 |
 |
Sign in/joinLanguage: English [ others ]
Over forty million books on members' bookshelves.
|
Loading... The Story of Edgar Sawtelleby David Wroblewski
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendations
Loading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Plot wise, this is Shakespeare's Hamlet - except brought into the modern era (1950s and 60s) and in rural Wisconsin. However, other than plot, this bears no resemblance to Shakespeare. Rather than being concise like Shakespeare and telling the story in about 100 pages, this author takes nearly 600. Despite these excess pages, the author doesn't really reach the psychological depths that Hamlet does. For some reason, he inundates the reader with mundane details that have nothing to do with progressing the storyline (for instance, a long narrative about the previous owner of the Sawtelle place, which never reveals itself to be necessary to the plot). Also, despite the lengthy and unnecessary detailing in the beginning of the book, questions are still left unanswered at the end of the book. The main characters are dog breeders and there are pages and pages and pages of descriptions about dogs, dog breeding, and dog training. I found this incredibly boring and at first chalked it up to not being a dog person. However, I realized that 1) if I was reading a novel that gave this much detail about cats, I would still be bored out of my brains and 2) this author had a way of writing that, to me, made an encounter with a ghost seem like the dullest thing that could possibly happen to a person. There were a few chapters written from the perspective of the family dog(s), which was just way too cheesy for me (I could deal with a dead mother narrating a chapter in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying because that revealed important details that would otherwise be missing, but these dog-narrated chapters didn't add much to the story). Overall, the book was interminably long and excessively dull. I definitely would not recommend - go read Hamlet instead (or even re-read Hamlet instead). (  )sweetiegherkin | Jul 9, 2009 |   Although I found the book too long and somewhat repetative, it was quite readable and even interesting. There were a few quirks I didn't really understand such as, Edgar's need for sleep; it seemed he was forever falling asleep with a full description each time. Also, Claude's intentions were never clearly explained throughout the book. The ending was disappointing, left you with a "unfinished, unresolved" sort of feeling. Still, I did like it. (  )bibliophileofalls | Jul 8, 2009 | Moving story, I liked and felt close to the main character slkullberg | Jul 8, 2009 | Overall a good read. Interesting characters and an unusual story, which is always a good thing. Loosely based on the Hamlet plotline, it was a page-turner straight up until the last couple of chapters. The ending was a bit disappointing, which is why it only gets 4 stars. Still, I'd give it a go. (  )plettie2 | Jul 3, 2009 | Boy who cannot speak loses father and tries to understand how he died and who caused his death. They own a kennel with dogs they have bred and trained for interacting with humans in a way very different than what we know. I kept thinking I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, but every time I picked it up to read more I found myself falling right back into the story. The really stange but wonderful thing is that I just finished reading a book my grandson had ordered from the Scholastic Book Club and wanted his Grandpa and myself to read--Hachiko Waits by Leslea Newman. If not for that, I wouldn't have understood that part of the story at all. Hachiko Waits is a very good book for 9 to 12 year olds. Funny how everything is connected in some way. (  )GramyG | Jul 2, 2009 | 0.034 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0061374229, Hardcover)Amazon Best of the Month, June 2008: It's gutsy for a debut novelist to offer a modern take on Hamlet 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 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle 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. --Mari Malcolm Book Description 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. 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. Double Life, with Dogs: An Amazon Exclusive Essay by David Wroblewski 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. 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." (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:20 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
Abebooks |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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. 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). 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. 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. 
