A fine art of The Art of Racing in the Rain

I just finished reading Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain, and I was very glad that this book was recommended to me by a fellow bookseller. Not that I wouldn't have eventually read it. The story just seemed like it might be another angst-fiction title that the market is inundated with at present. What got me intrigued was that the main character, the narrator, was a dog. That's right...a story told by a dog, a lab terrier mix named Enzo.



Don't get me wrong, this book is filled with much angst. But it has a sense of humor, provided greatly by Enzo's curiosity and views on humans, that lifts it up past the melodramatic trappings.



Another part of the story that helps create Enzo's world, and gives his master, Denny, an escape from his problems of the world is racing-European car racing to be exact. Denny and Enzo spend countless hours in front of the television watching videos of past races. Denny uses the footage to study and learn how the best have been successful, Enzo sees the races as a learning tool as well, for that one day when he will be reborn as a human who longs to race cars.



I might have gone into this book with apprehension, and yes I did shed some tears by the end of the story, but I came out a true fan in Enzo, and in Garth Stein.