For a woman who enjoys a good Western movie (Tombstone is my jam!), I don’t read a lot – or really any – Westerns. For the 2024 Popsugar Reading Challenge, prompt #11 asks you to read a book in a genre you typically avoid. And since I’d bought an ebook of The Sisters Brothers years ago but never gotten around to reading it, I knew what book I’d use to fill that prompt.
The Sisters Brothers was… interesting. Patrick deWitt doesn’t shy away from describing what the brothers are – a pair of hitmen who have no problem killing others, both on the orders of their boss and for their own reasons. They’re not vicious, mostly. No prolonged torture or what have you. But they beat up people to get information (or their money), they kill an innocent stablehand simply because he witnessed them cheat a gunfight to win, and they discuss whether or not to kill the men they’ve been sent after on this mission. Violent men, who are mostly content with their occupation.
Most of the book felt a bit meandering, as the brothers’ journey from Oregon City down to Sacramento takes them several weeks and has diversions along the way. Eli’s obsession with the tooth powder and tooth brush was a funny through-line, as was his disdain for (and then concern over) Tubs. The descriptions of how the California Gold Rush has ruined so many people and places was honestly pretty depressing. All that violence and destruction and waste and rot, all as a result of man’s greed and avarice.
Probably the most touching part of the book was the relationship between Morris and Warm. The two men had barely known each other, but cared deeply for the other and their shared project. The final gold panning segment where Eli reflects on the beauty of the moment was truly lovely.
And then of course the end. All the reviews I read talk about how The Sisters Brothers is a comedy, but it is a bleak one. The final portion isn’t unhappy, but it certainly feels like a kick in the head at times. Which, why should I care, right? Charlie and Eli are murderers, so what does it matter if they run into troubles? Nevertheless I did care, and I felt bad that everything kept falling apart around them. The very end is hopeful, and that’s nice. I don’t think The Sisters Brothers has convinced me to give more Westerns a try, but it also hasn’t turned me further away from the genre, and I think that’s about the best I can say about it.
