First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar’s lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar’s paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles’ once peaceful home. When Edgar’s father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm – and into Edgar’s mother’s affections.

Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father’s death, but his plan backfires – spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him. But his need to face his father’s murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward.

David Wroblewski is a master storyteller, and his breathtaking scenes – the elemental north woods, the sweep of seasons, an iconic American barn, a fateful vision rendered in the falling rain – create a riveting family saga, a brilliant exploration of the limits of language, and a compulsively readable modern classic.

Happy Friday everyone! Well, it is already Saturday. Nevertheless, I am glad we could make it through yet another workweek, although some barely made it. I hope everyone ended the work week on a high note and is going into the weekend scoff-free. I hope you were able to accomplish all your tasks for the week. It is time to slow down, unwind, and dive into the weekend! Perhaps even a long sleep will recuperate those energies lost in dealing with work. Woah. Time is passing us by. Today is the last day of November. If only we can slow down time. This also means that 2024 is inching toward its inevitable close. A new year is just over the horizon. I hope that the year has been kind and great for everyone. Before the year ends, I hope your hard work gets recognized and repaid. I hope the remainder of the year will be brimming with good news, blessings, and pleasant surprises. More importantly, I hope everyone will be healthy in body, mind, and spirit.

But before I can fully dive into the weekend, let me cap another blogging week with a fresh First Impression Friday update. Each (book) blogging week concludes with this bookish update. What was once an interlude, a quick pause to figure out my initial feelings about the book I was reading, has, over time, turned into springboards for my book reviews. Reading-wise, there was no major theme to tie up the past few months. Ordinarily, my reading months are organized to follow through with a single theme but the past few months have been chaotic. I have read an eclectic mix of books, from mini-forays into works of Latin American and African writers to completing all books shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Nevertheless, there was always room for surprise. For November, I was reading whatever I felt like reading although the focus remains unchanged: read the books that are part of my ongoing reading challenges.

Thankfully, I completed all the books on my 2024 Top 24 reading list this month. Now, I am focusing on my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge and 2024 Top 10 Books I Look Forward To list to complete. I still have five books in the former and two in the latter I have yet to read. My current read, David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is the sixteenth book in my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge I read. In a way, this commences a mini-foray into the works of American writers because four of the five remaining books in my 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge are written by American writers; Japanese writer Yukio Mishima’s Thirst for Love is the only exception and will be the springboard for a different kind of literary journey later in December. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to all of these books.

If my memory serves me right, it was either 2016 or 2017 when I acquired a copy of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle in a book thrift shop. I had no inkling about who the writer was nor have I read any of his works before. I guess the bargain price and the book’s cover were the main drivers for this random purchase; one other book in my Beat the Backlist Challenge falls into this very same category. Like most of my books, it was left to gather dust on my bookshelf. I have since been meaning to read the book but I am swamped with books that it was pushed down the ladder. This prompted me to include it in my 2024 Top 2024 Beat the Backlist Challenge to ensure that I will finally read it. So yes, almost a decade since I bought it, I am reading the book.

Originally published in 2008, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is Wroblewski’s debut novel. It transports the readers to rural Wisconsin. The titular Edgar Sawtelle was born mute and was a teenager when we first met him. He grew up in a barn known for fostering and taking care of dogs. Surrounded by canines all his life, Edgar has developed a fondness for the dogs, even preferring their company over the adults around him. Their connection became even more pronounced when he helped train the dogs through sign language. His story, however, started in the mid-twentieth century when we met Edgar’s father, Edgar (Gar for short), and his uncle Claude. Their family uses cutting-edge genetic theories to breed dogs; some are fictional breeds. Unlike his brother, Claude had very little interest in the family’s business.

With the onset of the Korean War, Claude enlisted in the Navy while Gar took over the family business. Gar married Gertrude (Trudy), and the couple had one child, Edgar. The natural harmony that existed in the Sawtelle dog farm was disrupted by the sudden reappearance of Claude. From the onset, Edgar can sense that his father and uncle barely get along. Claude then again disappeared and a couple of days after his disappearance, Gar was found dying by his son; he eventually passed away. His death was ruled as an aneurysm by the local coroner but he was never certain. Despite his father’s untimely demise, Edgar and his mother resolved to keep the farm running. However, running it on their own was too much, especially when Edgar was left to fend on his own after his mother was bedridden with pneumonia. Through the local veterinarian Dr. Papineau, Edgar established contact with his uncle who returned without much ado. While Claude’s reappearance helped ease some of the pressures of running the farm, other events started to develop.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is, to say the least, eventful and introduces a large cast of characters. Running the dog farm and the politics that concern it were chief to the story although I can sense that the story, overall, is Edgar Sawtelle’s coming-of-age. On the other hand, the novel is also shrouded by a veil of mystery and layers of science fiction and even the supernatural. All of these different elements pique my interest. I still have quite a long way to go – the book is rather thick – and I am looking forward to what Wroblewski can offer. How about you fellow reader? What book or books have you read over the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!