I've read this one about 3 times so far. The writing is, in one word, beautiful. I cannot believe this is someones first novel. The only other book that I treasure so much just for the writing is Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It".
I'm sure you've all read "Edgar", so I'll save the plot summary. If you're one of the few on earth who escaped hearing about this book, just do yourself a favour and go buy it now. I won't give away the ending just in case.
Being an animal lover and owner and wannabe horse trainer, I frequently find dog/horse/animal centric books disappointing for any number of reasons. Maybe the terminology was wrong or maybe the characters, animal or human, just didn't ring true. This one has none of that. The details were, for me, absolutely and wonderfully accurate, leaving me to sit back and enjoy the story. This book just pulls you in and you feel like this story is familiar somehow. OK so maybe it is. It is, after all, pretty much a modern day retelling of Hamlet. I can tell you I'd have been much happier in high school English if this version of the story was the one on offer :) This book is seriously the only one I've ever cried over, not because I felt it was sad, so much, but I felt like it was unfair. Maybe not so much the escape I thought it would be and more a reflection of real life. Maybe a little bit because something so beautiful came to an end. Trust me, I'm as tough as they come, but this book got to me on so many levels, so much so that the first time I read it I put it down and thought I'd never have the heart to pick it up again. After some thought, of course I wouldn't change a thing about it. A nice tidy ending would have felt contrived and fake. I'm looking forward to future books from this author and I can tell you now, "Edgar" is staying on my bookshelf until he falls apart. Then I'll probably go buy a new one.
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