The Sisters Brothers book review

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Published by Ecco on April 26, 2011
Pages: 328
Goodreads

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.

I don’t think this one was ever going to be a favourite and I would never have voluntarily picked it up if it wasn’t for the western challenge. The biggest problem I had with The Sisters Brothers was that I felt as though nothing in particular happened and when stuff did it felt underwhelming and boring. I am however really glad I listened to the audiobook because I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to read through the text in the same way. I will say that I enjoyed the dynamics of the two brothers but there was so little of that all the way through and the focus switched constantly.

The two main characters are the two Sisters brothers, Charlie and Eli. I would have loved if there was more of the dynamic and more of their relationship, I feel as though this was overshadowed by all the different things that happened to them and that kind of ruined the book for me. I would have loved to have seen more of them working out how to be brothers and navigating the world as those brothers. I think there were definite moments that outshone others but for me, this book felt like a drag and I really didn’t connect with the characters, especially the two brothers.

The other characters are Herman who is the target for the assassination, and Morris who was supposed to be working for the brothers. Once again both these characters are boring, there was nothing about them that interested me and there was nothing there that was deeper than a rudimentary plan to get more money. I really wished there had been more to the story and there had been something I could have gotten behind but it was definitely lacking somewhat in the hook aspect.

The best bit of this book for me didn’t have an awful lot to do with the story and more to do with the audiobook performance because the accents that the narrator did were on point. It made what turned out to be a completely dull book into something that was barely enjoyable and readable. I really would have put this one down sooner if the audio hadn’t been so brilliant. I will say that The Sisters Brothers was a good beginner western and I was glad I picked this one up to read.

I have a lot of things to say about the worst bits in this book, there is an overwhelming amount of things that just didn’t work for me in this story. One of the big ones for me was definitely how quickly the story switched from place to place, event to event and there wasn’t an awful lot connecting them and it definitely wasn’t smooth. I would have loved to have fallen in love with the setting and with the characters but they just didn’t work out, there was just too much going on for me to connect or even care about what was going on.

The Sisters Brothers really wasn’t for me, there was something missing in this book. I wouldn’t recommend this book, I really didn’t enjoy it and I don’t think there is any redeeming features that would allow me to recommend it.

Would you like to read this one? Let me know!