Review of The Sisters Brothers from my Goodreads account

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It's not often I will give a maximum score because perfection is almost never found and there is always room for improvement however slight. In this case I felt compelled to give the book I have just lived through five Goodread's stars because on the Goodreads scale that equates to "It was amazing" rather than the faint praise of "I really liked it", and I simply cannot deny my feeling that it was an amazing read. I found it immensely satisfying in fact, but I have to admit to a predisposition to fondness for the western genre. I have not read widely in that genre, am inclined to think that there is very little of it written these days and in the past, leaving aside perhaps Max Brand and Jack Schaeffer, a lot of it was probably poor anyway but I do love cinematic portrayals of the old west and have also very much enjoyed the new westerns (or Tex-Mex border novels) of Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Eidson. This book for me had a strongly cinematic feel and struck me most as a Coen Brothers' western. Since they have recently made an excellent job of revisiting Charles Portis's True Grit I can't imagine that they will be optioning the rights to The Sisters Brothers but I really wish they would.

One of the extraordinary things about this picaresque adventure is that in the midst of brutality, with no punches pulled, it somehow makes its narrator, Eli Sisters, a notorious hired killer, a nuanced and even sympathetic character. At the heart of Eli is the soul of a romantic and gentle man but he nevertheless undertakes his deadly work with a fury and efficiency when the time comes. The brothers are to some extent a gestalt being with its conscience riding uneasily in the part that is Eli while Charlie executes his tasks with a certain clinical satisfaction in his own skill and, without Eli to prompt him, few questions about the morality of his career. The reasons behind this career become clear, if not justified, as we travel on to the next job with our Don and Sancho, meeting all kinds of human flotsam on the way. The comparison with Quixote perhaps only stands up as far as their hapless adventuring is concerned but Eli's unfortunate and battered Rosinante, poor "Tub" is another constant presence in their life's journey and an indication of the relative status of the two brothers for most of the novel.

I won't reveal the changes that come upon them but while things rarely turn out as they intend or desire, the novel is one of metamorphosis and redemption and the outcome, if not the happiest imaginable, is at least satisfactory. The most important thing about the novel is its tone, which somehow manages to be both red in tooth and claw and at the same time consistently funny. Eli in particular, despite being our narrator and at times a skilled killer, is also a hopeless romantic and a, somewhat portly, figure of fun. It is this combination of action, adventure, violence, romance and above all humour that reminds me of Joel and Ethan, and takes it beyond four stars.





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