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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780061374227
ISBN: 0061374229
Label: Ecco
Manufacturer: Ecco
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 576
Publication Date: June 01, 2008
Publisher: Ecco
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Sales Rank: 21
Studio: Ecco
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
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
 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.
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.'
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Story telling at its best.
Excellent story telling technique makes material that is not at first glance the best for a suspenseful page-turner into just that. Vivid descriptions advance, do not distract from, the story.
Rating:  - Sometimes interesting, occasionally drags
That David Wroblewski can write is plain to any reader of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, in places his prose literally sing off the page. Likewise, he has done an excellent job of researching his material, particularly as it relates to dogs and breeding, a topic clearly close to his heart. His decision to make Edgar mute also shows a great deal of creativity and serves to deepen the work considerably.
However, the book suffers from several short comings, some of which are not uncommon for first time novelists, others of plot, and still others which might have been handled by a good editor. To begin with the third, at more than 550 pages, the book feels way too long, with a great deal of background information which fails to come to any fruition later in the book. The author's choice to write an homage to Hamlet makes this particularly clear; while no one has ever accused the Bard's longest play of brevity, the Ghost of Act I, scene 4 here appears to young Edgar, around page 230! A good edit could well have slimmed down that first half and tightened this novel. Also, an editor would have pointed out how many of these characters appear two-dimensional; where the characters of Hamlet are among the most complex in the history of literature, here the villain Claude becomes a rather flat uninteresting socio-path. Trudy (Gertrude) becomes the font of the good mother. Only Edgar (and his dog Almondine) show signs of the necessary depth to be consistently interesting.
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Rating: - What is all the excitement about?
I am very conflicted about this work. Obviously, he can write beautifully, and evocatively, of the countryside. This book has a very strong sense of place. Also, his description of the relationship of Edgar and the dogs is moving, and really altered the way I relate to my own dog. However, I had many problems with this book, namely:
1. It is way too long, in the wrong ways. The very long section wherein Edgar runs away from home seemed almost totally unnecessary and did not move the story forward
2. Claude is drawn in a unidimensional way, as a nefarious sociopath. That Trudy, who is such a strong, intelligent and insightful woman, could be drawn to him and not see through him just didn't wash for me.
3. Without revealing too much, it was unnecessarily tragic
4. The book did not break any new ground, nor did it seem particularly insightful. In fact, I liked Old Yeller better.
I just don't get all the excitement about this book...except that it is about dogs, and everybody loves dogs.
Rating:  - What a selfish writer!
I think that the author is an outstanding writer however, I also think he is mean spirited. The author has us read and fall in love with the characters in this story and then to change the story from one of heartfelt truth about how families and people think and grieve to one in which he shows his true colors as a mean spirited hateful ending. Just shows that just because a person is talented doesn't mean they are kind.
Don't bother to read this book. The author sells it as a American story and then only hurts you in the end. Shame on Steven King (who I love as a writer) for recommending it.
Rating: - Unsatisfied
I was left very unsatisfied after finishing The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. After reading 500 pages of almost overly detailed prose the ending was rushed and didn't leave me feeling as though I had completed something (a nearly 600 page book). Some of the story was very heart warming & for dog lovers there's a definite hook there, however when Wroblewski introduces mysticism things just get confusing and mish mashed. My biggest issue with this book is the ending however I am giving it 3 stars because I was definitely hooked for the first 500 pages.
Note: I ended up reading this book because it was recommended based on enjoying Water For Elephants, let me assure you this is no Water For Elephants. There's gotta be a better story with an actual ending out there for dog lovers.
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