The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: David Wroblewski
Publisher: Ecco
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.48
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Rating:  674 reviews
Sales Rank: 694
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.5 x 2
ISBN: 0061374229
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780061374227
ASIN: 0061374229
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
bAmazon Best of the Month, June 2008/b: It's gutsy for a debut novelist to offer a modern take on iHamlet/i set in rural Wisconsin--particularly one in which the young hero, born mute, communicates with people, dogs, and the occasional ghost through his own mix of sign and body language. But David Wroblewski's extraordinary way with language in iThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle/i immerses readers in a living, breathing world that is both fantastic and utterly believable. 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. But among human families, undesirable traits aren't so easily predicted, and clashes can erupt with tragic force. 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. And you will have remembered what magnificent alchemy a finely wrought novel can work. --iMari Malcolm/i pHR class=bucketDivider noShade SIZE=1pp span class="h1"strongBook Description/strong/spanbr\ pBorn 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. /p pGrief-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./p pDavid 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. /p p align=left span class="h1"strongiDouble Life, with Dogs/i: An Amazon Exclusive Essay by David Wroblewski /strong/span p img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/books/harper-gms/wroblewski250.jpg" border="0" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right" We write the stories we wish we could read. 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. iThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle/i 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). 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 iCall of the Wild/i. That was a surprise. A little while after that, an idea for a story came to me--not the whole thing, but enough to start. /p pbContinue Reading iDouble Life, With Dogs/i/b p align=left span class="h1"strongPraise from Stephen King/strong/span p "I flat-out loved iThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle/i, 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 idoes/i articulate them, and splendidly. I closed the book with that regret readers feel only after experiencing the best stories: iIt's over,/i you think, iand I won't read another one this good for a long, long time./i/p pIn truth, there's never been a book quite like iThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle/i. I thought of iHamlet/i when I was reading it, and iWatership Down/i, and iThe Night of the Hunter/i, and iThe Life of Pi/i--but halfway through, I put all comparisons aside and let it just be itself./p pI'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 iEdgar/i, I think they will be apt to stick to the book and forget the neighborhood gossip./p pWonderful, 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."/p
Product Description
pBorn mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life on his family's farm in remote northern Wisconsin where they raise and train an extraordinary breed of dog. But when tragedy strikes, Edgar is forced to flee into the vast neighboring wilderness, accompanied by only three yearling pups. Struggling for survival, Edgar comes of age in the wild, and must face the choice of leaving forever or revealing the terrible truth behind what has happened. A riveting family saga as well as a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, iThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle/i is destined to become a modern classic./p
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| Customer Reviews: Read 669 more reviews...
 I''m not sure about this book November 23, 2008
CAK (California)
I'm a big reader but I'm not sure about Edgar Sawtelle. I was eager to read it and received a copy as a gift. The initial story was quite interesting, I'm a big dog lover and have serveral so I was attracted by the subject matter. However, the further I read the more frustrated I became. At one point a friend asked if I was enjoying it and I said, "Not really, I'm angry with Edgar and having a hard time continuing." I plodded through to the finish and was disappointed - not that a happy ending is required but.... br / br /I'll read it again in six months and see if I have a better reaction.
 Edgar Sawtelle November 23, 2008
Sandra Hlubik (new jersey)
This was one of the s-l-o-w-e-s-t books I have ever read. br /I did not see what all the fuss was about.
 confused and let down. November 23, 2008
Amber Marie (Washington State)
First of all has no one noticed this book is a poorly written version of Hamlet almost literally?! I got a feeling it was quite a bit like hamlet when Edgar ran off into the woods but though "No he wouldn't just totally rip the plot off of Shakespear, that would be insane." All the major plot lines in the book are mirror images of Hamlet. Man kills brother (with poison) Man gets with brothers wife, Son runs away into woods to plot revenge, Large dramatic event, everyone is dead, literally or emotionally. br / br /I thought it was rather confusing how Edgar could seemingly see ghosts, or spirits... I really didn't feel this was a book that had that much of a place for the supernatural, it was interesting with Ida because she was mysterious, but out and out talking with and seeing ghosts and having visions, some of which had literally nothing to do with the plot and had no reason to even be in the book, was bizzar and seemed out of place. Because this was billed as a "mystery" I thought maybe the twist was he really was crazy and something totally unrelaited was going on, or some sort of twist like the movie The Villiage, because it was honestly the only thing I could think of. I was wrong there was no mystery other then "Did the ghost tell the truth?" which frankly doesn't warrent a mystery in my oppinion. br / br /I thought the portrayal of the dogs was at least interesing while he was in the woods, although I thought the scenes from Almondine were strange and much of her interactions confusing especially in the beginning where she kept asking things around the house what the mystery was, I'm still not sure what she was asking about. Also I thought the descriptions about the dogs somewhat vague in comparison to the tedious detail everything else was explained in. For example, you are just given the general color and breed of the dog "some type of shepard" but later in the book the author spends almost an entire page explaining what the garbage inside a shed looked like, literally garbage. br / br /The only character I truly liked and found quirky and interesting, because he was a side character and didn't expect to learn everything about him was Henry. For much of the book I thought Edgar was an overly dramatic, possibly insane teen aged boy who was simply refusing to deal with reality. Trudy I thought was cold and somewhat pushy and bossy. Gar you don't really learn much about other then he liked to stand outside during storms. Claude, I was particularly unimpressed with this character. There was NO reason or explination for why this man was in anyway so manipulative, we were given no motive. Several times it was mentioned the reasons were in the past and the other chracters didn't know what they were, everytime you thought it was being explained it simply went off onto some new topic revealing nothing. br / br /In short if you want to read a book that will have you bored to tears and confused and leave you unsatisfied, this is a great book, especially if you love Hamlet.
Beautifully Written, Terribly Depressing November 22, 2008
S. WIlliams (USA)
This book should come with a warning: May cause severe depression. Not to give anything away, but this is NOT an uplifting story. I consider myself relatively literate (as a Russian history major I read many of those equally unhopeful classics) and I agree with the other reviewers who say that this story, while exquisitely, almost poetically, phrased, starts in middle and never gets to a real end. Storylines start and stop, seemingly randomly, with no real resolution or even explanation, making this a somewhat frustrating read. And despite the real, raw and undeniable talent of this author, the ending, which I don't want to give away, seems almost as lazy as the "it was all a dream" premise employed on soap operas. It's like he took us so far down the road and then didn't know where it went after it was clear there was no going back. I wasn't looking for a happy, all-loose-ends-tied-up-neatly, happily-ever-after conclusion but the forgotten/abandoned plot points were glaring to me and hindered my overall reading experience, irrespective of whether I "agreed" with the authors choices for his characters. br / br /I will say it's not a difficult book to consume--despite its length and high quality prose I finished it in about three days--but I can't say I see the utter genius of, say, a Wally Lamb, which seems to me like what this author is being touted as.
I serious letdown! November 22, 2008
Jennifer K. Mcelheney (Toledo, OH)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I too was taken in by the hype and stellar reviews of this book, however after reading it I'm no longer impressed. I can appreciate the writing style of the author and I found the story compelling. But it is so full of symbolism and unexplained happenings I found myself lost a good bit of the time. The ending is such a disappointment, with out giving anything away it left me deflated. So many parts were left dangling at the end. I would have loved to have a few of the stranger parts explained in more detail. Much of the book is left for the reader to interpret the meaning of the events. In my opinion, skip it and wait for the movie.
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