A Second Look (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by Dave Wroblewski)

Before I begin my infinite praise of my latest book, I want to take another moment to talk about The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It's a book that certainly stays with you, since it finished it over two weeks ago and can't stop thinking about it. I want to make a few main points:

---Edgar Sawtelle is a book for readers. I want to emphasize that because it's most definitely not a book that non-readers would enjoy. What do I mean by "readers"? I am a reader. I read books because they are enriching, and they are entertaining, and, yes, sometimes they are sad. But books make me feel something inside, something that cannot be gotten from a movie or television. Perhaps it is due to the actual physical connection that a reader has with the book; one holds the actual book in hand and enters another world, to grow and change and learn along with the characters that have been brought to life between the two covers. I have a voracious appetite for books and words and, above all, learning. Because readers are, ultimately, learners, and books should always, always, always teach the reader something.

I said that non-readers would not enjoy Edgar Sawtelle. There are so many reasons for this, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that this is a book that one has to invest time and energy and thought into, and, in general, when a non-reader chooses a book it is for light-hearted escapism. So please, don't read this book.

---I want to point out that it has been a terribly long time since I have read Hamlet, and I really don't remember much of it- although I do remember, in AP English 12, that we had to read it out loud and I believe I was Ophelia for a couple of acts. However, I did not truly connect this story to Hamlet until well into the book. I feel a bit dumb for that; Trudy (Gertrude) and Claude (Claudius) should have been dead giveaways from the beginning.

---And so brings me to my final point. I mentioned in the last post that by the end of the book I wanted to throw myself off the roof of my house after I read the ending. After much thought, I've come to the conclusion that the ending of the book simply felt wrong. I don't want to give away too much in this post, on the off chance that someone might want to read the book after all my chatter, but it seems that the entire story the reader was led to believe one thing, and then that view was completely shattered. Everyone (human and canine, with the notable exceptions being Edgar and his beloved dog Almondine) behaved contrary to expectations.

I feel Wroblewski's downfall came in relying too much on the story of Hamlet. From what I remember of that tragedy, most of the characters were demented anyway....but that's not the way these characters were drawn. They were lively and thoughtful and beautiful and so real, which is not something that can be said for Shakespeare's overwrought play (I don't have much love for Hamlet, obviously). The ending of Edgar Sawtelle was so dissatisfying and disheartening that I still haven't been able decide how I truly feel about the book overall.

---Ok, maybe that wasn't my final point. I've been reading some reviews on Amazon, and it seems that many people agree with me. The book was complex and well written, but the ending was wrong for the tone of the book. I truly enjoyed the time I spend immersed in Edgar's world, and I simply felt the need to properly mourn for the characters (I promise I'm not crazy- I know they're not real, but sometimes books just hit you that hard).

I have a few more books that I've read since Edgar Sawtelle, so I'll try to post about them soon. Until then, Happy Reading!