Whether you’re rooting against the title characters or for them, The Sisters Brothers (Charlie and Eli) will capture your imagination in one way or another. They can disturb you by killing everyone who crosses them. They can amaze you with little acts of humanity. Sometimes the two extremes will intermingle and create a thought-provoking story as written by Patrick DeWitt. Try as they might to get along and complete their mercenary work, Eli and Charlie could not be more different. Eli is the first character between the two of them who shows humanity in this novel. Charlie is just a nasty homicidal lunatic who will kill and fuck anything that walks. These two clashing personalities have to cancel each other out if they’re going to get any work done. Their assignment? Kill off a “thief” prospector by the name of Hermann Warm for the sake of exacting the Commodore’s revenge. The Sisters Brothers know nothing of Hermann Warm except small tales here and there. It’s all the same to them as they get ready to pull the trigger on this assignment. But the further along they get, the more Eli begins to question whether or not what they’re doing is right. Yes, the money is good and it’ll feed them well for years to come, but is there any real rhyme or reason to any of this? Why can’t Eli and Charlie just open up a trading post like any other normal human being in wild west Oregon and California? Wrestling with their consciences is something the brothers have to do all throughout the story, whether it’s shooting a man they know nothing about, taking care of a sickly horse, sending an orphaned boy in the right direction, or anything else that happens in this novel. Patrick DeWitt didn’t just write a mindless bloodbath. He wrote a thoughtful and intense narrative that anyone with even the slightest moral dilemma can relate to. Yes, I said “relate” in a story about the wild west. My references are slightly off, but that just goes to show you how powerful of a narrative Patrick DeWitt wrote. If nothing else, it should be a fun read filled with darkness and small moments of giggly behavior. I enjoyed all 328 pages of it and damn it, you will too. It may not be the fastest thing you’ll read, but it’s still a lovable work of art. Yes, I called it a work of art. If you don’t believe me, just look at the cover and see if you notice the double entendre. It could either be two brothers standing in front of the full moon or a skeletal warrior in a trench coat. Whoever designed the cover pretty much sealed the deal for Patrick DeWitt getting noticed. That, and it’s an intense read to begin with.
***WRESTLING QUOTE OF THE DAY***
“Wealth is not about how much you make, it’s about how much you save. I’ve known guys who make millions and yet they can’t even buy you a cup of coffee.”
-Jim Ross-
No comments:
Post a Comment