You may have noticed I always highlight what book I'm currently reading over in the right-hand column - but until now I've never thought to let people know what I thought of the book. So for all you bookworms out there, I'm going to start posting my own book reviews. If you've read the book and would like to chime in, please feel free to do so using the "comment" button!The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
by David Wroblewski
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is both a moving novel about the relationship between humans and dogs, and a mystery involving a suspicious death. The main character, Edgar, is a mute boy who grows up in a family that has for generations been involved in breeding and training dogs. Early in the book Edgar’s father dies, and it is eventually revealed to him that his father didn’t die of natural causes. When Edgar tries to prove that his father was murdered, his plan backfires and he ends up living on the run, in the woods of Wisconsin with three of his kennel dogs.
The book is elegantly written; the prose is beautiful, but there are occasional sections where the descriptions – particularly of the dogs’ training methods – are a bit long. If you’re a dog lover, you’ll enjoy the book’s portrayal of the capacity for dogs to communicate with and genuinely love humans. And as the plot gains speed, especially toward the end, the book is hard to put down.
A caveat is that this book needs to be read slowly. I have a tendency to read too fast when I’m deeply absorbed in the story, and there are definitely a lot of details and symbolism weaved throughout that affect the outcome of the story. In fact, I feel like I’ll need to reread the book at some point in order to really come to terms with the ending; it’s not what I expected, and I’m left feeling like there are some things I might better understand about each of the characters’ motives and decisions if I read through it one more time - knowing what I know now…
Verdict: 4 stars out of 5
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" is both a moving novel about the relationship between humans and dogs, and a mystery involving a suspicious death. The main character, Edgar, is a mute boy who grows up in a family that has for generations been involved in breeding and training dogs. Early in the book Edgar’s father dies, and it is eventually revealed to him that his father didn’t die of natural causes. When Edgar tries to prove that his father was murdered, his plan backfires and he ends up living on the run, in the woods of Wisconsin with three of his kennel dogs.
The book is elegantly written; the prose is beautiful, but there are occasional sections where the descriptions – particularly of the dogs’ training methods – are a bit long. If you’re a dog lover, you’ll enjoy the book’s portrayal of the capacity for dogs to communicate with and genuinely love humans. And as the plot gains speed, especially toward the end, the book is hard to put down.
A caveat is that this book needs to be read slowly. I have a tendency to read too fast when I’m deeply absorbed in the story, and there are definitely a lot of details and symbolism weaved throughout that affect the outcome of the story. In fact, I feel like I’ll need to reread the book at some point in order to really come to terms with the ending; it’s not what I expected, and I’m left feeling like there are some things I might better understand about each of the characters’ motives and decisions if I read through it one more time - knowing what I know now…
Verdict: 4 stars out of 5
1 comment:
sounds like a good book to me,I will look for it!!
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