Book Review: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Warning: this is an Oprah's Book Club read. So all of you people who somehow gather from the grapevine that this is a bad thing yet have nothing close to the repertoire to justify book-snobbery, (1) get a life; and (2) read this book. (I beseech you all- what is wrong with Oprah encouraging adults (and women in particular) to expand their library beyond Nicholas Sparks and James Patterson?) I regress...

For a first novel, this truly was a grand slam. David Wroblewski retells Shakespeare's Hamlet in rural Wisconsin (now that's my kind of Shakespeare y'all!). Although at times I felt like he was wed to Hamlet's plot and it seemed a bit unnatural for Edgar's story (like the ENDING), the book was a richly-written, satisfying read that will sit in my select "to reread" pile.

Edgar, son of Trudy and Gar Sawtelle, was born mute (but not deaf) and can only communicate through sign. The family maintains a business of breeding and training "Sawtelle dogs"- an elusive breed genetically perfected by generations of Sawtelles. Partially because of Edgar's handicap, Trudy and Gar take in one of the Sawtelle dogs as part of the family- the beloved Almondine. She and Edgar develop a special relationship and a unique means of communication, and I can say that dog-person or not, you will fall in love with her. Life is carrying on wonderfully until Claude, Gar's ex-con brother, is generously taken in by the Sawtelles. His entrance mysteriously coincides with Gar's sudden death, followed by his manipulative courting of Trudy (Hamlet anyone?), and Edgar flees to survive in the wilderness with a few pups from his very own Sawtelle litter.

It was all I could do not to wikipedia Hamlet's ending (long-forgotten since high school) before finishing Edgar, and I would press readers to do the same. Tragedy, loss and coming of age are all best absorbed along the way and we can all agree that there is no rush to finish Edgar's journey. He has an unpredictable depth, and I was almost afraid of him at times (I was even frightened for Claude at the sight of Edgar's cheshire cat grin in the tree outside the kitchen window, and the dogs' performance of "pass-and-drop" in the barn). The final scenes were a bit of a dream scape blur and the ending uncertain, but Wroblewski is an extraordinary storyteller and his deliberate lack of closure left me almost paralyzed and unable to crack another book before sorting out his story for a few days.