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A tale reminiscent of "Hamlet" that also celebrates the alliance between humans and dogs follows speech-disabled Wisconsin youth Edgar, who bonds with three yearling canines and struggles to prove that his sinister uncle is responsible for his father's death.
LDVoorberg: If you read and liked The Maestro as a teen, as an you'll probably like at least Part 2 of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle because of the adventure/survival aspect to the plot.
This is a very interesting book. I enjoyed reading it for the most part. I did not like the ending and felt frustrated with the author for building up my hopes that the resolution might be brighter. I am glad I read it as it was thought provoking and my understanding of many things was expanded. ( )
Edgar Sawtelle is born able to hear but unable to speak. Consequently he withdraws from human companionship and forms his closest bonds with the family dogs. Unlike the humans in Edgar's life, the loyalty of the dogs is unwavering and in the end the dogs are left standing tall, proud and free while the humans are left dead, blind, or insane. The end may have been a bit too melodramatic, but it was very fitting. ( )
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a dutiful procession through the main events of [Hamlet]. The Mousetrap scene, in which Edgar trains his dogs to act out his father’s murder in front of Claude, is marvelous—Wroblewski loves writing about dogs and he’s great at it—but the other pages are still covered by translucent drafter’s blueprints. Here’s Polonius, the meddler, here’s Laertes, the avenging son, and so on. (The Laertes figure isn’t introduced until page 489 and he’s as puzzled as the rest of us about why he’s supposed to kill a fourteen-year-old boy.) Wroblewski is only at pains to apply himself when there’s a chance his characters might become complicated and unsympathetic.
High literary art from a talent that bears watching.
added by Katya0133 | editBooklist, Ian Chipman(Jun 1, 2008)
This is the best book I've read in a long time.
added by Katya0133 | editPublishers Weekly(May 19, 2008)
[A] spellbinding first novel . . .
added by Katya0133 | editKirkus Reviews(Apr 15, 2008)
The novel succeeds admirably in telling its story from a dog's-eye view that finds the human world very strange indeed.
added by Katya0133 | editKirkus Reviews(Apr 1, 2008)
Ultimately liberating, though tragic and heart-wrenching, this book is unforgettable; overwhelmingly recommended for all libraries.
added by Katya0133 | editLibrary Journal, Henry Bankhead(Mar 15, 2008)
Sustained by a momentum that has the crushing inevitability of fate, the propulsive narrative will have readers sucked in all the way through the breathtaking final scenes.
added by Katya0133 | editPublishers Weekly(Feb 18, 2008)
There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. ~Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species
Dedication
For Arthur and Ann Wroblewski
First words
After dark the rain began to fall again, but he had already made up his mind to go and anyway it had been raining for weeks.
Quotations
High in the crown of a charred tree, an owl revolved its dished face, and one branch down, three small replicas followed.
He thought of his father standing in the barn doorway peering skyward as a thunderstorm approached, while his mother shouted, ‘Gar, get indoors, for God’s sake.’ That was how it was, sometimes. You put yourself in front of the thing and waited for whatever was going to happen and that was all. It scared you and it didn’t matter. You stood and faced it. There was no outwitting anything. … It was not a morbid thought, just the world as it existed. Sometimes you looked the thing in the eye and it turned away. Sometimes it didn’t.
He’d left in confusion, but his return was clarifying. So much of what had been obscure while he faced away was now evident. … So much of the world was governed by chance. … Life was a swarm of accidents waiting in the treetops, descending upon any living thing that passed, ready to eat them alive. You swam in a river of chance and coincidence. You clung to the happiest accidents—the rest you let float by. … Some things were certain—they had already happened—but the future would not be divined. … The future was no ally. A person had only his life to barter with.
Most people thought training meant forcing their will on a dog. Or that training required some magical gift. Both ideas were wrong. Real training meant watching, listening, diverting a dog’s exuberance, not suppressing it. You couldn’t change a river into a sea, but you could trace a new channel for it to follow.
Last words
Essay stepped into the grass. She stood, paw lifted to her chest, nose raised to scent the air, watching it all. For an instant, as the morning light brightened, everything in the field stood motionless. She looked behind her one last time, into the forest and along the way they'd come, and when she was sure all of them were together now and no others would appear, she turned and made her choice and began to cross.
A tale reminiscent of "Hamlet" that also celebrates the alliance between humans and dogs follows speech-disabled Wisconsin youth Edgar, who bonds with three yearling canines and struggles to prove that his sinister uncle is responsible for his father's death.
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Book description
Edgar Sawtelle, ktorý bol od narodenia nemý, žil s rodičmi na farme na odľahlom severe Wisconsinu. Hoci Edgar komunikoval s rodičmi a okolím iba prostredníctvom posunkov, jeho život bol idylický a šťastný. Rodina Sawtellovcov chovala a cvičila psy, ktoré sami vyšľachtili. Sawttelovské psy vynikali poslušnosťou, inteligenciou a vernosťou, a preto sa aj stali Edgarovými najbližšími priateľmi a spojencami. Idylu pokojného vidieckeho života na farme naruší príchod Clauda, Edgarovho strýka. Medzi otcom a Claudom dochádza k prudkým hádkam, rovnako ako za ich mladých čias, akoby nad nimi od narodenia visela kliatba bratskej nevraživosti. Keď Edgarov otec náhle zomrie, Claude sa postupne votrie do života na farme a aj do srdca Edgarovej mamy...
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