Synopsis: Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn’t share his brother’s appetite for whiskey and killing, he’s never known anything else. But their prey isn’t an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm’s gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living-and whom he does it for.
With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters-losers, cheaters, and ne’er-do-wells from all stripes of life-and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humour, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.
The book was awarded with Man Booker Prize Nominee (2011), Oregon Book Award for Fiction (2012), Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal (2012), Scotiabank Giller Prize Nominee (2011), Governor General’s Literary Awards / Prix litteraires du Gouverneur general for Fiction (2011).
The film rights for the novel were sold to actor John C. Reilly’s production company and adapted into a 2018 film of the same name, with Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix playing Eli and Charlie, respectively. The film, directed by Jacques Audiard and starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed, premiered on 2 September 2018 at Venice International Film Festival were Jacques Audiard won the Silver Lion award for best director, for this film.
I added this book to my long wish list.
About the Author: Patrick deWitt (born 1975) is a Canadian novelist and screenwriter. He was born on Vancouver Island at Sidney, British Columbia, and later lived in California and Washington state. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon. His first book, Ablutions (2009), was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice book. His second, The Sisters Brothers (2011), was shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the 2011 Governor General’s Award for English language fiction. He was one of two Canadian writers, alongside Esi Edugyan, to make all four award lists in 2011. On 1 November 2011, he was announced as the winner of the Rogers Prize, and on 15 November 2011, he was announced as the winner of Canada’s 2011 Governor General’s Award for English language fiction. On 26 April 2012, the novel won the 2012 Stephen Leacock Award. Alongside Edugyan, The Sisters Brothers was also a shortlisted nominee for the 2012 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. The Sisters Brothers was adapted as a film released in 2018. His third novel, Undermajordomo Minor, was published in 2015. The novel was longlisted for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize. DeWitt’s most recent novel, French Exit, was published in August 2018 by Ecco Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. The book was named as a shortlisted finalist for the 2018 Giller Prize. (Source: Wikipedia)
A Crime is Afoot 