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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
 
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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle [Special Edition] (Paperback)

by David Wroblewski (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £11.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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  • This item: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

    Usually dispatched within 6 to 11 days.
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    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

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Product details

  • Paperback: 576 pages
  • Publisher: Fourth Estate Ltd (7 Jul 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007265026
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007265022
  • Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 14.8 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 37,402 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
'Stately and expansive...Wroblewski's story builds on foundations provided by past literature but has an originality all its own.'
--Sunday Times

HarperCollins

‘The plot echoes Hamlet, but it is the writing that makes it one of the best books I have read in the last few years.’
The Boston Globe

'Whether you read for the beauty of the language or the intricacies of the plot, you will easily fall in love with X’s generous, almost transcendentally lovely debut novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle ... The scope of this novel, its psychological insight and lyrical mastery make it one of the best novels of the year, and a perfect, comforting joy of a book for the summer.’
Oprah Magazine

'...a big-hearted novel you can fall into, get lost in and finally emerge from reluctantly, a little surprised that the real world went on spinning while you were absorbed. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is an enormous but effortless read, trimmed down to the elements of a captivating story about a mute boy and his dogs.
Washington Post Book World

'The Great American Novel is something like a unicorn – rare and wonderful, and maybe no more than just a notion. Yet every few years or so, we trip across some semblance of one. Oof! What’s this? Why, it’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a sprawling skein of a yarn about a farm nestled up against the forest primeval, aka the Chequamegon in northern Wisconsin, a place where the drama of nature unfolds daily, ceaselessly—recorded here with preternatural awareness, as if witnessed for the very first time…the story’s both more complicated than it sounds and yet boldly, bald-facedly what it is. How Edgar in time goes about breaking this domestic impasse and strikes out into the wide world will carry you through this novel’s 560-odd pellucid, mythos-riddled pages and leave you crying for more.
Elle Magazine

'Sustained by a momentum that has the crushing inevitability of fate, the propulsive will have readers sucked in all the way through breathtaking final scenes.'
Publishers Weekly

'A stately, wonderfully written debut novel... (Wroblewski) takes an intense interest in them; and sets them in motion with graceful language ... a boon for dog lovers, and for fans of storytelling that eschews flash. Highly recommended.'
Kirkus Review



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Customer Reviews

60 Reviews
5 star:
 (25)
4 star:
 (18)
3 star:
 (12)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (60 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have read this year - maybe this century - maybe ever, 17 Aug 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I'm not going to write a long review because I don't want you to spend hours reading it. I want you to go off and read "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" instead and I can't help thinking every second you're not doing that, you're missing out.

This is a book of incredible power: it is beautifully almost poetically written, yet it is also very raw and personable. The plotline follows Hamlet, so you can guess vaguely what is going to happen, yet every page delivers a shock. As the denouement came ever closer I found myself reading more slowly, feeling sick with nerves.

Edgar, the protagonist, is a mute boy living in a closeknit family which breeds and trains dogs. The happy unit is blown apart by the sudden and shocking death of his father. As his uncle becomes ever closer to his mother, Edgar becomes more and more isolated. Upon his return, justice is served in a most unexpected fashion, no matter how well you know The Bard's story.

I will be buying this book for everyone I know. It left me breathless, tearful and overwhelmed; a real rollercoaster of a novel, the like of which I have not read in a long time. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good idea ... but did it have to be so long???, 3 Aug 2008
By Cee-Gee (Northants, UK) - See all my reviews
  
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
It seems a little unfair to give this book just 3 stars, it was an original idea and I was interested by it, but it wasn't for me an amazing 5 star, and it fell short of the almost perfect 4 star rating. Perhaps 3 and a half stars would be more appropriate.

Like I've said, the concept for the book was great. A mute boy and his dogs, a ghost story, things not quite as they seem, all very intriguing and I did want to keep reading, but at times it was a chore.

At over 550 pages, this is a long slog and it suffers for it. The book moves at a snail's pace at times. Far too long was spent dwelling on Edgar's early life before the story picked up around the middle of the book. But even then it was dragged out. I read a good book in a few days, but I had to force myself to keep picking this up over a few weeks, although I did read that last 150 or so pages in one afternoon because the pace picked up dramatically.

You should also beware if, like me, you like to know how a story ends. I don't want to be left guessing, but for me there were huge question marks at the end and I felt a bit cheated after having put so much effort into reading it! This is quite a personal point of view, however, and so you should bear that in mind.

All in all I am glad to have read the story because it was interesting but you have to be prepared to knuckle down and put the effort into reading it.
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Why only 566 pages?, 16 Jul 2008
By Michael Watson "skirrow22" (Halifax, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I don't really know what makes a 'Great American Novel' as judged by other reviewers. We all have completely different requirements but this particular book, in my view, comes close to being just such a novel.

It fits the bill in the traditional sense that it is certainly a long and eventful journey through the life of a disadvantaged boy growing up in the wilds of North America - with the added bonus of his three dogs around him. If you love dogs, then read this book but there is a great deal more. And it's this 'more' that makes the book.

That the writing is finely tuned, the characterisation keenly developed should be expected but the feeling of empathy the author manages to create with the reader is such that you find yourself immersed in this life - the happiness at one end of the emotional spectrum, the sadness at the other, so much so that, despite the 566 pages, before you've reached 500 you are wishing if only there were 500 more.

You can read about the detail of the story in the publisher's blurb. However, I don't rate Hamlet by way of any sort of comparison. This book stands on its own - with all the emotions a truly great author can engender. I urge you to buy the book and make the same journey as I just did. I'm sure you cannot possibly be disappointed.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't know what all the fuss is about!
Never written a review before but feel this book has been very overrated. Was looking forward to reading it because of all the good reviews but was disappointed. Read more
Published 13 days ago by M. I. Williams

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly Fantastic Read
I wasn't expecting much from this book, especially as the front cover seems misleading(so never judge a book by it's cover). Read more
Published 1 month ago by R. Patel

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read but not a rave
I read this book after watching Oprah rave about it on her show. I absolutely love dogs and have three of my own. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Trickle Tree

1.0 out of 5 stars Well....no
I don't normally feel inspired to write a review, this is an exception. Just finished ploughing ny way through to the end of this. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Julian Marshall

5.0 out of 5 stars a great summer read
a wonderful and very unusual book. Beautifully written

Ignore the cover and read the book
Published 1 month ago by Zuzu

4.0 out of 5 stars A lingering debut...
There's much to like in Wroblewski's debut novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, not least of which is the writing. Read more
Published 2 months ago by LittleMoon

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but long
A interesting story that can lag at times and other times pull you in. I would recomend the read with some reservations. Read more
Published 2 months ago by R. Hallett

4.0 out of 5 stars The Story of Edgar Sawtell
I loved this book, and as an animal lover it was easy. It is a touching story of how a boy ,who has more than his fair share of challenges, deals with an unfair and at times cruel... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tina

3.0 out of 5 stars Too long and not original enough
I'm not against big books, I've read many. But the thing that keeps me turning pages is usually either an original story or an original way of telling it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Claptonite

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic read
This is a fantastic book. I've bought two others to give to friends. A few dry spots but still you want to read straight through to the end. Loved it and my husband did also.
Published 4 months ago by Mrs. Mary K. Lehr

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