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New West Book Review

‘The Sisters Brothers’ Updates A Classic Western Novel Scenario

By Jenny Shank, 5-16-11

The Sisters Brothers (Ecco, 328 pages, $24.99), the second novel by Oregon’s Patrick DeWitt, is an update on a classic Western scenario, featuring hired killers on horseback out to get their man, traveling through hard-bitten frontier outposts in 1851. DeWitt has invigorated this well-worn path with wit, style, and imagination. Brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters are hit men working for a mysterious wealthy Oregon man named the Commodore. As the book opens, the Commodore has dispatched the Sisters brothers to kill Hermann Kermit Warm, who is currently being watched by Henry Morris, another of Commodore’s men, in California.

The Sisters brothers move across the country in a welter of violence, but the carnage goes down easily through the endearing narration of Eli, the younger, fatter, and more reluctant killer of the two. Eli narrates in a humorous, formal sort of diction that several critics have compared to that of Mattie Ross in True Grit, but Eli is more of a softie than Mattie ever was, collecting his half of the money whenever he and his brother kill someone for profit, but then giving it away to prostitutes and other women who sway his sensitive heart before he’s had a chance to spend any of it.

While Charlie is all black moods and sudden vengeance, Eli can’t even properly detest his new horse named Tub, who the Commodore gave him after his prior horse was “immolated.” Eli reflects, “Tub was a healthy enough animal but would have been better suited to some other, less ambitious owner. He was portly and low-backed and could not travel more than fifty miles in a day. I was often forced to whip him, which some men do not mind doing and which in fact some enjoy doing, but which I did not like to do; and afterward he, Tub, believed me cruel and thought to himself, Sad life, sad life.”

Eli’s feelings about his horse reflect his ideas about his work. He longs to settle down and become a shopkeeper. He kills when he must, but he doesn’t enjoy it, while Charlie fairly relishes it most of the time. The brothers bicker frequently, often about Eli’s resentment at the Commodore having named Charlie “lead man,” Charlie’s excessive drinking, and Eli’s soft heart, but they always have each other’s backs, and have been outlaws and constant companions since the day when Charlie had to kill their father to save their mother’s life.

Some typical Western novel happenings ensue—the brothers stay at lodgings above saloons and enjoy the company of prostitutes, visit a trading post, run into a grizzly and various desperadoes and prospectors heading to California to seek gold, and are robbed by Indians. But there are also plenty of deviations from the expected, as DeWitt often takes a break from realism to introduce magic, such as when the brothers shelter in a cabin with a “vile gypsy-witch” who curses them, run into a mysterious “weeping man” several times, and meet a fetching, consumptive accountant who wins Eli’s heart. The focus of the brothers’ quest is a magical potion that causes gold to glow underwater for easy harvesting.

The dialogue is first-rate, and DeWitt gets good mileage out of physical comedy, as Eli suffers a dental emergency, decides he’s too fat for romance and attempts to diet, Tub’s poor body becomes more and more wrecked, and Charlie tries to act sensibly amid epic alcoholic binges. Here’s an exchange while a “dentist” extracts one Charlie’s teeth that is typical of the humorous dialogue throughout:

“‘Where did you study dentistry?’ Charlie asked.
‘A most reputable institution,’ he answered. But there was a smirk on his lips I did not care for.
‘I understand the course of study takes several years,’ I said.
‘Years?’ said Watts, and he laughed.”

The dentist has the good sense to introduce Eli to a useful invention: the toothbrush, which becomes the centerpiece of several comic scenes.

The Sisters Brothers manages the difficult trick of making a vicious killer so endearing that you are rooting for him and his dream of a peaceful existence by the end.

Patrick DeWitt will discuss The Sisters Brothers at University Bookstore in Seattle (4326 University Way) on May 18, at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland on May 19, and in Denver at the Tattered Cover (Colfax) on May 24.

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