The Sisters Brothers

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt falls into a category of books I should call "Thank goodness for book bloggers convincing me to try a book I never would have tried that I ended up absolutely loving." In general, I'm not a fan of Westerns. But DeWitt has written such a fun, dark, character-driven tale that it completely sucked me in.

Eli and Charlie Sisters are brothers and paid assassins for a man known only as the Commodore. Eli is the narrator of the story. He tells about how they're sent off to find Hermann Kermit Warm (how great is that name??). They don't know why, and it's not their job to care, only to find and kill him. Charlie takes great pride in his assassin skills, but Eli is more reticent; they're paid well for their work, and are famous for it, and Eli doesn't really know how to do anything else. Still, at times he finds himself uncomfortable with their task.

As they set out to find the wily Hermann Kermit Warm (I really love that name), they have a number of adventures, some funny, some sad, some violent, until they finally catch up with the man himself. I won't say what happens then, but I will say it may not be what you'd expect (it certainly wasn't what I expected), but DeWitt has done such a masterful job of building up to that scene that it's completely believable. It's not just plot, either--the characters, especially Eli, evolve along the way.

I haven't read the book True Grit, but I loved the Coen brothers' movie, and this book reminded me of their vision. Eli is a wonderful narrator, with a highly stylized form of speech that's odd at first, but you quickly adapt to it, and it becomes him. He describes an encounter with a boy who's alone, and who must remain alone as Eli and Charlie can't bring him along on their assignment:

"He stood there weeping and watching us go, while behind him Lucky Paul [a horse] entered and collapsed the prospector's tent, and I thought, Here is another miserable mental image I will have to catalog and make room for."

Another time, he finds a bird in the road:

"A rooster stood before me in the road, looking for a fight; I tipped my hat to him and he scooted away over the puddles, all brawn and feathers and brainlessness."

For an assassin, Eli is pretty darned endearing. After meeting what he thinks is the woman of his dreams, he realizes he's overweight and tries to put himself on a diet, eating mostly vegetables. This is not something a man should do in a restaurant during the Gold Rush. He also learns for the first time about the benefits of dental hygiene, and in some very funny bits that carry throughout the book, he tries to improve his own teeth and that of others around him.

Sometimes I dislike historical novels because they end up packed with mind-deadening detail. I get it--the author did a lot of research, and that's good, but how much of it do I have to read too? DeWitt, however, gets it--he seems to know his stuff, but he doesn't have to show off. And when he does use details, such as the parts about dental hygiene, he's also gradually introducing details about the characters themselves, not just preening about his knowledge of 19th-century tooth-brushing practices. 

It's an odd book; I guess this is my month for odd books. When they're as good as this one? More, please.

Comments

[softdrink]

I seem to be one of the few people underwhelmed by this book. And it's not that I didn't like it...I just expected something more.

[north face outlet]

Eli is pretty darned endearing. After meeting what he thinks is the woman of his dreams, he realizes he's overweight and tries to put himself on a diet, eating mostly vegetables.