The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Book No: 7
Title: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Author: David Wroblewski
Genre: Fiction
Completed: 2/5/09
No. of Pages: 562
Rating: 3/5*****

I don't even know where to start with this book; so many things to like about it, almost as many to dislike. First and foremost I should learn my lesson - I generally dislike books that Oprah chooses, although to be fair I bought this before she chose it.

Edgar Sawtelle is a modern retelling of Hamlet, and since most of Shakespeare's plays are tragedies it is a given that this is not going to be a happy story. It begins innocently enough with an introduction to Edgar and his parents Trudy and Gar who raise Sawtelle dogs, an almost legendary and special breed. Things seem to be going well for this family, despite the fact that Edgar is a mute, he can hear, he just cannot speak. When Gar's younger brother Claude comes back home after many years away life takes a tragic turn with Gar's unexpected death. When Edgar begins to believe Claude played a part in his father's death, a chain of events begins to play out that will have devastating consequences.

Some of the writing in this story was breathtakingly beautiful; at other times it was plodding and boring. There were sections of the book on dog breeding and care that seemed to go on forever and other parts of this tale that got short shrift. The book was overlong by several hundred pages. The most infuriating thing of all is that after investing so much time in this book and its characters the ending was exasperating. I am not one to feel every book must have a happy ending, but I do like books to give me hope or a feeling that wrongs may be righted. I read the last page and was so sure I had read wrong that I went back and re-read the last chapters again. The only way I can explain my feelings for the ending is that I felt betrayed.

I think I might like to read a (smaller) book by this author again, but I would think long and hard about it first.