“The Sisters Brothers”

“The Sisters Brothers is so perfect and wonderful that I can’t imagine picking up another book for a while. There’s just no point. Okay, it’s kind of like eating a filet with just the right amount of pink in the center for dinner. You wake up and eventually have to eat something else, but the entire time your mind is on that filet.

The author, Patrick deWitt, is going to be a big deal. A very big deal. If you haven’t picked up his last book, Ablutions, then I suggest you do so immediately. You’ll never read another book that opens up into a dark place with such gentleness and care.

The Sisters Brothers is a western, a dark comedy, and you could compare it to so many other big name authors like Robert Olmstead, Cormac McCarthy, Mark Twain, or Charles Portis. But to tell the truth, dissecting what makes this book great is like taking apart a plasma TV: I’d have all these parts that are clearly important, but I don’t have the mastery to really explain how they work or to put them back together for you.

Have some guts, take a chance, and just read the book. It is my personal and professional opinion that you need to. Trust me.