Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Great Park Grove August Get-Together

We welcomed some new readers to our regular group last night when we met to discuss The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski.

The book was a sizeable read, for a summertime tome, and a couple of people in our group had not had a chance to finish before the meeting. Nevertheless, they did not mind our discussion which resulted in an almost unanimous opinion of 'thumbs up', with only one person expressing a dislike of the book, or a 'thumbs down.'

There was so much to talk about with this book. We mostly enjoyed the author's writing style, being so beautifully descriptive with his words, being able to draw us, as readers, into the story as if it were taking place around us. Many of us found the description and actions of the dogs to be so true to life; we were able to exchange stories of our own pets. (Even Diane's especially courageous bird, who bravely skirted around the household's cat and dog to sit with and play with her child.)

More than one of us, though, expressed disappointment with the ending. But, gradually through the discussion we came to realize the reasoning behind it. Some of the research for discussion questions led to speculations by others that the book's storyline and plot is borrowed from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Is it to be?

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