Plus there’s a lot that was just right. His language is nicely suited to the tale, elegant and tuned into the natural world. Obviously I’m a dog person so I’m slanted that way in the first place, but I thought he wrote the dogs well. It’s always a treat to read someone who’s so carefully observed something that you have too. And much of the book flowed beautifully. But mostly it was the characters that moved me, people and dogs alike. Not necessarily their inner lives or motivations, which fluctuated all over the board in terms of plausibility – just the fact of them. They’ll stay with me a while. Lord, I cried so hard over Almondine I had to go sit outside for a few minutes with my arm around my own flesh-and-blood dog.
almost 2 years agolisapeet's Notes // view everyone's notes
lisapeet
on
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
lisapeet
on
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
Even though there were problems – a series of transitions in the last quarter of the book that didn’t work well, and the last part in the barn wasn’t the climax or catharsis that I think the book wanted, and yeah, it was fat as a tick on a dog’s ear. But that didn’t matter much to me, honestly – I was so emotionally involved with the characters it was like being in love, in the way logic just flies out the window for a while. And it’s been such a long time since a book did that to me. I gave in, I did, I swooned.
almost 2 years ago
lisapeet
on
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
Stayed up late finishing this and… I really can’t be objective. I said earlier how I was enjoying it purely as a reader and not a critic, but it goes deeper than that. It’s like he had some kind of infrared Jungian checklist and somehow managed to find out all my childhood fantasies: benevolent and wise dog companion/nursemaid? Check. Super-intelligent semi-wild pack of devoted dogs that sleep with you at night? Check. I guess the only thing worse than being raised by wolves is wishing you were – as a kid I always had a fantasy of a wolf pack appearing on my street to take me away. I wanted a dog who would look out for me like Lassie. So this was like – pardon the crudeness of the simile – finding the porn that gets you off just right.
almost 2 years ago
lisapeet
on
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
I’m about 2/3 through and liking it a lot, although it’s a very sad book for the most part. I have my quibbles, and some of the plot stuff strikes me like a Swiss watch in a transparent case—beautifully done, but a little less wondrous for being able to see how it’s put together. But maybe because I’ve just come off of doing a very close and critical read of a first draft manuscript elsewhere—I’m interested in this one as a passenger, not an editor, and I’m enjoying the ride very much.
Any fussing about plot aside, the writing is straightforward and sweet and I really love how he writes dogs.
Also, even though I've always held that dog names should never be longer than two syllables, now I want to get another and name her Almondine.
almost 2 years ago
lisapeet
on
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
This is my vacation book, since I don't have any actual real vacation activities to plan my life around other than eating artisanal cheese (which is not too shabby, come to think of it). So far it's going down easy (both book and cheese), but I'm barely in. Everything I'm reading right now is so BIG.
almost 2 years ago
