by Patrick deWitt
322 pages
Let me start by saying that this book is a best seller in the western genre. This is definitely not the type of book I usually read (or the type of movie I usually watch). I’m sure there are some great westerns out there, it’s just not really my thing. The cover of this book actually caught my attention. It has a big skull on it and two people standing in front making up the eyes. It’s simplistic but neat. Anyway, when I read what it was about, I thought it was intriguing.
This book follows the story of two hired killers, Charlie and Eli Sisters. The story is narrated by Eli, the younger of the two brothers. The two work for The Commodore and are on a job that requires them to kill a Mr. Warm. Traveling from Oregon to San Francisco during the gold rush, the brothers meet many adventures along the way. Often, when they get into sticky situations, they simply drop their own names and inspire fear in their company.
The thing about Eli is that you learn to care about him quite a bit. He is not simply a heartless, cold-blooded killer. He is thoughtful and compassionate. My favorite relationship in the book is not between the brothers, but between Eli and his horse, Tub. This is a horse that Eli claims to hate, yet refuses to get rid of time and time again.
After traveling for several weeks, the brothers finally find Mr. Warm. Once they do they actually fail at their job (kind of). The book takes a turn that you don’t really expect, but it wasn’t really shocking to read. I guess I won’t go into details here, in case you want to read it.
The writing itself was alright. It wasn’t a life-changing story even though it did have a pretty good ending. I think it’s important to have books where things don’t work out the way that we, or the characters, what them to. There were a few scenes that I found to be unnecessary to the overall plot, and could have done without.
In all fairness, I think it’s a little difficult for me to judge this book because it’s not something I am really into. Perhaps the facts that I wasn’t entirely bored out of my mind or that I felt some sort of empathy for a few of the characters is enough to say that it was an alright story. Would I read it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to someone who LOVES westerns? Maybe? Haha, it’s hard because I don’t really know what the genre should be. So, I will say that the story was decent but not really my cup of tea.
3 Stars