The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: yet another update

This post is for people who've already read the book because I can't avoid giving away pertinent plot points.

Spoiler alert

When Edgar ran away I almost couldn't read on. Even when I was very little, four or five, I never understood how any kid would consider running away. Where would they sleep, how would they bathe, what would they eat? And that picture I always conjured up: a little boy wearing overalls and a straw hat, carrying a stick with a small bundle wrapped in some handkerchief, always struck me being ridiculous and impractical. Reading about how Edgar and the three dogs trying to survive on their own made me worry. A sign of good fiction, I suppose, when a reader start worrying the survival of a fictitious character.

Here is a small complaint about the book. When Edgar finally realizes Almondine is his other and he misses her more than he misses his mom, I expected Edgar to turn around. But without explanation, he continues on in his journey. Nothing more is said about it. That bugs me a little.

But the thing that bugs me the most is when Edgar finally comes home and the author doesn't let boy and dog re-unite. Bad, bad David Wroblewski! That chapter in Almondine's viewpoint: how poignant, and how different from the first chapter in her POV. That's the only time I've cried in this book.

And evil Claude. If I had hackles, they were definitely raised when I read that chapter in which he so smoothly manipulates Glen, who is grieving his father's death and so very gullible. Claude has to pay, and pay good.