The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein makes an interesting take on the subject of narration for books. The book is narrated by an observant dog named Enzo and is basically a story about his family’s life from his perspective. Enzo acts as an excellent observer to everything happening to his owner, Denny Swift, Denny’s wife, Eve Swift, and daughter, Zӧe Swift. He watches as his family reaches the highs of their lives, and tries his best to help when they are among the lower parts. Reading The Art of Racing in the Rain treats the reader to a new perspective in storytelling while simultaneously creating a rollercoaster of emotions that ends up being worth the struggle in the end.
As acclaimed before, the narration of Gath Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain is quite unique and wonderful for having a dog being the main character. The ways that Enzo portrays things is so different compared to how a human narrator could do it. He exclaims multiple times throughout the novel about how he wishes to just speak to those around him, but he manages with what he has, “He got my point. Gestures are all that I have” (Stein, 215). Through these gestures, Enzo managed to help his family achieve great things, and this narration is an in-depth explanation of why this dog does these actions. This book grants the reader an insight into the possibility of why their pets or other’s pets do the things they do through this unique narration, despite the idea being theoretical and not fact.
The topic of family is very recurring throughout the novel. The idea that this even happens is very important as to how or why the plot goes down the path it does. So much happens to these 3 people (Denny, Eve, and Zӧe), both good and bad, in a span of a few years, but no matter what they always come back together. Enzo, acting slightly like the family’s guardian/main observer notices this midway in the novel and explains it perfectly in just one line, “However things might change around us, we would always be together” (Stein, 114). Along with how clearly Enzo states it, I could just simply say that the entire plot of the book is just about the family staying strong and sticking together.
There’s so much to this book that makes it great, that this short review couldn’t fit it all in. With what I’ve said though, I believe it’s enough to just show how intriguing and rewarding the read was for me. When Enzo felt something in the novel I felt it too, and that’s a very difficult thing for writers to do for their readers. With each chapter, there was a new reason to keep reading, and with each conclusion, there was a new reason to observe the effects. I think that The Art of Racing in the Rain was a great book to read, and I would recommend it to anyone that would be interested in viewing the world from a perspective that they’ve never looked from before.
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