Monday 30 July 2012

Review ~ The Sister Brothers by Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers





This book is so far out of my comfort zone that I wasn't sure whether I would be able to find anything in it to enjoy, but I am pleased to say that I absolutely loved the whole of the book from start to finish.
I read it quickly over the space of a couple of days, and soon became enthralled in the story of Eli and Charlie Sisters.

Hired by the mysterious Commadore, Charlie and Eli are charged with tracking down and killing the eccentrically named Hermann Kermit Warm, but in order to do so they must travel to the gold fields of Sacramento. The spirit of the wild west and the desolation of the gold fields was perfectly done - you could sense the greed and the squalor. The overwheming desperation as men fought to survive in a tough and often unforgiving wilderness.There is an abundance of dark and drear humour, and yet there are also flashes of brilliance, and some genuine laugh out loud funny moments.My only cringe moments came with the bouts of violence and animal cruelty, this sort of thing doesn't sit easy with me, but I can fully understand why is was there - it did fit in with the story and wasn't gratuitously violent -

Both Charlie and Eli, whilst never likeable characters, do get under your skin, and in the end , despite their arrogance and irascibility, I ended the book feeling a certain amount of sympathy for both of them.

It's also one of my favourite book covers ever !!!



The Sister Brothers get a  5 ***** review from me ... I think Jaffa is reserving judgement on this one !

4 comments:

  1. I bought this for my Mum at Christmas and was (not very) secretly waiting for her to finish it so I could snap it up. She has finally got around to reading it so it's next on my TBR! Can't wait. As you have said, the cover is so fantastic!

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    1. Hi Marie - It's funny how we buy books for other people when secretly we long to read them ourselves !
      Hope you enjoy it Marie :)

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  2. I do like the cover of this one and also the clever title. I don't like the idea of the animal cruelty though.

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    1. Hi Lindsay - I agree that the cover and title are inspired ...

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Thanks for taking the time to comment - Jaffareadstoo appreciates your interest.