Thursday, May 31, 2012

#23: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Two gunslinging brothers are set on a murderous trail, seeing their lives change slowly--then quickly--in Patrick deWitt's lyrical Western The Sisters Brothers.

The novel will probably draw parallels to the Coen Brothers' version of True Grit (and naturally Charles Portis' novel), but it felt more to me like the longer-ago film Little Big Man (and Thomas Berger's novel as well).   

The Sisters Brothers is filled with dark magic and allegory, longing and regret, the hero's journey.  With all of that it is written in a baroque, often humorous style and is a quick read.

This book came recommended to me from several avenues and was loaned by a friend.  It's the kind of book, like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a few years ago, that I feel comfortable recommending to anyone who likes to read.  Probably one of my favorite reads of the year to date.

No comments:

Post a Comment