The Sisters Brothers: The Book or the Movie?

There are many age old questions that, despite being constant topics of discussion and debate, just never seem to get an answer. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? What happens to us after death? How did life actually begin? Which armrest is yours at the movie theatre (I can never figure this one out)? Some of these questions we may never know the answer to, but that won’t stop most of us from trying.

Perhaps equally important, especially to film and book lovers, is the question: Which is better, the book or the movie? Some films, such as The Godfather or Jurassic Park, are absolute no-brainers, with both widely considered the best of their kind in the film world–and this is meant as no disrespect to Mario Puzo or Michael Crichton, respectively. There are also books like The Great Gatsby or The Chronicles of Narnia that, despite valiant efforts by film-makers to adapt them into exciting stories for the screen, failed to live up to the magic of their original sources.

Most others, however, are the topic of rigorous, ongoing debate so I decided to pick one and begin with a favourite of mine written by Vancouver Island-born author Patrick deWitt called, The Sisters Brothers.

“There are things in the book you could never do in a movie.”

Noah Hathaway

Set in the 19th century during the California gold rush, the story focuses on two brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters, who must make their way to California to kill a man who has discovered a chemical solution that helps illuminate gold and cuts down on the tedious nature of panning for the valuable substance. Motivated by greed, the two brothers come across many colourful characters in this darkly funny road story that has plenty of action with more tempered moments peppered in throughout.

The brilliance of this novel lies with deWitt’s narrator, Eli Sisters, who provides the reader with authentic and thoughtful musings that are at times serious, and at other times comically dark, but always startlingly honest and a reflection of his time. Much of what made that point in history difficult to live in–child starvation, disease, drunken saloon/whorehouse fights–is present in this story but serves only as a detour to the delicate mind of Eli, perhaps an anachronism in his own time. Although we are introduced to him as a killer, it is only with hesitation that Eli does what he does, as he tells us he would much rather be doing something like being a shopkeeper. It is his brother, Charlie, who is the cold-blooded killer, willing to go to any lengths to get what he wants and who often sleeps with one eye open, just in case some blood-thirsty would-be killer tries to intervene in his sleep. These two brothers clearly need one another, as Eli would lack all motivation without Charlie, while Charlie would surely end up drunk and dead without his more cautious and even-headed brother.

Through sharp and unapologetic writing, deWitt creates a fast-paced page-turner that keeps the reader wanting more and allows for more than a few laugh-out-loud moments despite the oftentimes violent and bleak subject matter. It is precisely because of the dark approach to the subject, along with satirical and even farcical situations and characters, that the novel is such a delight to read.