The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

After finishing David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, I find myself feeling a great deal like I did at the end of Peter Jackson's King Kong. It was a beautiful experience, with plenty to fascinate and delight, but at the end, when the lights came up, all I remember thinking was, "I'd forgotten how much I hate the story!"

Wroblewski's book is well-crafted, and on more than one occasion, I found myself really enjoying his use of language and description. While he creates a lovely facade, the bones of his story are straight out of Shakespeare's Hamlet. I'm always amazed by the ability of Shakespeare's stories to transcend time and place: Romeo and Juliet against the backdrop of an L.A. gang war, King Lear on a modern-day Iowa farm, and I even once saw a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream on skateboards. I'm never sure whether his stories are universal or basic, perhaps the gift is that they're both, but either way, David Wroblewski relocates the tragedy of a Danish prince to a dog-breeding farm in Wisconsin.

I believe what I enjoyed most about the book was making the connections between the two works. For instance, Edgar Sawtelle, Wroblewski's Hamlet, is mute, a poetic recreation of the original Hamlet's loss of a voice due to his lack of power and disturbed mental state. Through the translation, I also found myself discovering new perspectives on Shakespeare's motivations for Hamlet, and I came away with a better understanding of the original work. In the end, though, although I knew Hamlet was the foundation, I wasn't prepared for the whole-scale tragedy that plays out. I suppose that also speaks to Wroblewski's success as an author: through his depiction of Edgar, the character becomes much more sympathetic and his tragic tale much more poignant. A true literary journey, but before you start, brace yourself for where you'll end up!