But Wroblewski writes with such grace and energy that Edgar Sawtelle never succumbs to that danger. That sets off alarm bells, I know: Handicapped kids and pets can make a toxic mix of sentimentality. No wonder: 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. It's being released with the kind of hoopla once reserved for the publishing world's most established authors. David Wroblewski is a 48-year-old software developer in Colorado, and this is his first novel. "… 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 scope of this book, 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 summer.” Wroblewski's plot is dynamic – page by page compelling – and classical, evoking Hamlet, Antigone, Electra, and Orestes, as Edgar tries to avenge his father's death and his paternal uncle's new place in the affections of his mother. There are passages of language here ("A pair of does sprang over the fence on the north side of the field-two leaps each, nonchalant, long-sustained, falling earthward only as an afterthought.") that make you pause and read again with luxuriant pleasure. Edgar is the mute boy who raises them, a mesmerizing fictional hero, primitive and wise. The dogs function like spirits in Shakespeare, or the chorus in Greek tragedy: They color the text with larger meaning yet remain tangibly real, deeply believable as dogs. This is a tale set in rural Wisconsin in the first half of the 20th century, on a farm where the Sawtelles raise a fictional breed of dog. “ A CLASSSIC IN THE MAKING: Whether you read for the beauty of language or for the intricacies of plot, you will easily fall in love with David Wroblewski’s generous, almost transcendentally lovely debut novel, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
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