Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Art of Racing in the Rain was published early in 2008, but I didn’t hear about the book until early in 2009 when Garth Stein came to Changing Hands for an author event. I can’t recall if I went to the bookstore for the event specifically, or if I was there on a book buying binge and decided to stay for the event, but I remember how engaging Stein was, and I added it to my To Read list. I told my Dad about the book, and for the first time I can recall, my father mustered up his inner bookworm and beat me to reading a book, and he was a fan.

The plot of The Art of Racing in the Rain is perfectly fine as far as stories go, but it is the narrative perspective that is the true treat: the narrator is a dog. The entire story is told by Enzo, a dog named after a legendary racecar driver and owned by a talented driver who struggles to balance his dream of racing with his familial duties and hardships. Garth Stein created an intriguing dog and smartly called attention to the fact that Enzo is an unusual dog in his powers of perception and human-like will power, that, as a reader, it becomes easy to buy into Enzo as a trustworthy narrator. Everyone is inclined to think that their dog is special: that their dog almost knows what they are thinking. Well, Enzo’s loyalty and insight into his person’s life helps to confirm this thought in us all and makes is possible to entertain the notions of what is going on in our own pet’s mind.

This is a heart-warming, heartstring-pulling, and heartfelt story. It is a sweet read with a unique charm. While it has its literary moments, its biggest appeal is Ezno. What could be less cliché than a third person narrator who is, in fact, man’s best friend? Especially one who so elegantly articulates thoughts like, “I will often admire a beautiful sunrise, but I will never consider the sun as a champion for having risen.”

Stein, Garth. The Art of Racing in the Rain. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.