THE NEXT STORY: THE SISTERS BROTHERS PG 1-164

WARNING: SPOILERS (duh)

WE ARE BACK WITH ANOTHER BOOK!!! This time we jump from the life of Gogol into the adventurous and intense life of infamous mercenaries: the Sisters Brothers.

Right at the introduction of the book, we are introduced to the narrator and his brother- two conflicting personalities who are hired by the mysterious "Commodore" to kill a man for stealing. At the beginning, I can already picture the scene like it's from the movies: two shady looking and low-key buff cowboys armed with their hidden 5-shot revolvers, riding into an impending dust storm on their majestic horses with tumbleweed blowing across the terrain and spiky cacti being passed....

How I picture the cowboy mercenaries

"Townsmen." Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/danyarubenstein/costumes-dracula-rides-again/. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

BUUUUUUUUUT... It doesn't seem as this glorious as I have imagined. Getting accustomed to the different language used (like calling the doctor a "chemist"), I find it difficult to enjoy the lifestyle of the "wild west." LIKE GEEEEEEZ!!! They only JUST found out about brushing their teeth. LIKE WUT??!!! How do they make sure teeth don't...I don't know... TURN BLACK AND FALL OFF????? I can literally go on and on about hygiene and the nitty gritty in this book...

BUT ANYWAYS, the book sets up for great suspense as I can't seem to stop myself from reading on. It implements a great way of storytelling with the two very contrasting brothers of Eli and Charlie. Charlie is the remorseless ruthless one, mercilessly killing troubling travelers, riding a nimble horse (😆 heheheh get it? "nimble" cause his horse's name is "Nimble?" Not a good pun? Okay then...😯), drinking large amounts of brandy, and searching for valuables on dead corpses; he is the stereotypical mercenary. On the other hand (WAAAY other hand), Eli is the sensible one, wanting to help others, being bullied by his brother, and keeping his nearly disabled horse. This is all shown when the pair prepare to leave a lost kid: "He started crying and Charlie moved to strike him... I handed him the [gold flakes]...'What do you think you're going?' Charlie asked." (Dewitt, 111-112) Though they need to move on without the lost child, Charlie hopes to leave him to die and almost hits him (again for like the 10000th time) whereas Eli provides the child with money and advice on how the child's next moves.

I can already see what will happen if they are to kill someone... Eli will distract/plan while Charlie goes through with the actual killing. They seem like the stereotypical good cop, bad cop.

What the Sisters Brothers can be like if they are cops

"The Lego Movie CLIP - Good Cop (2014) - Liam Neeson, Chris Pratt Movie HD." YouTube, uploaded by Movieclips Coming Soon, 27 Jan. 2014z, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTscBtOTx70. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

If I categorize myself as either team Eli or team Charlie, I think I will be team Eli. Personally, I will feel terrible for hitting and robbing Watts (the "dentist"), leaving a little boy for dead, and casually killing a fleeing prospector by taking "the back off his skull like a cap in the wind" (Dewitt, 105). I also think of things way too much and will probably be hurt by my brother's nonchalant insulting words, even if he is rambling to himself, unknowing I am listening. However, I do understand where Charlie comes from. If I grew up in the wild west, experienced his adventures, and carried out his line of work, I will probably convert to team Charlie. I feel like if you grow up with killing and work in the professional killing business, you can become desensitized to the smell of gun powder, the sight of blood, and the sound of last words. On top of all that, the dangers of being mercenaries in the wild west setting and the potential-death-around-every-corner feeling give the ideology of kill or be killed; you never really know if your mistake can lead to you and your brother's deaths. Reading more and more of the novel, I picture Charlie as a John Wick sort of character- ruthless, cold, and dangerously skilled

See the resemblance? They are both cold mercenaries who have good aim and dress nicely (Charlie recently bought a full new outfit)

Johnbabayagawick. “GIF.” Tumblr, 26 Mar. 2017.

The events that unfold during the brothers' journey seem to test their personalities and their instincts of survival. From the pages of 1-164, the two brothers get ill in as many ways as you think possible (next thing you know they will be bleeding out of their teeth or something), meet a witch who curses them (some fake freaky deaky magic trick if you ask me), sell a prized muscle horse (they literally took a L there), watch a duel (RIP lawyer), ditch a lost and hungry boy (a justified move IMO), kill a prospector (I hated that prospector guy), kill 4 hunters (the hunters kinda deserve it), and lie, threaten, and rob the boss man Mayfield who treated them the day before (kinda questionable... unethical even... but what are ethics in this book anyways? I'm surprised Charlie didn't straight-up kill him). Through these events in their journey, their relationship as brothers is tested, as spoken through the words of Charlie:

"But I am the lead man. Yes. Well I am. You? You cannot lead your horse without assistance. Also you are sickly. Yes, you are. You invite sickness and worry. If you were not a blood relative I would have kept you back a long time ago. In fact the Commodore asked me to do just this, but I said no." (Dewitt, 57)

Though their relationship is built off deep trust (eg. both trusting one another with the counting trick to kill the 4 trappers), it seems that there is underlying shakiness. I guess this is mainly due to their diverging personalities. Based on their personalities, Charlie is naturally the alpha while Eli is the follower- Charlie, elected as the lead by the Commodore, is the leader while Eli abides by Charlie's decisions. TBH, I feel like this isn't most healthy relationship... I expect that the relationship between two brothers, who trust their lives with one another, to be unbreakable. I can only imagine the predicaments that can happen further on in the book. I can just picture Eli hanging off of a cliff with Charlie gripping Eli's outstretched hand. Not-so-nice-looking bad guys are running towards them. To fend the baddies off, Charlie lets go of Eli to save his own life and to escape with minimal injuries, while Eli screams "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa"as he falls to his utter doom. Charlie will then come to Eli's corpse, loot some money still on Eli's body, and ride away into the solemn night cursing about his brother's stupidity...

There goes Eli... It was fun while it lasted.

Han, Chris. “GIF.” CHMEDIA, 12 May 2014.

Looool sry for the random thought...

What do you think about the relationship between Eli and Charlie? Is it healthy?

Hmmmmmm, I wonder what's in store for the Sisters brothers. Think of all the randomness that can happen on their adventure in the Wild West setting! Will the witch's curse bring Eli to run into a cactus? Will Charlie be more sensible and start drinking less brandy? Will Eli ever get a girlfriend? Will Charlie "accidentally" shoot Eli? Will their relationship be torn apart? Will they change their name to Brothers Brothers?

We will never know what will happen... unless we read on.

LET'S DIVE DEEPER INTO THIS WORLD!!!