It's Hamlet, set in northern Wisconsin. Hamlet is Edgar, a boy who cannot speak vocally, the only characters even remotely named after Shakespeare's tragedy are Edgar's mother Trudy and uncle Claude. Ophelia is a dog named Almondine. Denmark is a farm where generations of "Sawtelle dogs" have been bred in a haphazard scheme intended to develop a new, superior breed of dog. But all of that is fairly unimportant.
What's important is this: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is the best book I've read in quite some time.
Just get it from your library or local bookstore and read it. You won't be disappointed.
I read it last year and would say the same thing. I also gave it to my son for his birthday (23), and he LOVED it. So beautifully written.
ReplyDeleteAnother well-written book from last year, in this case with a dog narrator, is "The Art of Racing in the Rain."