A review by bhsmith
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
4.0
The Sisters Brothers is two types of story wrapped up in one novel: a very cleverly written dark comedy, and also a laugh-out-loud absurdist comic travelogue through the landscape of the California gold-rush. Patrick deWitt does an excellent job weaving these two types of comic stories together into a very rewarding and engrossing tale.
The Sisters Brothers are assassins in the fever of the 1800s gold rush. The novel starts quite simply: the brothers get a new assignment of someone to kill. But, the journey to actually complete this job is where the fun really happens. They meet an odd cast of characters along the way and encounter some unusual obstacles just getting from one place to another. In fact, the bulk of this novel doesn't have anything to do with the murder they've been hired to commit, but rather just follows the brothers on their journey to take care of business.
Being assassins, there is plenty of death and killing and lack of respect for life in this book. Which is where the darkly comedic parts of the novel really shine. There is an undercurrent of death playing out in nearly every scene in the book, which very much fits the theme of the novel. These deaths often are a little grandiose or silly, but that plays nicely into the dark comedy... you laugh at the circumstances, but later feel a tad guilty you were laughing about death.
The absurdist comedy is also sprinkled throughout the whole book. In fact, each chapter is only a few pages long, and the entire novel really reads like a "set 'em up and knock 'em down" style of sketch comedy. The antics of the brothers and all the people they meet fit nicely into these tiny chapter-length anecdotes.
The Sisters Brothers is a quick, fun read with plenty of twists and turns and unexpected outcomes to keep things interesting all the way to the end.
The Sisters Brothers are assassins in the fever of the 1800s gold rush. The novel starts quite simply: the brothers get a new assignment of someone to kill. But, the journey to actually complete this job is where the fun really happens. They meet an odd cast of characters along the way and encounter some unusual obstacles just getting from one place to another. In fact, the bulk of this novel doesn't have anything to do with the murder they've been hired to commit, but rather just follows the brothers on their journey to take care of business.
Being assassins, there is plenty of death and killing and lack of respect for life in this book. Which is where the darkly comedic parts of the novel really shine. There is an undercurrent of death playing out in nearly every scene in the book, which very much fits the theme of the novel. These deaths often are a little grandiose or silly, but that plays nicely into the dark comedy... you laugh at the circumstances, but later feel a tad guilty you were laughing about death.
The absurdist comedy is also sprinkled throughout the whole book. In fact, each chapter is only a few pages long, and the entire novel really reads like a "set 'em up and knock 'em down" style of sketch comedy. The antics of the brothers and all the people they meet fit nicely into these tiny chapter-length anecdotes.
The Sisters Brothers is a quick, fun read with plenty of twists and turns and unexpected outcomes to keep things interesting all the way to the end.