The Sisters Brothers, - Patrick deWitt

"... 'Now you dance, chink!' With these words, the boy began dancing wildly and without grace, looking much like someone forced to stand barefoot over hot coals. It was an ugly thing to witness, and if I had not before made my decision about Mayfield, the matter was now settled in my mind." - Eli Sisters

After reading and greatly enjoying this book, it's finally come to me that I’m a fan of the Western. It surprises me, although I’m doing some head-smacking at my lateness in the realization. Westerns, whether in book or film form, bored me when I was younger. I think the drab landscape, lack of technology and overused tropes kept me away. What I think has brought me back is the prose in both Portis’ book “True Grit” and the recently remade film, as well as the excellent HBO series “Deadwood.” I have a fondness for this style of prose - characterized by formal use of language, sometimes punctuated by expletives and employing minimal use of contractions. DeWitt continues this style to magnificent effect.

This is a tale of Eli and Charlie Sisters: two brothers who are killers for hire. They encounter many characters and events on their journey. This might be called an anti-Western for its satirical moments, somewhat rambling plot and overall bleak outlook on civilization. The plot is secondary in my view, although it isn’t horrible. The joy of reading this book is the musings of the narrator, Eli Sisters as well as other characters in the book.

I’ve collected a few that follow.

Regarding gold-rush era San Francisco:

"’You must understand, gentlemen, that the tradition of thrift and sensible spending has all but vanished here. For example, when I arrived last time from working my claim I had a sizeable sack of gold dust, and though I knew it was lunacy I decided to sit down and have a large dinner in the most expensive restaurant I could find... and for this repast, which would have put me back perhaps half a dollar in my hometown, I paid the sum of thirty dollars in cash’

Charlie was disgusted. ‘Only a moron would pay that.’

‘I agree,’ said the man. ‘One hundred percent I agree. And I am happy to welcome you to a town peopled in morons exclusively. I hope that your transformation to moron is not an unpleasant experience.’”

 

“‘Yesterday I saw a man leap from the roof of the Orient Hotel, laughing all the way to the ground, upon which he fairly exploded. He was drunk, they say, but I had seen him sober shortly before this. There is a feeling here, which if it gets you, will envenom your very center. It is a madness of possibilities. That leaping man’s final act was the embodiment of the collective mind of San Francisco. I understand it completely. I had a strong desire to applaud, if you want to know the truth.’”

This is the most I’ve enjoyed a book in a long time. A blurb refers to it as “cowboy noir,” which is apt. It is much-appreciated storytelling enlivened by simple, straightforward, writing craft.

Body count:

16 men shot
2 men poisoned
1 man drowned
1 man suicide by axe
2 bears
4 horses
1 dog
9 beavers

Prometheus

There are a few things good about this movie, unfortunately they don’t make up for the movie being, well, stupid. If you’re reading this as a part of your decision process to see it in the theater, don't. Overall, the movie misses its mark. Read on if you don’t mind spoilers or have already seen the film.

Good things about the movie are Michael Fassbender’s performance and the cinematography and special effects.

So much for the good aspects.

The script for this movie simply makes no sense. During the opening scene, we are introduced to two archaeologists in love, Elizabeth and Charlie, who find a cave painting depicting giant humanoids pointing out to a star cluster. They connect this to other primitive cultures' depictions of similar humanoids pointing to a similar star cluster (5 stars).

Somehow that’s interpreted as an invitation to come find humanity’s creators (the “engineers”)? They rustle up some funding from Weyland-Yutani corporation - a TRILLION dollars, according to Meredith Vickers, played by Charlize Theron, the chosen Weyland representative. Vickers and crew, aboard the spaceship Prometheus, head to a distant moon. How they were able to narrow down a cluster of 5 heavenly bodies to a single spot in the universe seems ridiculous, but, okay, it moves the story forward.

Once aboard the ship, it seems that Meredith Vickers is in charge, but then a hologram of Peter Weyland, the company founder, instructs them that the archaeologists in love are in charge. Plus we have the captain of the ship, played by Idris Elba, who also seems to have some autonomy. A trillion-dollar expedition where no one is quite certain who’s boss?

Upon arrival at the moon, this lack of leadership is evident as they run off without, seemingly, forming a plan. Cap’n Janek warns them they only have 6 hours of daylight left, but damn the torpedos (!), the archaeologists in love are not going to wait to meet their makers! Ahem.

Other characters on this exploratory mission include a geologist and a biologist. These guys are the best part of the movie. Upon entering a cave complex, the geologist sets out robotic drones that quickly map the subterranean caverns and tunnels. The geologist skillfully leads them through the caverns whereupon they find dead engineers. The geologist and the biologist freak out at this. They knew there was the prospect of finding LIVE engineers and I guess they assumed that they would be friendly, but the fact that they were massacred, 2000 YEARS AGO, is freaking them out. So they split. Not only do they split, but THEY GET LOST. EVEN THOUGH THE ENTIRE PLACE IS MAPPED WITH THE GEOLOGIST’S DRONES AND THEY’RE IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH CAP’N JANEK. A storm comes and these two are forced to spend the night in the cave. During the night they run into a phallic, alien, snake-like creature. They're trapped underground, millions of miles from home and they're encountering their first live alien which acts just like a king cobra. What does the highly qualified BIOLOGIST, hired to go on a TRILLION-DOLLAR MISSION DO? HE TREATS IT LIKE A GERBIL FOR FUCK’S SAKE, COOING AT IT AND OFFERING HIS HAND TO IT, WHEREUPON ANIMALS ATTACK AND HE AND THE HANSEL-AND-GRETEL GEOLOGIST RIGHTLY SUFFER A HORRIBLE DEATH.

I almost applauded.

I’ll just (try and) stop here. They have an automated surgery pod that is for men only because apparently having breasts and a vagina complicates a pod capable of robotic surgery. The archaeologist in love convinces it to do an alien abortion, anyhow, and with her stomach stapled completes a bunch of action scenes meanwhile the rest of the crew ignores the abortion and the blood-spattered pod. Um, what else? Vickers gets crushed to death by a crashing, rolling space ship because she couldn’t figure out how to run a perpendicular path from it. I guess she thought it was chasing her. There are also tired existential discussions attempting to drive this film and two members of the crew we know nothing about who agree on a kamikaze mission at the end.

There is more. Suffice it say that this movie fails due to lazy writing.

I just hoped this would be better than "Alien 3" or "Alien Resurrection." Please don't make me pick where "Prometheus" fits in the now 3 horrible Alien franchise films.

The Peculiar Memories Of Thomas Penman - Bruce Robinson

This was a tough decision to either forge ahead and finish or abandon it (which is what I did).

Part of my hesitancy to finish was Robinson's style (it's not unfair to label it a little obtuse), fascination with the mundane details and, well, frankly, not understanding the British place names, etc (shame on me for letting that be a factor).

I put this on my "to reread" shelf because after I turned the book back into the library, I am still thinking about it and maybe regretting not pushing through. It certainly has some charm, isn't horribly long and I'm experiencing some regret.

On the other hand, there are way too many books out there and life is short.

If you're reading this in an attempt to decide whether or not to read it, please, give it a shot. I'm very much on the fence and didn't give it a full read.