TITLE: The Sisters Brothers
AUTHOR: Patrick deWitt
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Western
PUBLISHED: April 26th 2011
RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon, iTunes
MOBILISM LINK: Mobilism
Description: 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 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.
Review:
I loved this book! Everything about it; the title, the cover art, (showing the brothers in silhouette, forming a skull against the glowing moon), and of course, the story! What a ride! This is a dark, violent, and oddly funny adventure, shot through with sadness. The writing is dead-on, filled with sentiment, and a big helping of humor. This is a story that drew me in, especially the character of Eli.
It's 1851, Gold Rush days in the West. On their last job, the Sisters brothers have been ordered to kill Herman Kermit Warm by the Commodore, their shadowy, behind-the-scenes boss. Herman is a prospector in possession of a formula that makes gold glow in the rivers. They are to steal the formula after the killing.
These are troubled cowboys. Charlie is a charismatic psychopath, a boozer, and a ruthless killer. Eli, the younger brother and narrator, is a sympathetic character, morose, overweight, and lovelorn. He's a reluctant killer with an endearing nature. Eli wants respect from his brother, and longs for the quiet life and a "reliable companion."
I had never been with a woman for longer than a night, and they had always been whores. And while throughout each of these speedy encounters I tried to maintain a friendliness with the women, I knew in my heart it was false, and afterward always felt remote and caved in. I had in the last year or so given up whores entirely, thinking it best to go without rather than pantomime human closeness; and though it was unrealistic for a man in my position to be thinking such thoughts, I could not help myself: I saw my bulky person in the windows of the passing storefronts and wondered, When will that man there find himself to be loved?
The Sisters brothers have a complex relationship. From Oregon to California they quarrel and bicker nonstop, Charlie often putting Eli down; but blood runs deep and their loyalty to each other is fierce...
I do not like to argue and especially not with Charlie, who can be uncommonly cruel with his tongue. Later that night I could hear him exchanging words in the road with a group of men, and I listened to make sure he was not in danger, and he was not—the men asked him his name and he told them and they left him alone. But I would have come to his aid and in fact was putting on my boots when the group scattered. I heard Charlie coming up the stairs and jumped into bed, pretending I was fast asleep. He stuck his head in the room and said my name but I did not answer. He closed the door and moved to his room and I lay in the dark thinking about the difficulties of family, how crazy and crooked the stories of a bloodline can be.
On the trail, the brothers meet a myriad of quirky characters, all of them vivid and true to life. Early on, Eli develops a toothache a day after being bitten by a spider. Searching for a dentist, they find Reginald Watts. After having two teeth extracted, Eli is fascinated when introduced to his first toothbrush:
He stitched the hole closed and filled my mouth with cotton, afterward leading me to a marble basin where he showed me a dainty, wooden-handled brush with a rectangular head of gray-white bristles. ‘A toothbrush,’ he said. ‘This will keep your teeth clean and your breath pleasant. Here, watch how I do it.’ The doctor demonstrated the proper use of the tool, then blew mint-smelling air on my face. Now he handed me a new brush, identical to his own, and also a packet of the tooth powder that produced the minty foam, telling me they were mine to keep. I protested this but he admitted he had been sent a complimentary box from the manufacturer. I paid him two dollars for the removal of the teeth and he brought out a bottle of whiskey to toast what he called our mutually beneficial transaction. Altogether I found the man quite charming, and I was remorseful when Charlie reentered the office with his pistol drawn, leveling it at the good doctor. ‘I tried to bargain with you,’ he said, his face flushed with brandy. ‘I wonder what I will fail at next,’ Watts said forlornly. ‘I don’t know, and I don’t care. Eli, gather the numbing medicine and needles. Watts, find me a piece of rope, and quickly. If you get shifty on me I will put a hole in your brain.’ ‘At times I feel one is already there.’ To me he said, ‘The pursuit of money and comfort has made me weary. Take care of your teeth, son. Keep a healthy mouth. Your words will only sound that much sweeter, isn’t that right?’ Charlie cuffed Watts on the ear, thus bringing his speech to a close.
They journey on, their next rest stop being a one room shack inhabited by a withered old woman in rags. Charlie is convinced she's a witch after she tells them she knows they are killers by the "dead men following behind them." Upon waking the next morning, the witch is gone, but she has left a string of beads hung from the door jamb. Certain it's a curse, Charlie refuses to walk under it, exiting through a window instead. Poor Eli, who's bulk keeps him from likewise escaping, waits while Charlie goes in search of an axe to enlarge the opening.
