Dog Days: "The Art of Racing in the Rain"

This month the Fab 5 Book Club nosed their way through The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. Told from the perspective of Enzo, the loving dog of master Denny, the story moves through Enzo's life with Denny. From meeting Eve, Denny's future wife, the birth of their child, Eve's illness, and the horrible aftermath of the illness, Enzo gives his point of view, rich with wisdom gleaned from watching the Speed Channel, Weather Channel, and National Geographic Channel while Denny was away at work all day.

We all found the book appealing, not because the storyline is so great, but because we loved Enzo and the way he looked at the world. His loving and forgiving nature, his envy of short tongues and opposable thumbs, and his utter devotion to Denny. Even Nancy cried, and she is NOT a dog person.

Enzo says that he is like a person trapped in an isolation booth--he can't communicate anything he knows. And he knows so much. He knows the pain and pleasure of his family, he knows when illness has moved in, and he knows what mistakes they are all making. Enzo even has a spiritual side--he expects to be reincarnated, and he also recognizes the darkness that is in everyone, through his experience with an evil stuffed zebra.

Our dinner, heart-attack-on-a-plate in varying forms from Pietro's restaurant, even had a book connection--there are Italian racers in the book. Denny is a Formula One driver, and the book gives some detailed explanations about different aspects of racing. I had to wonder. So many books are written for a female audience, because women buy more fiction than men. (I've heard that's true, but have no data to back it up, so you'll just have to drink that Kool-Aid.) This book is about a man, a race car driver, and his beloved dog. So is this a men's book that women like to read? Or is it a women's book masquerading as a men's book? I suppose some less cynical people would think it could just be gender neutral. Marketing doesn't usually work that way. Any men out there who have read this one?

As usual, we drifted away from the book fairly quickly, making plans for a possible trip to Cincinnati where some of our members used to live. Apparently the city is rife with good restaurants, so it sounds like we will eat the entire time. Except for when we drive past Procter & Gamble. Not sure why, but this seems to be a major attraction. All I know about it is that half the people in Cincinnati seem to be paid to test one drug or another. The big question is: Do we all share one room with 2 double beds, get 2 rooms with 2 double beds, or get 1 room for 2 of us to share, and a separate room each for the other two? Cheapness is vying with a desire to sleep here. What would you recommend?

We would recommend this book. It's worth reading, and it's a quick one if you need a weekend take-along. The writing quality is patchy, definitely at it's best when recounting Enzo's ruminations about life and people. I personally enjoyed his theory that people keep dogs from evolving through breeding, and the penance we pay for this evil is that we have to turn a plastic bag inside out over our hands and pick up their fresh, er, leavings as they walked. Enzo's the best dog ever.