The Art of Racing in the Rain--A Book Review

“In Mongolia, when a dog dies, he is buried high in the hills so people cannot walk on his grave. The dog's master whispers into the dog's ear his wishes that the dog will return as a man in his next life. Then his tail is cut off and put beneath his head, and a piece of meat or fat is placed in his mouth to sustain his soul on its journey; before he is reincarnated, the dog's soul is freed to travel the land, to run across the high desert plains for as long as it would like. I learned that from a program on the National Geographic channel, so I believe it is true. Not all dogs return as men, they say; only those who are ready. I am ready.”

      Let me start by staying I know very little about racing between vehicles. I've been to a Nascar truck race. It was loud and long. I've watched a little of the Indy 500. And when I worked concrete construction, I used to read the sports section as quickly as I could on Monday mornings while everyone else was buying there Mountain Dew, Goody's, and Cigs for the day, so I'd be in loop about what happened at the most recent Nascar race and not be lost in the conversation. I will say I know about dogs though. I've even been witness to times when the dogs I've owned have seemed more human and less dog. My dog Lady once hugged me back on the second loneliest day of my life. I know you don't believe me, but she pressed her paw into my shoulder blade on my back as if it were a hand. I had needed a hug and she gave it to me. And my dog Shakespeare laid his head in my lap on many days when all I needed was someone to listen when I was an odd boy trying to make it through middle school.  

   I'm very weary when it comes to two items and this book contains both of them. Those two items are popular opinion and books about animals; especially books about dogs. The reason for both of these is genetics and the fact that public opinion has let me down more than I'd like to admit. I, now live most of my life listening to what the people around me say is awesome and then doing the opposite and things have been working out quite well, or at least that's what I keep telling myself. And I'm going to blame my mom for ruining me on good books about animals, so that every book about animals that I read now are judged by books I've either previously been read from or that I've read.

   A long time ago, on a cool wooden floor that was kept warm by a small Franklin stove, my mom would read to my two younger sisters and myself each day for about a half hour. This is something I will do to and for my son when he gets here. She took time each day to read to us from very good books and she did this from the time I was young till I was a senior in high school. And many of the books she read to us included animals. The first book I remember was a book titled, Rascal, by Sterling North. It just might be one of the best books for a young boy that has been written. It is a simple book about a young boy who finds and raises a raccoon. I found the book at a garage sale several years ago and bought it as quickly as they would take my dollar. It was worth more.



        

   Another book that my mother read to us was, The Yearling, by Majorie Kinnan Rawlings. It is a wonderful story about a young boy who raises a deer in the area of Florida where I grew up long before the Mouse came to stay and all the other things that came to Florida to enjoy it, but ended up turning into all the reasons why they left where they came from in the first place. We even got to visit, Cross Creek, where Rawlings wrote the book. There may be no better book written about the Florida of old.

 

   And I'll mention two other books that I read while in middle school and in high school and they are: Dog Jack, by Florence W. Biros. This book takes place during the Civil War and is about a young boy who is a runaway slave and how he finds a dog, raises it, and takes it with him as he fights for the Union. The story is a real story, but written in the vein of historical fiction. It is very, very good and very well-written.



    And A Walk Across America, by Peter Jenkins. This book focuses mostly on a young man in search of what is real and true in life and to do so, he packs up his belongings and his dog and sets out to walk across America. It is a real life account and is a fascinating read. The reason that I mention it, is that a large portion of the book focuses on Mr. Jenkins relationship with his dog and how when he had no one else in the whole world, he had his dog. It is also very well-written and an incredible read.

 

    So.....I mention all of these books and little stories for the purpose of trying to explain my feelings for Garth Stein's, The Art of Racing in the Rain. I first saw this book at Starbucks and read several pages. It was really good, but then my coffee was ready and I set it down. I, then saw it again on a corner rack at B&N and read the first chapter all the way through. It was again, very, very good. I made note of it and decided to read it and then several years passed. Flash forward to this past Thanksgiving and my youngest sister asked me if I've ever read it and told me I really needed to. Then, about a month later, my bible study leader brought the book up in conversation was really surprised I hadn't read it. And then about a week later, my mom called me and told me I've got to read the book. I felt like I was missing out the biggest thing since the snack size blizzard at Dairy Queen. So, I went to the library and checked it out and went straight home to begin reading. And this is where things began to change.

   The Art of Racing in the Rain, is a good story told from the perspective of a dog. Stein does a great job of this by writing things that if you have a dog, you pretend that they, your dogs, think about.  The dog's name is Enzo, which is the name of a famous, European race car driver. Enzo's greatest wish is to be able to communicate with his master and the world around him instead of only having simple actions to show his feelings  He belongs to a guy named, Denny, who moves through all the ups and downs of life and Enzo is along for the ride as family dogs are. Denny's desired profession is to be a race car driver and he is very gifted at it, but life doesn't always yield to our gifts, so Denny is forced to work a job at a BMW dealer in their service department in order to pay the bills. Denny marries a girl named Eve and they have their first child, a girl, named Zoe.

  The sections involving Enzo's take on things were by far the best to me. His desire to be reincarnated and come back as a man only to tell Denny that he is a good man. I think this is what we all desire. We just want someone to tell us that even though life is throwing us curveball after curveball that we are doing okay, we are going to make it through, we are running a good race. Enzo desires to do this for Denny and he needs it. The other item I really liked about the book is when Enzo knows that Eve is very sick before anyone else. This is very true and they're currently doing studies where dogs and their gifted sense of smell are able to detect cancer in humans much faster than modern medical tools and machines. The parts of this book that I didn't care for were the areas of the book where the story becomes too much to believe. I know this may seem strange since it is a fictional book, but fiction is so powerful because we can find elements of truth there and relate it to our lives, but there are many times when Stein has Enzo do things or the plot goes places far beyond where my mind could follow or wish to believe. If this sounds weird, it just may be me. I am an amatuer reader after all.

 I would suggest this book to fans of books about dogs if you haven't read Dog Jack or seen, My Dog Skip. It is similar to Marley and Me, but for me, it wasn't as good and it is a much darker read. However, just like they used to say on Reading Rainbow..."Don't take my word for it..."

David