Finally, at last, I’ve finished reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski.
I purchased this novel and a few others at Target about a month ago while on my way home from work. I had finished reading One Thousand White Women, by Jim Fergus at lunch that day and I knew I didn’t have anything new to read on my bookshelf at home.
Why was I drawn to this particular book? Perhaps it was the cover artwork that reminded me of an American Impressionist painting. Once in my hand, I enjoyed the feel of the matte finish cover, the weight of the book, and the deckle-edged pages. I’m a sucker for deckle-edged pages.
On the back cover, there was an endorsement by Stephen King:
“I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Wonderful. Mysterious, long, and satisfying: readers…are going to enter a richer world. I envy them the trip.”
The books inside flyleaf said:
Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads and idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose remarkable gift for companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar’s lifelong friend and ally. Edgar seems poised to carry on his family’s traditions, but when catastrophe strikes, he finds his once-peaceful home engulfed in turmoil.
Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?
I started reading the book a couple of weeks ago. Right away, I enjoyed the author’s writing style. There’s a comfortable richness to it. I continued to read. After a hundred pages or so I thought to myself, This is a lot of background information.
When I reached page 269 and catastrophe still hadn’t struck I put the book down in frustration. But since I have this silly rule about finishing any book I start, I dutifully carried the book around with me for a week. However, I worked on crossword puzzles in my spare time instead.
This past weekend I had plenty of time on my hands so I picked up the book again. On page 307 the author actually tells the reader that the catastrophe is coming. Well, it finally did on page 326. The story picked up pace but there was still too much extraneous information.
The last one hundred pages were so suspenseful that I stayed up until midnight reading. My husband kept looking at me and asked,
“How’s the book?”
“It’s Hamlet.”
“What?”
“The author is retelling Hamlet.”
Yep. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is the story of the Prince of Denmark including the “play within a play” scene. The novel is divided into five acts like a play. Edgar’s muteness is a literal translation of Hamlet’s line, “But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.” His mother’s name is Trudy and his uncle’s name is Claude. Ophelia is played by Almondine, the dog. This point is actually very sweet because Edgar and Almondine really do love each other. The author does throw in a soothsayer à la Shakespeare just for fun. And King Lear makes an appearance close to the end on page 519.
When it was all said and done, Edgar Sawtelle was 562 pages. I’m not exactly sure why I became so frustrated with this novel other than the fact that it wasn’t what I expected. Why wasn't the book promoted as a retelling of Hamlet? It’s proof that you can’t judge a book by its cover, flyleaf, or deckle-edge pages.
Do you ever get frustrated by a novel when it seems to stall? What do you do? Do you finish every book you start? Would you read a retelling of Hamlet?
6 comments:
I used to always finish books I started and then after being in a book club where I disliked several in a row I decided that life is too short to spend time reading something I don't like. I usually give a book plenty of time before I abandon it but it sounds like this one would not have made the cut for me
I no longer finish books that don't speak to me, or that I feel as if I'm waiting and wasting my time in reading them. But I DO commend YOU on doing it!
Interestingly enough, if Stephen King endorsed the book...and you thought there was alot of excess...one of the things he stresses in his book 'On Writing' (which is great, btw) is NOT to use too many words in description. To take out some of the excess.
But as a friend of mine, who is a writer by trade not just hobby, there are only so many stories to tell. And most have been touched on already. So a modern version of Hamlet? I might just read the cliff notes. But I do like the cover...
:-)
ARG! This is one of the most frustrating things ever!
I have the same "rule" as you, though I am trying to banish it from my life. Life is precious and short and it shouldn't be spent reading books we don't enjoy or drinking bad wine.
The last one I did this with was My Sister's Keeper. I couldn't get in to it, I think because it jumped from character to character too much for me in the beginning. I left it for about a month and actually read a few other books in the meantime (I almost NEVER do that and generally only ever read one book at a time). When I came back to it (because a friend recommended I give it one more shot) I was hooked right through until the end. I was very glad I had given it another chance, and not just because I liked the story.
I had followed the rule. *eye roll*
I must erase that rule from my mental space. I'm off to find my wire brush now. lol Hope you have a great Monday!
After I've invested a certain amount of time in a book, I HAVE to finish it...well, most of the time. And oddly, I sometimes am incredibly drawn to a book by none other than its cover. There are some great ones out there.
I guess I'm not too great at finishing some books. I have one book that I will occassionally pick up, but never seem to finish. Hopefully before I die, I will have finished it. LOL!
I have seen this book all over the place. I think Amazon even recommended it to me based on a prior purchase. It sounds like one of those books that might be better in theory than in reality. A retelling of Hamlet sounds good to me, but perhaps not if the rising action doesn't come until more than halfway through the 562 pages!
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