The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle   David Wroblewski

Thanks to Joe Deden for this excellent recommendation.  This is a novel set near Ashland WI so I enjoyed familiarity with the setting, but even more the voiceless boy who finds the language of the dogs.  His acceptance in to a primitive pack and the confusion of people and their motives and actions sustain this long novel.

It is really well written and a refreshing concept for a novel.   I did not know it was an Oprah selection until I started going through the reviews and analysis like I do at the end of each book.  She chose well with this one.

When he suspects his uncle murdered his father, young mute Edgar Sawtelle and his loyal pack of dogs escape to the Wisconsin backwoods. But can Edgar outrun the creeping menace that haunts his family?Author David Wroblewski's brilliant debut novel has earned an impressive collection of starred reviews.

http://www.enotes.com/the-story-of-edgar-sawtelle/ provides this synopsis.

David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008) explores the silent world of the novel’s protagonist, Edgar Sawtelle. Edgar lives in Wisconsin during the middle of the twentieth century. Born mute, he is a teenager who seems to prefer the language of dogs more than the words of the adults around him. From his earliest memories, his favorite job on the farm was to name the new puppies that were born there. He chooses names randomly from a dictionary. As he grows older, his connection with the dogs becomes more profound. He helps to train them through sign language.

Wroblewski begins his novel with Edgar’s grandfather, telling readers about how the dog farm began. When Edgar’s father, Gar, dies suspiciously, Edgar blames his uncle Claude, his father’s younger brother, who has meant nothing but trouble for the family. When Claude makes romantic overtures to Edgar’s mother, Trudy, Edgar is outraged.

The story is filled with loving family memories until Claude arrives. Claude spends most of his time in the barn or at the local bar. The details of Claude’s life are sketchy at best and Edgar finds Claude to be two-faced. The man presents his best side to Edgar’s mother. She falls for him, allowing him to fill in the vacant spaces left behind from her husband’s death. Edgar sees the other side of Claude, a side that Edgar finds dangerous.

When tensions become too strong between Edgar and Claude, Edgar takes his favorite dogs and runs away from home. For the story itself, this tension raises the level of curiosity for the reader. It is at this point that the novel takes on the form of a mystery or a sort of detective story. Edgar fears the police are looking for him because of an accidental death that he played a part in. Readers worry that Edgar might be caught because Claude is suggesting to local officials that Edgar committed murder. In the end, it is Edgar versus Claude—a fight to the finish. Unfortunately, there are no winners.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was Wroblewski’s first novel. It took him ten years to complete it. Literary critics praise the author’s writing, especially in the first half of the story. Some critics, however, have found the second half to be too artificially manipulated.

http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/284-story-of-edgar-sawtelle-wroblewski Here is my favorite review.  The comparison with Hamlet is right on and Wroblewski will say that it is equally inspired by the Jungle Book.

For Shakespeare buffs, this is a retelling of Hamlet.

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 thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally.

But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm—and into Edgar's mother's affections.

Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires—spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes—the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain—create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic. (From the publisher.)

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/david-wroblewski-the-story-of-edgar-sawtelle-interviewe/d9ef18128de394e9d295d9ef18128de394e9d295-829807265129?q=the+story+of+edgar+sawtelle+synopsis&FORM=VIRE3   Video interview with novelist.