Edgar is mute, and his parents breed and raise an unusual mix of dogs. Edgar signs and his parents and his dogs understand him. His dad's brother comes to stay with them for a while and he fixes the roof on their barn, but Claude and Gar get in lots of fights, and finally, he leaves. Then Edgar's father has a stroke or something and dies.
Okay, so my summary kind of sucks. A lot more than that happens in the first 100 pages. You get the whole backstory of how the Sawtelles ended up on the land where they live in Wisconsin. You also learn about the breed of dogs they raise. Gar places them with families when the pups are a year old. You also learn that Edgar's mother Trudy has had many miscarriages before successfully carrying Edgar. She and Gar are terribly distressed to realize he is mute when he is only a day old. The backstory about how he learned to sign is kind of strange and difficult to explain. I don't know if that information will be important later.
So far, I like the book. I hate that Gar died the way he did. I hate how Edgar felt so helpless trying to call for help--he can't speak so using a phone posed a grave difficulty. Part II is titled "3 Griefs" and that worries me. I don't want Trudy or Almondine (Edgar's dog) to die. That would be too much for ol' Edgar. I think I'm to a point where I'm emotionally vested and now I want to read. I hate it when books take 100 pages to get interesting. But so it is with many that I read.
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It's sad to me that Edgar's father dies. As if his life was hard enough! Sounds like a good book though!
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