Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Art of Racing in the Rain tells the story of the Swift family through the eyes of their dog, Enzo. Enzo is a special dog - smart, intuitive, a true human brain in a canine body. If only he had opposable thumbs. Enzo was adopted as a puppy by Denny, then a young, single guy trying to climb the ranks to become a racecar driver. The two immediately fell for each other and Denny shared his love of racing by watching recordings of old races together and teaching Enzo his specialty: how to race in wet weather.

Years pass and Denny meets and falls in love with Eve. Enzo's not sure about Eve at first, but after a few emotional moments between the pair, they bond. When Eve gives birth to their daughter Zoe, Denny is on the road racing and it's Enzo who stays with Eve to comfort her through the night.

Eve soon becomes ill, and because she waits so long to go to the doctor, her cancer is fairly advanced. She doesn't have much time, so she moves in with her retired parents, who can care for her full-time while Denny works. She also takes Zoe with her, knowing she probably doesn't have much time left with her daughter. The whole situation makes sense except when Eve dies and her parents, citing the fact that they've cared for their granddaughter for the previous several months, sue Denny for custody. Everything is further complicated when Denny is simultaneously taken to court by one of Eve's manipulative cousins for a phony sexual assault charge.

The whole story is told from Enzo's point of view, and as I read the book and explained it to people, I could feel them rolling their eyes at the inevitable corniness of the situation. I understand. It sounds like it really should be corny. But Garth Stein does a fabulous job of giving Enzo a real voice: he is intelligent enough to be able to tell the story thoroughly but still enough of a dog that that part of his personality shines through (my favorite was when friends of Denny's dog-sit and Enzo becomes extremely embarrassed that they should discover he sleeps with a stuffed dog...but not embarrassed enough where he could sleep without the dog for the night).

In fact, Enzo's voice is probably the least corny thing about the book, which was pretty predictable and its human characters pretty one-dimensional. The real key to the book was the relationship between Denny and Enzo, and any person who has loved a dog would certainly understand the connection. In fact, everything considered, I would say that the book is actually extremely well-written, in a kind of strange way, because of the character of Enzo, not despite of him.