The Sisters Brothers (and various thoughts about book critics and publishers)

Around Christmas 2011, there was a huge amount of hype about "The Sisters Brothers" by Patrick deWitt. The idea of reading a Western didn't really appeal to me and thankfully, my father was given the book by my aunt (saving me from buying it!)

While I thought I wouldn't enjoy it, I was pleasantly surprised and would recommend it! The book honestly reads like a short story and it is action packed, quick paced, and fun.

Maybe I associate Westerns with John Wayne and slow plotted movies that film dust storms and tumbleweeds. The basic plot is of Eli and Charlie Sisters traveling towards the west coast of California. They have been hired to kill a man (natch) and are notorious killers to most of the greater public. It really doesn't take much for them to pull a trigger, so expect a lot of blood.

I love the cover art on this book. The size is another story.

Charlie is a drunk. Eli is seeking a greater purpose in his life.  Together they get into strange situations (still trying to understand the witch thing), shoot a lot of people, drink and go to whore houses. It's really entertaining listening to Eli trying to make sense of it all.

Okay, now to a discussion on "funny":

All the critic quotes on and in the book talk about how hilarious the book is. This is not the first book I've read that has been deemed as hilarious where I don't laugh.

I have a sense of humour. This book was not funny. Whimsical, yes. Not, ha ha ha or LOL.

Who determines what is funny? Don't I have a sense of humour? David Sedaris is funny (I'm reading one of his works now). Why don't critics call "funny" works, "quirky"? Or "strange"? Or "weird"?

I think I am officially insulted.

And another thing: 

Is this why is the book is so friggin' big?!?!?!  The type is huge, .... , well, large. I threw this sucker in my purse one day and it practically took up the whole thing.

I am figuring the publisher probably thought that more men would read this book than woman. Do you think that they made the book bigger for "man hands"?

I'm insulted again!

The Sister Brothers is 9" in length and 6" wide.
(Stacked from bottom: The Sister Bros, Visit from the Goon Squad and Sons and Lovers)

Coming from a visual art background, I get the artsy-ness of a large paperback. It's cute. I get it. And I understand that sometimes a larger size lends it self to the story (I can't imagine D. Coupland's "Generation X" in a small format because it includes images, or any graphic book for that matter). And hardcover books tend to be bigger too.

But when novels are almost the size of a magazine, the publisher should consider that the reader may like to carry the book somewhere to read it.

Damn - I don't believe I actually measured it.