Review
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (P.S.) by David Wroblewski
After another gut-wrenching tragedy, Edgar goes on the run, accompanied by three loyal dogs. Sustained by a momentum that has the crushing inevitability of fate, the propulsive narrative will have readers sucked in all the way through the breathtaking final scenes. g All rights reserved.. When Gar unexpectedly dies, mute Edgar cannot summon help via the telephone. His quest for safety and succor provides a classic coming-of-age story with an ironic twist. Edgar, born mute, has developed a special relationship and a unique means of communicating with Almondine, one of the Sawtelle dogs, a fictional breed distinguished by personality, temperament and the dogs' ability to intuit commands and to make decisions. A literary thriller with commercial legs, this stunning debut is bound to be a bestseller. Raising them is an arduous life, but a satisfying one for the family until Gar's brother, Claude, a mystifying mixture of charm and menace, arrives. His guilt and grief give way to the realization that his father was murdered; here, the resemblance to Hamlet resonates. In the backwoods of Wisconsin, the Sawtelle familyGar, Trudy and their young son, Edgarcarry on the family business of breeding and training dogs. I thought of Hamlet when I was reading it, and Watership Down, and The Night of the Hunter, and The Life of Pi--but halfway through, I put all comparisons aside and let it just be itself. It's also going to be the subject of a great many reading groups, and when the members take up Edgar, I think they will be apt to stick to the book and forget the neighborhood gossip. I don't re-read many books, because life is too short. In truth, there's never been a book quite like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I closed the book with that regret readers feel only after experiencing the best stories: It's over, you think, and I won't read another one this good for a long, long time. I'm pretty sure this book is going to be a bestseller, but unlike some, it deserves to be. Dog-lovers in particular will find themselves riveted by this story, because the canine world has never been explored with such imagination and emotional resonance. Yet in the person of Edgar Sawtelle, a mute boy who takes three of his dogs on a brave and dangerous odyssey, Wroblewski does articulate them, and splendidly. Continue Reading Double Life, With Dogs Praise from Stephen King "I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and spent twelve happy evenings immersed in the world David Wroblewski has created. I envy them the trip. I will be re-reading this one."Starred Review. Wonderful, mysterious, long and satisfying: readers who pick up this novel are going to enter a richer world. Yet in the end, this isn't a novel about dogs or heartland America--although it is a deeply American work of literature. That was a surprise. As I neared the end, I kept finding excuses to put the book aside for a little, not because I didn't like it, but because I liked it too much; I didn't want it to end. A little while after that, an idea for a story came to me--not the whole thing, but enough to start. I'd recently come to know a good dog, maybe the best dog I'd ever met, and the subject of people and dogs and ethics and character suddenly seemed urgent. But when I went looking for such a story, I had to go back almost a hundred years, back to Jack London's Call of the Wild. It's a novel about the human heart, and the mysteries that live there, understood but impossible to articulate. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm--and into Edgar's mother's affections. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle came about because some time ago I wished I could read a novel about a boy and his dog, one that integrated our contemporary knowledge of canine behavior, cognition, and origins with my experience of living with dogs; if possible, something flavored with the uncynical Midwestern sense of heart and purpose so familiar from my childhood (and something which, in truth, I've spent much my adult life being slightly ashamed of, as if either heart or purpose were embarrassing attributes for a grown-up to display). But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. There's no other reason to do it, to spend years pacing around your basement, mumbling, pecking at a keyboard, turning your back on a world that offers such a feast of delicious fruits. Edgar's tale takes you to the extremes of what humans must endure, and when you're finally released, you will come back to yourself feeling wiser, and flush with gratitude. But David Wroblewski's extraordinary way with language in The Story of Edgar Sawtelle immerses readers in a living, breathing world that is both fantastic and utterly believable. Double Life, with Dogs: An Amazon Exclusive Essay by David Wroblewski We write the stories we wish we could read. But among human families, undesirable traits aren't so easily predicted, and clashes can erupt with tragic force. Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires--spectacularly. In selecting for temperament and a special intelligence, Edgar's grandfather started a line of unusual dogs--the Sawtelles--and his sons carried on his work. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. And you will have remembered what magnificent alchemy a finely wrought novel can work. --Mari Malcolm Book DescriptionBorn mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes--the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain--create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally.