At 975 pages, David Wroblewski’s Familiaris is a looong book. Perhaps this is why it took him
15 years to write the prequel to his first novel, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. You might have to
renew this a few times to read it through.
The new novel starts in 1915 and traces the story of John Sawtelle, grandfather to Edgar
Sawtelle. In the first few chapters, John falls in love with Mary Svaboda and the newlyweds
move from Hartford, Wisconsin, all the way north to a farm near Mellen that John bought on a
whim. They drag along their friends the bear-like and reticent woodworker Elbow and Frank, a
wounded veteran addicted to morphine. They also bring along the dogs which will make up the
foundation of the famous Sawtelle line of dogs. Like his first book, Familiaris takes place almost
entirely in the Mellen area.
As is clear from the novel’s title, this is a novel for dog lovers, but more so it is the prequel to
the tragic family history he weaves in his first novel. There’s plenty of other things in this novel
for readers not into dogs – brilliant descriptions of the Peshtigo Fire and the Northwoods, lore
about cooking, woodworking and motorcycling.
Even after considering the length and breadth of this epic novel which spans 40 years and
nearly 1000 pages, the author leaves some things unsaid and others undeveloped. The early years
of John and Mary’s sons, Gar and Claude, Wroblewski hardly mentions. They drop onto the
pages as young men in their high school years. I’d like to believe this is intentional and that
there’s another Sawtelle novel in the works. I just hope we don’t have to wait another 15 years
for it to arrive in bookstores and libraries.
Review submitted and written by staff member Mark Parman.
