The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Anyone who recommended this book always said something like, "It's a fascinating mystery story about a mute 14 year old boy and a special breed of dog". Well that is sort of true - if you leave all the best parts out. There is so much beautiful writing in this book - actually too much beautiful writing if that is possible. I must admit that as the real story began to unfold I grew impatient with the details of the color of the grass, the smell of the hay, the thoughts of the dogs - exquisite as they were. I loved it for the first two hundred pages, cheat-skimmed it for the second two hundred and could not put it down for the last two hundred - OK - last one hundred and fifty-eight. The pace of the book is like a long, long hyper-aware stroll and then falling off a cliff with your eyes closed. Not a mystery in the traditional sense - not a coming-of-age story in the traditional sense - not an animal story in the traditional sense - but a bit of all of these. Let's hope Wroblewski has enough words left for another non-traditional story of whatever he pleases.