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The Sisters Brothers: A Novel
Narrated by John Pruden
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Start Listening- Publisher:
- HarperAudio
- Released:
- Apr 26, 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780062087676
- Format:
- Audiobook
Editor's Note
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.
Book Actions
Start ListeningBook Information
The Sisters Brothers: A Novel
Narrated by John Pruden
Editor's Note
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.
- Publisher:
- HarperAudio
- Released:
- Apr 26, 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780062087676
- Format:
- Audiobook
About the author
Related to The Sisters Brothers
Reviews
First off, I love the cover art by Dan Stiles!
In The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, Eli and Charlie Sisters are notorious killers from Oregon working for "The Commodore" as guns for hire. They travel to California during the 1851 gold rush to kill their latest target, Hermann Kermit Warm. These two brothers are as different as night and day. Charlie is a cold-blooded killer who longs for power. Eli is a more sensitive type who would like to settle down to a simpler life. The book is narrated by Eli and his descriptions of random occurrences during their travels symbolize the deep misgivings he is having about his choices in life.
"My very center was beginning to expand, as it did before violence, a toppled pot of black ink covering the frame of my mind, its contents ceaseless, unaccountably limitless. My flesh and scalp started to ring and tingle and I became someone other than myself, or I became my second self, and this person was highly pleased to be stepping from the murk and into the living world where he might do just as he wished. I felt at once both lust and disgrace and wondered, Why do I relish this reversal to animal?"
This book is a violent and darkly funny romp through the old west. It's s not a book for everyone but it is fresh and different. Although I wasn't thrilled with the treatment of most of the animals in the book, I did enjoy the story. There were times while I was reading that I pictured a Quentin Tarantino movie. Chances are if you like those, you will like this book.
I found the whole use of alchemy to find gold pretty lame, and saw the poisonous outcome as pretty obvious. six months later, I can barely remember the end of the book, which sort of makes sense, since I found the book to really lose its power when the Brothers find Warm.Then I remember that Charlie loses his gunhand in the acid (oh the symbolism!) and they kill the Commodore in some tricksy manner.
7/10