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idahovic 's review for:
The Sisters Brothers
by Patrick deWitt
A most unusual western. First, our two brotherly protagonists are hired guns, assassins. Cold blooded and calculating, they are not the type to cut anyone a break.
The reader will catch on pretty quickly that this isn't going to be anything like what they've encountered in this genre before. For instance, the first person they meet setting out on their murderous adventure is a witch. Cowboy assassins encountering a witch? That's completely normal, right? Anyway, that first encounter ends with one brother using an ax to chop a big enough hole in the side of the "witch's" house to extract his somewhat overweight brother because they believe the old woman "hexed" the doorway and the larger of the two brothers can't fit thru the window the slimmer brother escapes thru.. The story does have it's humorous moments.
Over the course of their adventure, a journey from Oregon City to California in order to assassinate someone who has ripped off their boss, they meet a wide variety of people from whores to captains of industry. A few of them need killing and they all need rescuing of some sort or another. But the brothers stick to their mission. Until they don't.
Eli, the younger brother, is our "host" for this tale. Eli is experiencing an existential crisis. He doesn't want to continue on his present path; murdering people on behalf of their boss, the Commodore. His brother, Charlie, is having no such misgivings. Over the course of their adventure they decide change, like it or not, is upon them. And there seems only one way to turn; toward being an honest man doing honest work. But is that a transition they can make?
Patrick deWitt's "The Sisters Brothers" is a darkly humorous revisit of a classical western tale. Told with a westerner's sensibility and a bit of modern pop psychology, a reader is propelled down the story by the strangeness of the whole situation. You'll keep reading just to find out what happens next in a totally unpredictable plot. Highly recommended to any fan of westerns who would like something a bit different.
The reader will catch on pretty quickly that this isn't going to be anything like what they've encountered in this genre before. For instance, the first person they meet setting out on their murderous adventure is a witch. Cowboy assassins encountering a witch? That's completely normal, right? Anyway, that first encounter ends with one brother using an ax to chop a big enough hole in the side of the "witch's" house to extract his somewhat overweight brother because they believe the old woman "hexed" the doorway and the larger of the two brothers can't fit thru the window the slimmer brother escapes thru.. The story does have it's humorous moments.
Over the course of their adventure, a journey from Oregon City to California in order to assassinate someone who has ripped off their boss, they meet a wide variety of people from whores to captains of industry. A few of them need killing and they all need rescuing of some sort or another. But the brothers stick to their mission. Until they don't.
Eli, the younger brother, is our "host" for this tale. Eli is experiencing an existential crisis. He doesn't want to continue on his present path; murdering people on behalf of their boss, the Commodore. His brother, Charlie, is having no such misgivings. Over the course of their adventure they decide change, like it or not, is upon them. And there seems only one way to turn; toward being an honest man doing honest work. But is that a transition they can make?
Patrick deWitt's "The Sisters Brothers" is a darkly humorous revisit of a classical western tale. Told with a westerner's sensibility and a bit of modern pop psychology, a reader is propelled down the story by the strangeness of the whole situation. You'll keep reading just to find out what happens next in a totally unpredictable plot. Highly recommended to any fan of westerns who would like something a bit different.