The Sisters Brothers

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JAKE GYLLENHAAL, JOHN C. REILLY AND JOAQUIN PHOENIX

A BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST

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.

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336 pages

Average rating: 7.55

47 RATINGS

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5 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

MrsReadsAlot
Dec 19, 2024
6/10 stars
Low key and interesting. I loved Eli's voice and the way very little seemed to rattle him. The twists and turns the job took kept my interest and the author has some wonderful descriptions - particularly of the effects of the "solution" on the skin.

I definitely recommend the audio book for this one. I'd actually give it 3 1/2 but round down.
Anonymous
Oct 15, 2024
8/10 stars
4.5 Stars! This was exactly what I was looking for in a western novel at this moment. The humor, the gore, and the adventure, this book had it all!
Anonymous
Dec 27, 2023
8/10 stars
Good book. It reads like a movie and I'm sure it will be one soon. It's fun and well written.
Anonymous
Apr 26, 2023
10/10 stars
If I'm expected to give an in depth review on this one, count me out. This has been read and reviewed by many, many folks who gladly went over the characters and the tale.

I'm just here to gush about it.

I could not put this book down. I loved the story. I loved Eli's narrative. I loved the characters, which is not to say I was required to like them or respect them or agree with their morals (or lack thereof) but what an interesting crew! This was fun and often dark humor funny but now and then, seemingly out of nowhere, Eli would have a thought that was so tender and true that it sent a little zing! through me.

'Our blood is the same, we just use it differently.'

What would the world be, I thought, without money hung around our necks, hung around our very souls?


I had heard the buzz about this book several years back but it just never peaked my interest enough to pick it up. SHAME ON ME.

'Most people are chained to their own fear and stupidity and haven't the sense to level a cold eye at just what is wrong with their lives. Most people will continue on, dissatisfied but never attempting to understand why, or how they might change things for the better, and they die with nothing in their hearts but dirt and old, thin blood - weak blood, diluted - and their memories aren't worth a goddamned thing, you will see what I mean.'

I mean...c'mon!

5 STARS
Bini Rob
Aug 15, 2022
Book 6: Fun, but did DeWitt know what he was doing?

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