Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Review -- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

The Art of Racing in the Rain
by Garth Stein
HarperCollins, 2008
336 pages
*I received this as a birthday gift.

Summary: This book revolves around Enzo, a dog with the soul of a man and his race car driving owner, Denny. Together Enzo and Denny navigate the joys and tragedies of life, always believing in the racing philosophy that they live by.

Review: This was the book club's selection for May and it received immense praise from all the members. I absolutely loved this book (when I stopped crying -- who knew dog books make me so emotional?). Enzo is an unbelievably wise and thoughtful character and the plot is (although somewhat predictable) so wonderfully uplifting. Garth Stein does a fantastic job of giving Enzo a distinct voice that the reader immediately falls in love with. He reminds you of why it is so wonderful to be human. And makes you look at your own dog in a whole different light. Rating: ****1/2 out of 5

5 comments:

Tampa BookWorm said...

Glad you enjoyed it! I loved this one as well even though I am not a hige dog fan. :-)

Jo-Jo said...

Thanks for the review...I have this one on my shelf at home and can't wait to read it now!

Sue Jackson said...

Nice review - I loved this book, too. I lent it to my mom and she keeps putting off reading it, thinking she won't like a "dog story," but I keep telling her she has to try it!

Glad your book group liked it, too.

Sue

Jenny Girl said...

I have this on my shelf, but am struggling to get to it. Got to move up the list.

I'll keep in mind that it's an emotional one too. Thanks for the review.

Mishel said...

I first heard about this a while ago when I walked into a Starbucks and saw it was for sale. I didn't pick it up but I added it to my TBR list. I'll definitely have to go out and get a copy soon