I knew the moment I started reading it that I would like this book. It starts out excellently and only goes upward from there. The reader is thrown into the story as if you've already been reading for twenty pages, but you quickly catch on.
I found it via a recommendation on Amazon, and upon reading the glowing endorsement of the novel from Stephen King, I decided to give it a try. The reviews below from purchasers are a mixed bag though. Read too many negative and you will be tempted to not read the book at all. Now that I have finished the book, I understand the frustration voiced so clearly in those reviews and I share it with them. However, I do not feel the book was at all a waste of my time. I feel enriched by this novel, in fact, happy to have read it.
I won't tell you the story has a happy ending, but it does have an ending which I whole-heartedly believe fits it. I wanted so badly for things to be different at the end, but they weren't. The journey of the rest of the book though, that's where I will remember my time in Edgar Sawtelle's world.
Edgar is a boy born to two hard working dog breeders living on a farm in a small town in Wisconsin. The dogs are named after the boys grandfather who started the breed. They are called simply Sawtelles. The dogs play an integral role in the story, and being the dog person I am I found myself intrigued by these animals and Edgar's grandfather's passion for them. I also found myself longing to be there next to Edgar's mother, Trudy, as she trained the dogs so I could observe her methods.
Edgar cannot speak. He can hear and see, but he can't talk. The doctors don't know why, but we quickly realize it isn't really a problem for the family. When their highly intuitive house dog (a Sawtelle of course), Almondine, picks up on Edgar's silent cries his first night home, we can see the pattern of their relationship unfold.
I loved the silence of Edgar. I loved the way he thought and reasoned and how he treated the dogs and how they understood him, even without a voice. I often found myself unwilling to speak after spending mere minutes engrossed in the text of this book.
Of course nothing can stay idyllic forever. Tragedy strikes and the lives of Edgar and his father and mother and even the dogs are ultimately changed irrevocably.
This is not a light read, nor one that you will be done with after a day of hard reading, but it is so very much worth your effort. I believe every author has a reason behind every word they write and therefore I am willing to accept the ending he saw fit, even if I didn't like it. Ultimately it isn't my story, but his to tell.
I cannot ask you enough to go to the library if you don't want to commit to buying the book and just give it an honest try. There is no way you could possibly be sorry for spending time with Edgar and Almondine in the world so carefully, lovingly crafted by Mr. Wroblewski.
*As a side note, I was not compensated in any way for this review
by either the author or Amazon and I purchased the book with my own money.
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