The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski
rating: 2 of 5 stars
Well I finally persevered and got to the end. I wanted to read this book to see what sort of work would get the only 2008 Oprah book club recommendation. If it was a truly great piece of writing I wanted to know why.
I’m not much for huge thick works of fiction, but I really did try to `get this one’.
I had read Marlie and Me and hated it. It should have been called "About a Dog". Dogs are not that great, puhlease. I feared that this book would unfold to be a huge hardcover version of About a Dog. It rose above that, but not enough so.
The author writes beautiful words and I did enjoy that images that he evoked of an innocent time and life in the country.
Too many details about dogs, dog care, dog training, dog relationships, dog obedience, dog personalities, dog breeding etc. etc. etc. though.
I deliberately didn’t read the jacket as I had heard that it gave too much of the plot away – and indeed it does. A built in spoiler 
So I was hoping for an ending that would satisfy. Alas it left me disappointed. The ending is tragic and unsatisfying. So much so that I feel a bit ripped off and having invested all that time to get to the end.
I want to read a modern classic and love it, but this won’t be it.
