Recently I found myself bemoaning the dearth of enticingly written novels set in the 19th century American West. So it is especially pleasing to come across Patrick Dewitt’s newly published novel The Sisters Brothers (Ecco)which fits that bill.
Here’s the book trailer which should receive credit for something if not for usefulness
Charlie and Eli Sisters are hired guns—well actually, killers. It is the mid 19th century Gold rush west coast and they work for the Commodore, out of Oregon City. In this narrative they are on the hunt for Hermann Kermit Warm by whom the Commodore claims to be aggrieved. On their picaresque journey to the gold fields, narrated by Eli, they come across crazies and eccentrics,losers, cheaters, and ne’er-do-wells who provide comic fodder for Eli’s compelling and complicated (and darkly funny point of view.
Young De Witt’s (The Ablutions) second novel will stir ready comparisons to Charles Portis’s True Grit. It also compares favorably to the less known (but not less accomplished) God’s Country by Percival Everett.
I am thinking that there’s a very big talent emerging but you judge for yourself here.
ourmaninboston 