Book Review: The Sisters Brothers

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt is a kind of surreal western. It follows hired guns and brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters on a journey to California to kill a prospector that has done their boss wrong. A typical "road" type story, the brothers encounter adventures along the way such as troublesome horses, a strange gypsy witch-like woman, a killer bear and a few other odd ball characters.

Eli is the main character and the story is told from his point of view. His brother Charlie is a bit more prone to this type of work than Eli. Eli seems to have come to a point in his life where being a gun for hire no longer appeals to him. In fact I get the sense that he never really wanted to do it but his loyalty to his brother forced this life upon him.

The story has several humorous parts but some scenes take on a dreamlike aura and you wonder if maybe there is supposed to be a deeper meaning to the novel that I just did not get. There are two "intermissions" in the book revolving around a peculiar and homicidal little girl that seem to come out of nowhere. I am not sure what they were supposed to lend to the story.

It is an easy read. The chapters are very short, most are about four or five pages. Usually a book in that format I can polish off in a few days but for some reason I could not get into this one. In fact, I started reading it and then put it aside and read something else. When I returned to this I started right from the beginning again. I did not find it pulled me in or left me wanting more at the end of each short chapter. I would say the final chapters were the best and it felt like they were leading up to something grand. The end though felt a little anti-climatic. If the moral was about how

The book's style of writing intrigues me a little. The characters speak in deliberate tones. DeWitt does not use a lot of contractions, for example a character is more likely to say "I will be right back" as opposed to "I'll be right back". Eli uses some larger words that seem out of place when you imagine what a gunslinger in the old west would be like, however not being an historian on language I could see a person in those days using those terms. Phrasing and popular words have always fluctuated over time. Who is to say that cowboys in 1851 would not be closer to the proper use of English than we who are so many years separated from its roots?

The author Patrick DeWitt was born in Canada but now lives in Oregon. I first heard about this Man Booker Prize nominated novel on CBC Radio's Q with Jian Ghomeshi.

I like the cover art. I'll give The Sisters Brothers a "good read" but doubt I will read it again.

So here is an update on my reading summary for 2012:

• The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (fiction)


• Gretzky's Tears - Stephen Brunt (non-fiction)


• A War of Gifts - Orson Scott Card (fiction short story)


• The Hammer of God - Arthur C. Clarke (Lightspeed Magazine) (fiction short story)


• Steve Jobs - Walter Isaccson (non-fiction)


• 1984 - George Orwell (fiction)


• Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson (non-fiction)


• The Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt (fiction)