The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

This story is so good, I hardly know what to say about it...it is a big book with epic qualities and was truly moving. I am a known wuss about reading stories that I know are tragedies. I simply won't read them, if I know...so I must not have known that when I put this book on hold, or I ignored that part of the review? Just didn't see it I guess. I am so glad I missed that as this is a book is just so good!
Here is what the Washington Post had to say:

"…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. You haven't heard of the author. David Wroblewski is a 48-year-old software developer in Colorado, and this is his first novel. It's being released with the kind of hoopla once reserved for the publishing world's most established authors. 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. That sets off alarm bells, I know: Handicapped kids and pets can make a toxic mix of sentimentality. But Wroblewski writes with such grace and energy that Edgar Sawtelle never succumbs to that danger. Inspired improbably by the plot of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," this Midwestern tale manages to be both tender and suspenseful…Most of the story comes to us through a masterful, transparent voice: The author, the narrator, the pages -- everything fades away as we're drawn into this engrossing tale….The final section gathers like a furious storm of hope and retribution that brings young Edgar to a destiny he doesn't deserve but never resists. It's a devastating finale, shocking though foretold, that transforms the story of this little family into something grand and unforgettable."

— Washington Post Book World, cover review

At the end of this wrenching tale, the dogs make a choice that still has me wondering...where are the dogs now. Was it the right choice? And how can I find a Sawtelle dog?

Talk to you soon,

Lynda