The Story of Edgar Sawtelle


Posted on Aug 1, 2008
By Martha Garvey

Comments(1)

by David Wroblewski

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle shines with a strange, uneven light. It flickers, but it never quite goes out.
 
The basics: Edgar, mute from birth, grows up in the 1970s in the remotest corner of Wisconsin, the only son of two master dog breeders/trainers, Gar and Trudy Sawtelle. The Sawtelle dogs are bred not for looks but for their superb intelligence. Savviest of them all is Almondine, who bonds with Edgar while he is still a baby, and becomes his closest companion.
 
Though Edgar is mute, he is neither deaf not mentally challenged. His use of signing to communicate actually connects him profoundly to the dogs. Author David Wroblewski, whose family bred dogs, ably captures the awe dog-loving humans feel around smart, beautiful dogs. Wroblewski has quite intentionally invented a breed of dog for this novel that seems as fierce as a German Shepherd and as intelligent as a Border Collie.
 
After an absolutely extraordinary beginning, however, Wroblewski begins forcing the plot into an unwieldy framework. When Gar's brother Claude appears, itching for a fight with Gar - and a close relationship with Trudy - the books becomes, quite intentionally, an update of a Shakespeare play. And it's not one of the comedies: It's Hamlet with dogs. Ghosts? Check. Poison? Check.
 
I happen to be a big fan of Shakespeare-inspired novels, but this book works least well when you sense Wroblewski straining to map the plot to the Hamlet template. Edgar, only 14, seems less like a prince of any realm than an impulsive, brilliant boy. Other characters, most especially Edgar's mother, Trudy, and the kindly vet Dr. Papineau sometimes appear to be puppets forced to play their Shakespearean parts.
 
The further this novel strays from the tragic template, the better. After a terrible accident, Edgar's desperate flight into the woods with three of his dogs - but without his beloved Almondine - produces an indelible adventure story, albeit an adventure that includes kitschy details like stealing SpaghettiOs and Cap'n Crunch from comfortable camp sites. Sadly, the author insists on loyalty to the Hamlet plot. Happily, with one exception, Wroblewski is kinder to dogs than he is to the humans in this story.
 
This remains a book worth reading if only for the joy Wroblewski clearly takes in the society of dogs. It is clear he is far less impressed with the humans in the dogs' midst.
 

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Comments
Did anyone else hate the ending? And were the dogs going to Henry's?
Posted By sandra
on Jan 9, 2009
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