Galley Talk: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

I was initially a bit daunted by the size of David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle [Ecco, June 10] and his growing reputation as a tremendous new literary voice, but his prose immediately captured me and his characters called to me as if from personal memory. I actually found myself slowing down my reading, fearing I would gobble it up. But halfway through, when Edgar runs away from home, taking three of his family's famous “Sawtelle dogs” with him—I was lost to the book. Not only was I mesmerized, but I discovered I had used half a box of tissues in the end, not something a guy admits freely. I urge everyone to discover the overwhelming beauty of Wroblewski's prose and the haunting, beautiful characters he creates. This is the best book I've read in a long time. It is a class apart—a 570-page literary novel that has as much emotional punch of anything I have ever read.