Book Report: deWitt's world

Portland writer's book 'The Sisters Brothers' made into movie with John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal; his latest book is 'French Exit'

British Columbia-born writer Patrick deWitt moved to Portland eight years ago to raise his child after moving around between Los Angeles, Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Washington.

And he has continued to produce excellent books.

In "French Exit" ($24.99, HarperCollins), deWitt's darkly comic new book, we meet Frances Price, a wealthy widow, and her son, Malcolm. Their cat, meanwhile, is Frances' dead husband reincarnated.

In an early scene, mother and son ditch a party on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "Born to bore," the formidable Frances says of the hostess as Malcolm palms an expensive frame nicked from the bedroom.

DeWitt's characters can't lie. Readers will want to stash away the dialogue for later use. The plot moves right along, and when all the money's gone, Frances, Malcolm and the cat take a powder (scram) to France.

Scathing, hilarious, and beautiful, "French Exit" is probably the best thing you'll read in ages. But the book that made deWitt well-known is 2012's "The Sisters Brothers," which comes out as a movie this fall in which John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix play hired assassins Eli and Charlie Sisters in a western, gold rush-era setting. It also features Jake Gyllenhaal.

The trailer is up on YouTube. DeWitt's first book, "Ablutions," is about bartending and addiction. In 2016, he published "Undermajordomo Minor."

Recently, I looked for "The Sisters Brothers" on the Powell's website; it showed one used copy, and five in the warehouse. I usually stalk my own books, but was out of time, so I dialed the store. A comical moment followed: "Hello, I'm looking for a book, please, 'The Sisters Brothers' by Patrick deWitt." To wit the Powell's staffer responded gamely, "The Sister's ... brother?" And I replied, "Sorry, no, 'The Sisters Brothers.'" We went around for a bit before she asked for the ISBN number and said they actually had eight copies on hand.

Last week, I reached deWitt in Portland and discussed his work.

"It all came about a bit round about," he says of his book's adaptation to film, explaining that he wrote the screenplay for a film called "Terri" in which John C. Reilly plays a school principal who takes a social outcast under his wing. As he worked on early drafts of "The Sisters Brothers," deWitt showed it to "Terri" director Azazel Jacobs.

"I showed him a draft before I'd found a publisher, and he liked it, and sent it on to John, who I'd met briefly while working on Terri," says deWitt, who comes off as kind and thoughtful, nothing, to my relief, like his devastating Frances.

"I think John saw a little of himself in the character of Eli Sister," he says, adding that getting the project to this point has taken eight years. "John and his wife Alison (an independent film producer) were very cautious."

"The Sisters Brothers" book was a finalist for the prestigious literary Man Booker Prize.

This summer, deWitt is at work on a home renovation project and thankful that his dad "bullied" him into adding air-conditioning at an earlier stage. He says that he doesn't go out much, but that if he does he might go to Mississippi Studios or the Portland Museum of Modern Art basement art gallery.

"They're both easy for me to navigate socially," he says. "If I'm writing I can be pretty detached. But it's also important for me to engage socially, so I'll have friends over for dinner and we'll project a movie on the wall. Nothing particularly debauched."

I asked if he ever laughed as he worked. He said: "No, I don't really laugh as I'm working. Sometimes when I'm doing a reading I will laugh at something that strikes me as funny, which must seem really self-aggrandizing. I wouldn't like it if I saw another writer laughing at their own work. I think about how I might judge another writer who did that."

What books shaped him?

"I'm not sure I would necessarily want to read them now," he says, "but Charles Portis ('True Grit') shaped me a lot. He taught me that funny writing can also be beautiful. People tend to think that humorous writing is frivolous."

DeWitt adds that these days he's been reading mostly British female writers from the 1950s. "I've been going down a well with people like Barbara Comyns and Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Taylor, not to be confused with the actress. These are comedies of manners, often quite modest, expertly crafted and strange often times. They're often set in a chatty village where there's a church jumble sale going on. I can't seem to get enough of it."

It sounds a bit like the cozy mystery genre.

"Every time I hear that, cozy mystery, I think, 'That's what I want. I want to do that next.'"

I told him that I shared "French Exit" with my mom. Not to reveal too much, we were both saddened by the ending of one of the book's characters.

"Yes, it was a rough scene to write," he says. "You spend so much time with your characters and caring for them. I have an aversion to harming them."

DeWitt says he isn't a tortured writer.

"No, I enjoy it," he says. "I'm in a phase right now where if I don't have something to chip away at I feel a bit useless. So I'm happiest when that's a part of my life. I know my place is in my office. That's where I'm my most useful self."

Patrick deWitt reads and signs copies of "French Exit" at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28.