My husband is not a pet person.
In fact, over the years, I've been secretly waiting for THE ULTIMATIUM: "Either the dog (insert cat) goes, or I do".
Luckily for me, I've not been forced to make that choice.
(Who knows how it would have come out if I had!) However, it was my husband's dislike of pets which actually introduced me to David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
My hubby is a big New York Times bestseller list book reader.
Although he bought the book with all good intentions of reading it, he found out it was about dogs and even the New York Times bestseller list couldn't trump his dislike of pets.
Big mistake on his part and great gift for me.
I found The Story of Edgar Sawtelle tossed into a corner.
I, unlike my husband, am not a New York Times bestseller list reader.
I tend to read fantasy or self-improvement books (how's that for a dichotomy!) as my escape.
However, the book had a nice feel with deckle edge paper and the simple cover had appeal.
I was not reading anything at the time and had several hours that I wanted to sit and "veg".
So I started the book.
Two days and 550 pages later I had finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle having been swept up into a fascinating, suspenseful and beautifully written first novel by David Wroblewski.
My husband was right-the story is about dogs.
But these "Sawtelle" dogs were the framework of the story, not the subject.
The story, with shades of Shakespeare's Hamlet, is more about the land of rural Wisconsin and a family, spanning several generations of Sawtelles and related human and canine characters.
You find out about humans and dogs through letters and meticulous notes kept by the Sawtelles as they raise a new "reasoning" dog breed.
But it seems for ever step forward for the dogs, is a step backwards for the human characters.
The story is engaging but it is the writing which captures your attention.
Wroblewski is a brilliant story teller which holds your attention and flows from paragraph to paragraph as the story unfolds.
(Everything that had happened to him since he'd left made him think of her.
Others dreamed of finding a person in the world whose soul was made in their mirror image, but she and Edgar had been conceived nearly together, grown up together, and however strange it may be, she was his other.
) It is this magic in his words that keeps you wanting more and being disappointed when the last page is turned.
The story may be a tragedy, and one which you will dream about for the next few weeks, but the writing transcends the story.
So, I will try to convince my husband to take another look (or an initial look as the case may be) at The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
He, like me, loves great writing.
He is an English teacher after all.
Lets see if a wife's recommendation and great writing trumps a dislike of pets.
In fact, over the years, I've been secretly waiting for THE ULTIMATIUM: "Either the dog (insert cat) goes, or I do".
Luckily for me, I've not been forced to make that choice.
(Who knows how it would have come out if I had!) However, it was my husband's dislike of pets which actually introduced me to David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
My hubby is a big New York Times bestseller list book reader.
Although he bought the book with all good intentions of reading it, he found out it was about dogs and even the New York Times bestseller list couldn't trump his dislike of pets.
Big mistake on his part and great gift for me.
I found The Story of Edgar Sawtelle tossed into a corner.
I, unlike my husband, am not a New York Times bestseller list reader.
I tend to read fantasy or self-improvement books (how's that for a dichotomy!) as my escape.
However, the book had a nice feel with deckle edge paper and the simple cover had appeal.
I was not reading anything at the time and had several hours that I wanted to sit and "veg".
So I started the book.
Two days and 550 pages later I had finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle having been swept up into a fascinating, suspenseful and beautifully written first novel by David Wroblewski.
My husband was right-the story is about dogs.
But these "Sawtelle" dogs were the framework of the story, not the subject.
The story, with shades of Shakespeare's Hamlet, is more about the land of rural Wisconsin and a family, spanning several generations of Sawtelles and related human and canine characters.
You find out about humans and dogs through letters and meticulous notes kept by the Sawtelles as they raise a new "reasoning" dog breed.
But it seems for ever step forward for the dogs, is a step backwards for the human characters.
The story is engaging but it is the writing which captures your attention.
Wroblewski is a brilliant story teller which holds your attention and flows from paragraph to paragraph as the story unfolds.
(Everything that had happened to him since he'd left made him think of her.
Others dreamed of finding a person in the world whose soul was made in their mirror image, but she and Edgar had been conceived nearly together, grown up together, and however strange it may be, she was his other.
) It is this magic in his words that keeps you wanting more and being disappointed when the last page is turned.
The story may be a tragedy, and one which you will dream about for the next few weeks, but the writing transcends the story.
So, I will try to convince my husband to take another look (or an initial look as the case may be) at The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
He, like me, loves great writing.
He is an English teacher after all.
Lets see if a wife's recommendation and great writing trumps a dislike of pets.
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