Books like “The Sisters Brothers”

What to read after “The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick deWitt: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

About “The Sisters Brothers”

Another favorite book?

Or start with a well-known book

1
The Revenant
Michael Punke · 2002
Same genre: “Western”
- Wild West
- Quest
Frontiersman Hugh Glass is mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companions, who take his rifle and supplies. He crawls out of the wilderness and sets out on a long journey to find the men who abandoned him.
2
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry · 1985
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Two former Texas Rangers drive a herd of cattle north to Montana, leading a ragged crew across rivers, drought and hostile country. The long journey tests the old friendship of the two men and the loyalties of everyone who follows them.
3
The Call of the Wild
Jack London · 1903
Similar setting: “Wild West”
- Wild West
Stolen from a comfortable California home, the dog Buck is sold into the Klondike gold rush and forced to haul sleds through frozen wilderness. Amid cruelty and hardship he discovers a wildness within himself that calls him away from men.
4
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini · 2007
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
Mariam and Laila, born a generation apart in Afghanistan, are forced together by marriage to the same violent man. Through decades of war and loss, the two women become each other's only home and take great risks for the chance of a different life.
5
The Push
Ashley Audrain · 2021
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
A new mother is certain something is wrong with her daughter, though everyone insists she is imagining it. Told across three generations of women, the story follows her fear and guilt as her doubts about her child harden into certainty.
6
Jhereg
Steven Brust · 1983
Shared in the plot: insist, hired
- Assassin Protagonist
- Morally Grey Character
Vlad Taltos is an assassin who has risen to run a piece of the Jhereg, the empire's crime syndicate. Hired to kill Mellar, a Jhereg boss who has embezzled a fortune, Vlad finds him sheltering as the guest of the Dragonlord Morrolan, whose code of hospitality forbids any harm to come to him—and the Jhereg insist the hit be done before Mellar leaves.
7
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
Narrated by Death, the story follows Liesel Meminger, a girl sent to live with a foster family in Nazi Germany. She steals books, shares them with a Jewish man hiding in the basement, and grows up amid bombs, loss and small acts of kindness.
8
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
A young woman in colonial Korea, Sunja, leaves home for Japan with a husband she barely knows and raises a family that lives as outsiders for generations. Through war and poverty, the household holds on to its dignity and its secrets.
9
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel · 2014
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
After a flu wipes out most of humanity, a travelling theatre troupe moves between the small settlements that remain, performing Shakespeare. The story follows survivors across decades and asks what of civilization is worth carrying forward.
10
The Lost City of Z
David Grann · 2009
Similar plot moves: “Quest”
- Quest
In 1925 the explorer Percy Fawcett walked into the Amazon to find a fabled civilization he called Z, and never came out. Decades later a journalist follows the same trails, sifting clues and rumors to learn what became of the missing expedition.
11
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky · 1999
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
Through letters to a stranger, shy teenager Charlie describes his first year of high school. He is taken in by a group of older friends who introduce him to music, love and heartbreak, even as he struggles with grief and memories he cannot fully face.
12
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe · 1958
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
Okonkwo, a respected wrestler and farmer in a Nigerian village, builds his standing on a fear of appearing weak. When he is exiled and, years later, British missionaries and officials arrive, the customs that shaped him begin to collapse around him and his people.