9. The Sisters Brothers

By Patrick DeWitt

I think this was one of those rare times where I actually purchased a trade paperback brand new, jumping on the bandwagon with this much hyped novel.  I remember how the CBC and The Globe & Mail heaped praise on this book as the author is Canadian.  

Even Olman remembered the hype when he came across a a free copy several years later and decided to give it a go.  Thank goodness for that as I can just link to his review of it here (yay to retroactive reviews).

I’m trying to remember if I had ever read a real Western.  I don’t think I have, so this is the only book that comes close, though I'm not sure whether it counts as one.  Like how Speculative Fiction is high literature for the Sci-Fi genre, The Sisters Brothers is like Spec Fic for Westerns.   

I really quite enjoyed this book.  It had everything it was supposed to have in an award-winning 'literary western' of this calibre.  The brothers made a flawed yet charismatic pair tossing witty exchanges at each other, the plot had some bad guys, the story was engaging with the right amount of humour, action, and romance all delivered via high quality writing. 

… and this was the beginning of our new brotherhood, with Charlie never again to be the one so far ahead, and me following clumsily behind, which is not to say the roles were reversed, but destroyed. Afterward, and even today, we are careful in our relationship, as though fearful of upsetting each other. In terms of our previous manner of correspondence I cannot say why it vanished suddenly then, snuffed as it was like a candle. Of course the moment it passed I became fond of it in a sorrowful kind of way, at least in theory or maudlin memory. But the question has entered my mind so many times: Whatever became of my bold brother? I can never say, only that he was gone and has yet to return.

--

I brought this book with me during our vacation in Vancouver, where we visited friends in Lasqueti Island.  Not surprisingly, they had read this too.  

8. Sunshine

By Robin McKinley

I think I came across this book when I was in Vancouver.  As always, Olman was on the hunt for books and we were browsing in the used section of Pulp Fiction Books on Main St.   

I had read a few Robin McKinleys when I was a teenager, the three I remember most being The Hero & the Crown, The Blue Sword, and Beauty, her retelling of the well-known fairy tale.  

So when I saw that Sunshine was quite recently published (in 2004), a contemporary fantasy about a young baker who gets kidnapped by a gang of vampires, and it was a used copy in great condition, I couldn’t resist passing up on it.

Sunshine made for a light, charming read, but it was not particularly memorable nor very exciting, especially if compared to her early work.  Perhaps it was due to me being a teenager that made McKinley’s early books so captivating and full of adventure and magic.   

I remember feeling somewhat disappointed in Sunshine for its lack of depth and originality, since I was hoping McKinley would give the tiresome girl + vampire relationship genre her own unique vision, like she did with her retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

One thing I did appreciate was how the protagonist, Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, ends up being close allies with Constantine the Vampire, instead of she & him going all Twilight goo-goo ga-ga.   So that was one small ray of sunshine. That, and it was a waaay more pleasant read than my last book. But since I don’t see my copy of Sunshine next to The Blue Sword in my forever shelf, it was not enough to make this worth keeping.

Now I want to seek out a copy of The Hero and the Crown for a revisit!