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| The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (Oprah Book Club #62) | 
 enlarge | Author: David Wroblewski
Publisher: Ecco
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $13.49
You Save: $12.46 (48%)
New (56) Used (20) Collectible (13) from $12.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  671 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 2
ISBN: 0061768065
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780061768064
Publication Date: September 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Beautifully Written, Terribly Depressing November 22, 2008
This book should come with a warning: May cause severe depression. Not to give anything away, but this is NOT an uplifting story. I consider myself relatively literate (as a Russian history major I read many of those equally unhopeful classics) and I agree with the other reviewers who say that this story, while exquisitely, almost poetically, phrased, starts in middle and never gets to a real end. Storylines start and stop, seemingly randomly, with no real resolution or even explanation, making this a somewhat frustrating read. And despite the real, raw and undeniable talent of this author, the ending, which I don't want to give away, seems almost as lazy as the "it was all a dream" premise employed on soap operas. It's like he took us so far down the road and then didn't know where it went after it was clear there was no going back. I wasn't looking for a happy, all-loose-ends-tied-up-neatly, happily-ever-after conclusion but the forgotten/abandoned plot points were glaring to me and hindered my overall reading experience, irrespective of whether I "agreed" with the authors choices for his characters.
I will say it's not a difficult book to consume--despite its length and high quality prose I finished it in about three days--but I can't say I see the utter genius of, say, a Wally Lamb, which seems to me like what this author is being touted as.
 I serious letdown! November 22, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I too was taken in by the hype and stellar reviews of this book, however after reading it I'm no longer impressed. I can appreciate the writing style of the author and I found the story compelling. But it is so full of symbolism and unexplained happenings I found myself lost a good bit of the time. The ending is such a disappointment, with out giving anything away it left me deflated. So many parts were left dangling at the end. I would have loved to have a few of the stranger parts explained in more detail. Much of the book is left for the reader to interpret the meaning of the events. In my opinion, skip it and wait for the movie.
 The Story of Edgar Sawtelle November 22, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I can't imagine how this book got ANY 5 star reviews. The author can write words but needs to learn how to tell a story. The ending left you scratching your head. What happened to the dogs and Trudy? The characters were never really developed. I should have been sufficiently warned. It was an Oprah book club pick. I never like any of her picks.
Good but long November 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It was a great story with wonderful hidden gems. But, the incessive detail, that had no baring on the story, was tedious.
Beautiful written ripoff November 22, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a lover of dogs and wonderful dog stories, and of teenage adventure, even as an adult, I cannot recommend this book to anyone except someone willing to completely overlook the plot and revel in the descriptions.
This is a ripoff of Into the Wild, and Call of the Wild. It's character development is completely missing, except with regard, perhaps, to the dogs. It is technically inaccurate, having Henry in possession of a car left outside his barn,that is one of the more valuable collectors cars out there.
And perhaps the biggest dissapointment of all, is wading through page upon page of excessive poetic description and narrative to come to one of the worst endings of any book I have ever read.
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