Until the movie comes out.

ETA: okay, apparently an adaptation is in the works. And it’s not Tarantino. So we’ll see how that goes.

[elvinagb]

This is an epic road story. The violence of Eli and Charlie's life only adds to the sadness and humour of the plot and they end up exactly where they should.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

While I haven’t read many westerns, this book didn’t feel too much like one. The narrative style seemed more suited for an older book; something set in the Victorian times and this was described as a homage to a western, not an actual western novel. I have to admit that it did take a little bit of time to get into this book, I’m not sure if it was the style, or the characters; but once I got use to both, I really did start to enjoy this book.

The Sisters brothers are killers; and they are good at it, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have compassion or they aren’t not trying to be better people. Eli Sister (the narrator) doesn’t seem to have the heart for killing but he would follow his brother Charlie and protect him whenever needed. This isn’t a clear cut good guys and bad guys, this is all shades of grey; much like life. This book is worth reading; it is relatively easy to read and the writing style (once I got use to it) was very pleasant. The characters are what make this book in the end; they are deeply flawed, a little stupid at times, trying to do good, but all in all realistic and believable.

[ibeforem]

I have really mixed feelings about this book. There is currently a huge amount of buzz about it since it’s just been short-listed for the Man Booker prize, but it really didn’t speak to me. It’s unfortunate, because a childhood of watching John Wayne movies with my great-grandmother has given me a soft spot for westerns.

The strength of the book is in the narrator. Eli Sisters has an unusual voice: somewhat deadpan, with glimpses of eloquence. He’s a conflicted character. While his brother Charlie is a killer through and through, Eli has a conscience that rears its ugly head from time to time. He has a soft spot for his injured horse (whose plight made me awfully sad), but can shoot a man without a second thought.

If it wasn’t so violent, this book could be considered a comedy of errors. For me, it was less about their journey and more about how they reacted when things went wrong.

I wish I could say I liked the book more. Despite the compelling narrator, I had a hard time liking any of the characters. I could *almost* like Eli, but there was still something missing. Something to make him human. Also, despite having extremely short chapters (2-3 pages in most cases), it was a very slow read. It took me a couple of weeks to get through the book. I just wasn’t excited to pick it up at night.