Book Review: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Book: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Author: David Wroblewski

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Brief synopsis:

I picked this book up off the bargain rack at Borders. It had great reviews on the back (but then again don't all books?) I was particularly compelled by Stephen King's review. He loved the book. I knew it had been a best-seller and while, not always a selling point for me, it had been in Oprah's Book Club. So, I gave it a try.

Here's a brief synopsis:

Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. 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. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm--and into Edgar's mother's affections.

Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires--spectacularly. 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. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

It was a good book, but too long for me, and in the end, too tragic and ambiguous. There was good and bad about this book for me. I will say the writing was rich and the story was intriguing, but I found it too be far too long in the middle. By reading the jacket (above), I expected the bulk of the tale to be the story of Edgar coming of age in the woods and the adventures he and the dogs would have. This didn't even happen until 300 pages into the book. It also told basically an overarching synopsis of basically the whole book, no real shock factor as to where the plot lines went. Although, I will say, the events of the end of the book were not what I expected at all.

What was done extraordinarily well in this book was capturing the relationship between Edgar and the dogs. Dog lovers will appreciate this relationship. That really was what kept me going in this book, especially when I felt like how am I going to ever finish this super long book and felt frustrated that the plot line was moving slowly for me. (It did pick up a lot once Edgar ran away.)

The book broke the story into five sections. I think it could have been four sections, with the second and third combined into one (or both significantly shorter) and more focus on the fourth section.

I will say, I was honestly quite disappointed in the end. It was just too ambiguous and melancholy for me, especially after having invested 566 pages into the book. While not every book can have a happy ending, I at least expect an ending that is not ambiguous. I found the ending to the case in this book and walked away feeling frustrated like the author had written for so, so long and had just deflated at the end.

So, would I recommend this book? Maybe. But only to those who are okay with writers who have a need to write long and prove they have a rich vocabulary. Wroblewski does. It's a good story, I liked the plot. But I did often find my mind wandering, and that was disappointing because I'd have to go back and re-read sections to remember where I was at in the book.

I guess, maybe listen to Stephen King, not me, if you want to read it. King says:

"I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and spent twelve happy evenings immersed in the world David Wroblewski has created. 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. 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 end, this isn't a novel about dogs or heartland America--although it is a deeply American work of literature. It's a novel about the human heart, and the mysteries that live there, understood but impossible to articulate. 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. 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.

In truth, there's never been a book quite like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. 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.

I'm pretty sure this book is going to be a bestseller, but unlike some, it deserves to be. 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.

Wonderful, mysterious, long and satisfying: readers who pick up this novel are going to enter a richer world. I envy them the trip. I don't re-read many books, because life is too short. I will be re-reading this one."