About this title: A riveting family saga, "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" explores the deep and ancient alliance between humans and dogs, and the power of fate through one boy's epic journey into the wild.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780061374227ISBN:0061374229
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780061374227ISBN:0061374229
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: First edition. First Printing.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780061374227ISBN:0061374229
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. DJ shows very minor shelf wear. No tears. Very slight scuffing at corner of book cover. No other flaws. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 566 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. 0061691623 Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ecco
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780061768064ISBN:0061768065
Description: New in new dust jacket. First Edition, First Print. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 566 p. Oprah's Book Club (Hardcover). Audience: General/trade. read more
"The story of Edgar Sawtelle has many twists and turns. Our book club had an excellent discussion of it because there is so much to talk about. If you know that it it is loosely based on Hamlet, then you won't be too surprised that the ending is not going to be a happy one."
"I get nervous when the NY Times raves about a novel and admires its “free-roaming, unhurried progress.” Edgar Sawtelle is, indeed, a long multi-generational novel rich to excess in detail but grounded to earth with plot, character, surprise and amazing prose. While it drags in the beginning, it slowly draws the reader into its fully realized, timeless world. Invoking ghosts and oracles, dreams and visions, Sawtelle is a heartland Hamlet—a mute boy (voiceless in his family) seeking transformation but bound by the constraints of his lineage.
Aptly, the family business is dog breeding and their goal is to create a new breed of dog. The theme of inheritance, nature vs. nurture, and destiny gets a thorough treatment both in the breeding of dogs and the play of family dynamics. There is much going on in this novel. A short synopsis doesn’t even begin to invoke the threads and symbolism that runs throughout the story. Unlike some other NY Times favored authors, however, Mr. Wroblewski stands out because, in his hands, things actually happen. Murder, wilderness struggle, deceit, vengeance all slowly build to a cumulative, Shakespearian climax.
This is a book you’ll think about long after you’ve finish it. Highly recommended."
"I guess I have to be the spoilsport here. I did not like this book.
Let me just say straight out that anthropomorphism does not sit well with me. I almost jumped ship on page 30, where the story hopped over to the POV of Almondine the dog and had her thinking and reasoning like a human being. I love dogs. I've had quite a few in my lifetime. I speak dog well, we relate to each other well. But I think they lose their own innate dignity when people try to turn them into people. A dog is a lovely thing. It is not an inferior human being. It is not superior human being. It is a dog. And that is enough.
However, I soldiered on. To its credit, the book is smoothly written. Serviceable prose, even if one only very occasionally encounters the kind of writing that lifts the heart. Most of the writer's attempts to wax poetic were so over the top that they created a fog of obscurity that spread over the entire novel. Fuzzy writing=fuzzy thinking.
To hang an inferior book on the bones of Hamlet does not make it a better book. The Hamlet connection is unnecessary and interferes with our ability to see the book for itself, and unfortunately invites a comparison in which the imitator necessarily comes off far on the short side.
I found the ending particularly irritating. Not the tragedy, but the idea that the hope for the future lies in the dogs. Hope of the world in dogs? That thought wouldn't have crossed my mind but for the overdone hype of the entire book concerning the characteristics of dogs. Nevertheless it did cross my mind and it diminishes the book by its pat striving for a happy ending.
The part of the book that worked best for me was when Edgar and the dogs were staying with Henry, an endearing man and the most believable and sympathetic character in the book. This was one of the few parts where for the most part I didn't feel as if I were having to crank my suspension of disbelief ostentatiously into place.
As for the ghosts. Don't even get me started. Suffice it to say that the book could have been written to work without them. But then the author would have had to drop the Hamlet crutch, wouldn't he?"
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