The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Summary (from the publisher): 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 remarkable gift for companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. Edgar seems poised to carry on his family's traditions, but when catastrophe strikes, he finds his once-peaceful home engulfed in turmoil.

Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the Sawtelle farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who accompany him, until the day he is forced to choose between leaving forever or returning home to confront the mysteries he has left unsolved.

Filled with breathtaking scenes—the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain—The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a meditation on the limits of language and what lies beyond, a brilliantly inventive retelling of an ancient story, and an epic tale of devotion, betrayal, and courage in the American heartland.

Review: In a retelling of Hamlet, this novel is about Edgar Sawtelle, a boy born mute, who is raised on his family's farm in Wisconsin, where they raise and breed a fictional breed of dogs simply called Sawtelle dogs. All is well in their idyllic world, until Edgar's previously unknown uncle reenters the scene, creating upheaval with his father. Eventually, Edgar feels forced to flee the farm with only three dogs as his companions. 

Wroblewski's writing is beautiful and lyrical. In particular, his depiction of a human relationship with dogs is dead on. "This will be his earliest memory. Red light, morning light. High ceiling canted overhead. Lazy click of toenails on wood. Between the honey-colored slats of the crib a whiskery muzzle slides forward until its cheeks pull back and a row of dainty front teeth bare themselves in a ridiculous grin" (46). Edgar's connection with Almondine was heartbreakingly beautiful and I had a hard time reading the book to its conclusion because I saw how it would end; humans have a way of outliving their faithful companions. 

Wroblewski does make some questionable choices. The greatest of these is having a couple chapters from the dog Alomndine's perspective. "To her, the scent and the memory of him were one. Where it lay strongest, the distant past came to her as if that morning" (194). I didn't necessarily have an issue with choosing to narrate from the dog's perspective, yet I think it's a risky move to assign human thoughts and emotions to a dog. 

Along the same lines, there's a lot of supernatural elements to this that I imagine many readers having issues with and I was surprised to encounter. Edgar frequently sees ghosts, and it is implied that it his muteness that gives him a connection to the deceased. "Instead of raindrops, he saw a man. [...] Near the ground, the figure's legs frayed into tattered blue-gray sprays of water. When a gust of wind passed through the yard, the shape flickered and the branches of the apple trees twisted behind it, refracted as through melted glass" (235). Although some of these apparitions move the plot forward by revealing secrets to Edgar, others seem fairly pointless, such as the ghost of the old man that appears to Edgar and tells him stories about his life as he cleans out a barn later in the novel. 

I think this novel struggled with plot development. The evil characters are too thoroughly evil to be believable. There's no medical explanation for Edgar's muteness. What is the purpose of the prophetic store owner, Ida Paine? What is the significance of the wolf pup that Edgar's father finds floating down the river? Why does Edgar's mother tell him to runaway? There's a lot of unexplained plot choices that don't move the story forward or contribute to the reader's understanding of the characters or plot. Additionally, this novel is several hundred pages longer than it probably needs to be. Most of the novel is spent waiting for the action and conflict to begin.

Despite its flaws, I loved the originality of this book's narration and the beautiful way that the author captures the interaction between a boy and his dog. 

Stars: 4