The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (David Wroblewski, 2008)

I picked up this book after reading the first line of Chapter 1 that reads: 

'In the year 1919, Edgar's grandfather, who was born with an extra share of whimsy, bought their land and all the buildings on it from a man he'd never met, a man named Schultz, who in his turn had walked away from a logging team half a decade earlier after seeing the chains on a fully loaded timber sled let go.'

As opening lines go, it's a doozy. 'An extra share of whimsy' is what sealed the deal for me. I thought that if the writing was going to be that good, I'd enjoy this book. Finishing the book last night, I can confirm that the writing is indeed top notch throughout, and the story itself (recommended by none other than Stephen King on the book's jacket) is involving. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle follows the titular character through his youth to adolescence and particularly follows events leading up to and following his father's untimely death. Edgar is not deaf, but he is dumb, and thus speaks through sign. His family live in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin and raise dogs that have particularly canny personalities. When Edgar's father dies, his uncle, Claude, becomes more friendly with Trudy, his mother, which leads to an unfortunate accident and Edgar running away from home with 3 of his dogs for several months.

It didn't occur to me when I was reading the book, but reading the interview with Wroblewski included at the back it became clearer that there were allusions to Hamlet here, with Edgar believing that his uncle poisoned his father before getting together with his mother. But it's Hamlet with dogs. Now I'm not a particular fan of dogs, so maybe the book didn't hit me emotionally they way it could have done, but I enjoyed the writing a lot. And although it took me a little while to get into the book (I even broke off to read 20,000 Leagues part way through) once I got into it I enjoyed Edgar's story. And then I got to the end last night, and events unfolded in a strange way that I didn't really get. And I was left a little disappointed. It was a book with odd moments, rooted in the real world, but with sections where Edgar saw his father's 'ghost', and where a soothsayer type woman ran the local store. These were odd and I wasn't as keen on them as when Wroblewski had Edgar interacting with Henry, the man who took him in when he was on the run. I enjoyed the characters, including the dogs, more than I enjoyed the story around them. A good read then, but one that I have misgivings about.