The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth SteinMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
It's been awhile since I've written one of these.
Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain had been on my reading list for awhile, but now that it's been adapted into a film, I felt I finally had to get around to reading it.
And I seem to be dissenting from popular opinion (or at least popular opinion as reflected on Goodreads) on this novel. Because while I definitely found The Art of Racing in the Rain to be an enjoyable read, when I reflect upon it, I think this book is really just...ok...definitely not as outstanding as some make it out to be.
I would give it 3.5 starts, but because Goodreads doesn't allow for half-stars I'm rounding down to 3.
I wasn't put off by the premise of the dog-as-narrator, but in this case it didn't fully work for a few reasons. Its hard not to compare it to another popular doggy-narrated book-turned-film, A Dog's Purpose. That book, which was super-sentimental, also got 3 stars from me. However, the voice of the narrator (who is actually multiple reincarnated dogs) actually approached what the inner experience of a dog might be like - navigating the world through a mix of the five senses and the emotional energy of the humans around him/her.
Not Enzo. The Art of Racing in the Rain makes it explicit very early on that Enzo is "not like other dogs." Enzo is a philosophizing dog who longs to be human. His understanding of the world has been shaped through the TV programs his owner Denny leaves on for him, including a documentary about Mongolia that suggested that after a dog dies it becomes a man.
Did I mention that Enzo likes to philosophize? This is what made the narration not work for me. I can suspend disbelief to allow for a dog to narrate a book, but Enzo's deep and specific philosophies and beliefs about life were just distracting. They would take me out of the novel, because I'd start wondering how much the dog narrator was just a stand-in for the author's own beliefs. Stein, like human main character Denny, is a racecar enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest, so it's clear is own experiences did make their way into this book. But basically, when it comes down to it, Enzo is just too human, and not dog enough.
And some of this human-like dog's ideas and opinions are just aggravating. A human being who goes around using the word "manifest" ("What you manifest is before you") makes me want to bang my head up against something; it's not less annoying when that character is a dog.
That being said, Enzo is also witty and intelligent, and, like most dogs, he is loving and faithfully devoted to his family.
That family is Denny, Denny's wife, Eve, and their daughter Zoe. When it comes down to it, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a family drama. The love that this family has for each other and the dog's central place in it are woven throughout the story, but the story itself is somewhat conventional and cliché. Terminal illness, evil/cowardly in-laws, false accusations, and a fierce custody battle are major elements that provide drama but never rise above the ordinary. And the unreliable narration that is employed in the courtroom scenes (which Enzo "reconstructs" from television crime dramas") again required too much suspension of belief for me.
I am curious how much the film changed from the novel in order to a achieve a PG rating. Even though they both contain some heavy themes, The Art of Racing in the Rain comes across as much more "adult" in the way its told than A Dog's Purpose. It might be the writing style or the word choice (Enzo, of course, has a more extensive vocabulary than many-a-human). It's rarely explicit, but there are a few sex scenes that are just....weird (and more graphic than the "wrestling" described by the dogs in A Dog's Purpose).
Of course, race car metaphors are predominant in this book. For car racing enthusiasts, this might be a plus, but for me they became strained after awhile.
But I did enjoy The Art of Racing in the Rain. As conventional as the plot was, it was a unique novel in many ways. Just not a masterpiece.
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