The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

sheadakota

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Sorry if there is a thread about this already But I just finished this book and NEED to talk about it with another writer!!

WARNING SPOILER ALERT











Ok I know Stephen King endorsed this book and the writing was wonderful, descrpitive and just outright beautiful- but the ending??? Oh Come on- why did Edgar have to die? I was looking for a satisfying ending and I know he got to say goodbye to Almondine and Claud got what he deserved- but there soooo many things left unanswered and inconsistancys through out this book- for instance- I thought it was way out of character for Trudy to tell Edgar to run in the first place- she was a very practical person- facing things head on- telling Edgar to run seemed wrong for her- there are other things, but I wanted to get someone elses' opinion of this book- I want to say I loved it, but I just can't!
 

josephwise

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SPOILER CARRY-OVER












I haven't read it, but I heard someone call it a "retelling of Hamlet."

If that's true, do you think he was killed-off just to satisfy the comparison?

Or do you think his death was inevitable, in the same way that Hamlet's was inevitable?
 
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sheadakota

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Personally I don't see the comparison. Hamlet was a tragedy and I guess if you stretched this you could call it one as well, but it could have been tragic even if he had let Edgar live- there was no satisfying ending to this story- that is what's so frustrating! I felt there were also several illogical plot lines his charactrers went down- What was claude's motivation to kill Gar? Not just kill him, but Plan to kill him for a long time. Then move in on his widow?

And Trudy- she was painted as a logical very paractical person then when Edgar mistakes Page for Claude and pushes him down the stairs, she suddenly freaks and tells him to run away- very out of character for her IMHO- I guess I felt cheated by the ending- Trudy never finds out what a monster Claude was, never finds out her husband and son were murdered by him- yes he dies and yes Gar had a hand (sort of) in his death, but it was not a good ending- as I said I felt cheated and not a little angry at the end of the book. Hamlet never made me feel that way- he was a morose and tragic figure from the get-go- perhaps that is why Hamlet's death felt right maybe even needed by the end of the play- Edgar's did not- perhaps someone in marketing thought it would be good hype to compare the two- maybe people would buy into it- I guess I did- But I tell you I don;t think I would buy, let alone read anything by this author again- not because he lacked talent- he didn't, the man can write- but because the ending just plane sucked and left me feeling deflated at the end of a very long book.
 

Unique

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:hooray:I put in a request for this book. I'm glad you think it's good. It sounded good to me, too.

Oh Come on- why did Edgar have to die?

Sometimes dying isn't the worst thing that can happen to you. ::shrug::

Maybe the editor/publisher told him, c'mon, come on - finish the damn book already - so he killed him. :tongue
 

DreamWeaver

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Regarding Hamlet....

[spoiler space]




















I just finished the book. I love Shakespeare, and I'd have to say The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is built around a pretty faithful retelling of Hamlet. The majority of the plot inconsistencies can be explained simply by recognizing that most things that happen in Hamlet are going to happen in Edgar Sawtelle: the murders, the ghost, the play-within-a-play, the slaughterhouse ending. Most of the characters are analogous; some quick Googling shows the only one people seem to have trouble pinpointing is Horatio. At any rate, once one learns the brother-in-law is named Claude and the wife is named Trudy, one can pretty much guarantee that the book is going to end in a bloodbath and few if any will survive. I was a bit surprised the author let two characters make it through the ending.

FWIW, the character equivalents seem to be:
Gar = elder (King) Hamlet, Ghost
Edgar = young Prince Hamlet
Trudy = Queen Gertrude, who marries Claudius after the death of her husband, the elder Hamlet
Claude = the usurper King Claudius, poisoner of his brother the elder Hamlet
Dr Papineau = Polonius, accidentally killed by young Hamlet
Glen Papineau = Laertes, Polonius' son, egged on by Claudius to revenge Polonius' death
Almondine = Ophelia, complete with accidental suicide and fresh grave
Forte = Fortinbras, who in the end inherits the kingdom

Some folks say Essay is Horatio; some say Almondine is a mixture of Horatio and Ophelia; and some say Henry is Horatio. I lean toward Essay, but this congruity just doesn't seem as pronounced as most of the others.
 
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sheadakota

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Very interesting analogoy! I do see the comparison. I have read Hamlet, but have not studied it, and admitt to forgetting portions of it. I can now see what the author has done, but still do not like it. I was never as emotionally invested in Hamlet as I was Edgar, I guess. Perhaps the modern setting allowed me to relate more than Shakesperian world. Thanks for the fascinating interpation.
 

selkn.asrai

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As DreamWeaver pointed out, it's based largely on Hamlet. And what other ending could one expect from a story inspired by the Great Dane and his melancholic mania?
 

emandem

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Am finishing this one up over the holidays-- and yes I see the analogies with Hamlet, etc.-- but I am still not overly impressed with the book! It moves incredibly slowly in places (way too much detail about raising/breeding dogs), and although I agree the writer has talent I will not be looking for another of his novels. Was I the only one that didn't understand what all the hype is about?
 

sheadakota

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No way! I was so frustrated with the ending of the first, there is NO way I will read anything else of his.
 

emandem

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Hmmm... I am interested to know if any AW'ers plan on reading this sequel. I understand all readers have different tastes, but every time I get wind of "fan"-ship of a certain novel that does little to nothing for me, I get very curious as to what I'm "missing..." Anybody?
 

CKelly

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You have to give the guy credit, his prose and vocabulary are top shelf. He does some interesting things (as a writer I like to play the "spot what the other writer is proud of" game): for example at page 248, he slips into 2nd person for a page an a half (that's hard to pull off, but he made it work).
He also slipped into the dogs point of view once, but I thought that did not work as well (it was distracting to me).
Overall I thought the plot dragged a bit for the first half of the book, had it not been for the thing being so eloquently written, I would probably have given up on it, but it's always fun to read good writing and watch for what really works.
Chris