While Eli waits, he calls to his horse outside, Tub:
Staring out at the steam rising in the field, I felt a gladness at having survived the recent series of happenings: The spider, the bloated head, the curse averted. I filled my lungs with all the cold air they could hold. ‘Tub!’ I shouted into the wilderness. ‘I am stuck inside the cabin of the vile gypsy-witch!’ He raised his head, his jaw working on a mouthful of crunchy grass. ‘Tub! Assist me in my time of need!’
When Charlie returns with an axe and an injured hand, he explains to Eli that he had run into prospectors who were "hesitant to loan me their equipment," and "they'll not need the axe now!!" With the axe, a bigger opening is made to accommodate Eli. He is finally freed, and they ride off, only to come upon Charlie's handiwork:
We came to the camp of the dead prospectors, or to-be prospectors, or never-to-be prospectors. I counted five bodies facedown on the ground, and none of them was lying next to another. Charlie told me the story while emptying their pockets and bags of valuables: ‘This fat fellow here, he was the tough one. I tried to reason with him but he wanted to make a show for his friends. I shot him in the mouth and everyone ran. That’s why they’re all scattered and back wounded, see?’ He squatted before a slight body. ‘This one here can’t be more than sixteen, I’d say. Well, he should have known better than to travel with such hotheads.’
I said nothing. Charlie looked at me for a reaction and I shrugged.
‘What’s that mean?’ he said. ‘You had a hand in this, let’s not forget.’
‘I don’t see how you can say that. I did not want to stay the night in that old woman’s cabin, remember.’
‘But it was your illness that made such a stop necessary.’
‘A spider crawled into my boot, there is the cause of my illness.’
‘You’re saying you wish to blame the spider?’
‘I don’t wish to blame anyone. You’re the one who brought it up.’
Speaking to the assembled dead, Charlie said, ‘My good men, it is a spider to blame for the early demise of your group. A woolly, fat-bottomed spider in search of warmth—here is the cause of your deaths.’
With money stolen from the slain prospectors, Charlie suggests stopping at the next town to be outfitted with new duds. When leaving, Eli has this to say to his brother about the shopkeepers occupation:
‘It struck me as restful industry. I’ll wager that old man sleeps very well at night.’
‘Do you not sleep well at night?’ Charlie asked earnestly.
‘I do not,’ I said. ‘And neither do you.’
‘I sleep like a stone,’ he protested.
‘You whimper and moan.’
‘Ho ho!’
‘It’s the truth, Charlie.’
‘Ho,’ he said, sniffing. He paused to study my words. He wished to check if they were sincere, I knew, but could not think of a way to ask without sounding overly concerned. The joy went out of him then, and his eyes for a time could not meet mine. I thought, We can all of us be hurt, and no one is exclusively safe from worry and sadness.
They continue on their way, stopping at a hotel; Eli takes a liking to the bookkeeper, who offers him the use of her room to remove the stitches from his mouth:
Now she guided me to a small pine table, propping a looking glass before me. My overlarge face leapt into view, which I studied with my usual mixture of curiosity and pity. She fetched me a pair of scissors and I took them up, holding the blades between my palms to warm them. Tilting the glass so that I could watch myself working, I snipped at the knotted stitching and began pulling away the black string from my mouth. It did not hurt but vaguely burned, as when a rope is run through your hands. It was too early to have removed the stitches and the string was coated in blood. I stacked the pieces in a pile at my feet and afterward burned these, as their smell was ungodly. Once this was finished I elected to show the woman my new toothbrush and powder, which I had in my vest pocket. She became excited by the suggestion, for she was also a recent convert to this method, and she hurried to fetch her equipment that we might brush simultaneously. So it was that we stood side by side at the wash basin, our mouths filling with foam, smiling as we worked.
More adventures ensue, there is a duel, a visit to a whorehouse, and a bear attack. Eli's horse, Tub, suffers an awful fate. The brothers do finally reach their destination, and meet up with Hermann Kermit Warm. But their journey has changed things. The ending has an ironic twist, which you'll have to read to find out. I can easily see this being made into a movie! I don't know what road Mr. deWitt's next book will take, but I plan on riding back and reading his first novel, Ablutions.
Last edited by emmilina on May 2nd, 2014, 11:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
I'm so happy to know someone actually reads my review!! it's really a fun read, I think you'll love Eli, he's a murderous sweetheart w/ fresh breath!! 
