Book review of The Art Of Racing In The Rain by author Garth Stein.

How often have you read a book, and after you’ve finished reading it you became so enamored with it, you wanted to share it with everyone? Let me tell you: ‘have I got a book to share with you‘.

I used to get these newsletters from one of my favorite authors. In the newsletter, the author would bring all his fans up to speed on what he was currently working on and where he would be heading off to next. Within the contents of all his news he left a section of the newsletter for his dog Trixie. It was written from Trixie’s perspective and gave a glimpse of what she was doing and life in general, living with a famous author.

It was clever and witty and I enjoyed it the way someone might enjoy the funny section of a newspaper. Never in my wildest imagination could I have imagined this being taken to the length of a full novel.

A dog book written as only a dog could tell it. Enter Garth Stein, the author of Raven Stole the Moon and How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets.

The Art of Racing in the Rain book is about the life of a dog and his human family’s personal struggles, with a dash of auto racing metaphors, is the one that drove away with my imagination.

It’s the perfect book for dog lovers!

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Enzo, the name of the dog that the story’s perspective is told from, is a lab terrier mix that has attained a certain level of human insights. He relates to movies and television shows that he’s watched. His master, Denny, is a race car driver and watches recorded races with Enzo.

This helps him to get a better grasp of events that happened during the race as well as for the sheer joy of reliving these spectacular moments in time. It is these racing videos that bond them together and allows Enzo to draw a sort of ZEN wisdom about the trials and tribulations that we as humans call life.

While reading this book I found moments of complete care free bliss that you will only begin to imagine while reading about them described through Enzo’s  eyes and his perspective of the world. There were just as many moments that left me feeling moved to tears as well.

To say that a dog only sees in black and white is really stripped away while reading this book, along with all of the other heightened senses that are more keen in a dog than anything  any human could feel. I usually shy away from writing book reviews because I really don’t want to give anything about the story away. It should be all new and only leave you wanting to turn the next page so that you can discover it’s secrets on your own.

Let’s not call this a book review by any means and

instead lets call it a book recommendation for dog lovers.

I highly recommend ‘The Art of Racing in the Rain‘ book by Garth Stein to anyone who has ever felt a certain kinship with a dog. You will not be disappointed with this read!

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