The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel

I bought Edgar Sawtelle because of the location depicted in the story. I am very familiar with Wisconsin, central and northern. I could picture the location. It was very descriptive and well written. The characters and the dogs were well described; and I felt sad at the end, saddened because it had ended.

It certainly upsets me a little to think at how good this book could have been. The beautiful descriptive passages rambled on ad infinitum while the intriguing minor plot points were left to dangle without any sort of conclusion. As someone who loves dogs, even I was sick of hearing about them by the end of the book. I can also say that I would usually prefer a tragic ending to a sappy one, but this one seemed abrupt and practically forced. At risk of sounding like a high school English teacher, the author clearly has talent but his finished work just simply isn't polished.

To reduce this book to simply a re-telling of Hamlet would be to minimize the emotional finesse of this writer. Each word, each chapter, each perspective curled its hand around my heart, refusing to release its grip. Wrobleski is not only a great storyteller but an elegant writer.

I fell in love with this young mute boy, his soulmate Almondine, and all the other Sawtelle dogs. Certainly, this book parallels many events and characters from Shakespeare's famous play; yet, Wrobleski adds a depth to the characters, something missing from the play. Claude, though despicable, was less of a villian and more of a desperate human. Trudy, while self-absorbed, deeply loves her son and misses her husband.

I was saddened by the ending. I knew it was approaching, and I knew the inevitability of it; yet I was saddened. Nonetheless, tragedy befalls us all, regardless of our invitation. Edgar is courageous; he is heroic. He carried on his father's--and grandfather's--legacy. He is a beautiful human being and doesn't deserve his fate, but we cannot forget his life. Our days with Edgar weren't for naught; they will remain with us. So too will his legacy remain with his dogs. He did not try to discipline or to overpower. He gave the gift of choice, of freedom, and--ultimately--of love.

First of all, I love reading. No, really, I mean I LOVE reading. Books have been my best friends since I learned the art. Of this book, and the positive reviewers, I ask -- WHAT AM I MISSING??? I read the review on the back of the book by Stephen King and thought to myself it just HAS to be good if one of the most talented modern writers gave it such glowing praise. Then, Oprah picked it (not that that is any reference in itself) -- and it was about dogs. How could a book about dogs NOT miss. Well, the book missed for me. Big time! REAL big time. It took me three weeks to finish this book and that seldom happens; in fact, I can count on one hand the amount of times I've labored over a story. People say this has is reminiscent of Hamlet. Well, d'oh, how much closer could it have gotten. The Hamlet references were almost handed to us. I caught nothing so 'WOW' type of special between Edgar and the dogs. Yeah, yeah sure he was a great trainer and had empathy with them but I didn't feel it in my heart. Not in my heart. Certainly not like 'Merle's Door'. Now I ask myself why King raved about this book and wonder if Oprah even read it! This book didn't work for me on any level.

Wroblewski is a fabulous writer, and there is much here to appreciate, but there are also a lot of problems. The ways the author made the story mirror Hamlet are often ham-fisted, and he's really at his best when he pulls away from that aspect of the story. The ending is forced, at best, and 200 pages could easily be shaved off without sacrificing the plot, the (underdeveloped) characters, or even the shading. There is a ton of talent on display here, but for me, this is a failure of a novel. A noble failure, but a failure nonetheless.