SSR: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Back in the 3rd semester I posted a small blog about the book The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It was a small post because I was not even half way into the book, but now I have completed it and I have more to tell you.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a novel written by David Wroblewski, 562 pages. The novel takes place is the northern middle-eastern American, near the great lakes. You are drawn into a story about a boy, who is mute, his friend (dog) Almodine, his mother, father, his uncle, and the kennel they run. To wrap up this book in a nutshell, it is an Americanized version of Hamlet.

I do not know how many of you have read Hamlet but it is an interesting story. After Hamlet's father dies Hamlet is visited by this late father's ghost and Hamlet is told that his death was actually a murder. The murderer was actually Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet is than driven to avenge his father's death. He starts acting all crazy. He stages a play reenacting the events to prove that his uncle is a murderer. He accidently kills a family confidant, and than his son wants to avenge his father's death. Ophelia, Hamlet's sister, kills herself. In the end there is this big party and everything is poisoned and everyone dies. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is not exactly like that but pretty much.

Wroblewski does a fantastic job of writing this story. The story itself has been altered and it made me mad a few times but the language itself is beautiful and captivating. It was the language that really made me like this book.

I must admit that another feature of the book that kept me interested was the relationship between man and dog. The family owns a kennel instead of a kingdom, and there is a massive presents of dogs in the book. As a matter of fact I would argue that the main character is not Edgar but instead the dogs that Edgar associates with. Through these dogs you can see who the other characters really are. The characters show their true selves to these dogs and in return the dogs do what is asked of them. There is a central idea in the novel that the trainer is not training the dog, but instead the dogs are training the trainer. I like that. I like to see animals become more than just animals. We are animals, but instead we are referred to as humans. It was nice to see animals referred to as dogs.

Would I recommend it? Sure, why not. I would only recommend it to those who enjoy the writing more than the plot. Those of you who like to compare stories, you may also want to take a gander at this novel. For the rest of you, you may not like it. But it is your choice if you want to go for it.