"Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog" by Garth Stein

This one is confusing on a lot of levels.  First, it turns out there are two versions.  There is the book I read, called "Racing in the Rain:  My Life as a Dog" and there is the "adult" version "The Art of Racing in the Rain:  A Novel."  Keep in mind ... they are the ***exact same book*** but the titles and cover art have been altered to make it appear as if one is more mature. (The copy I read had an interview in the back, along with family photos.  This is not in the adult version but easily found online.)  I've recently decided, while pulling "adult" books for a teacher, that you make a book "adult" by putting the words "A Novel" after the title (just in case anyone is confused.)  Personally, I find this practice to be pretentious and unnecessary, as if doing it gives the work a level of literary quality it wouldn't have otherwise, but the bigger point is that this isn't particulalry a book for the young -- no matter how many adorable dog faces you put on the cover.  I picked it up because I wanted something light after all the dystopia.  It wasn't light.  The cover made me think there was something cute or funny about the book ... and it is in no way light or funny.  I'm not saying the book was bad.  Once I got into what it *was* I enjoyed it to a degree, but the expectation made the beginning parts difficult. 

This is a tale of Denny, a down-on-his-luck race-car driver, whose life falls apart with one challenge after another.  What makes the book intriquing, however, is that Denny's life is told through the eyes of his dog, Enzo.  Enzo has all the dry wit of a New Yorker columnist and his observations about life are nothing if not erudite.  With enough symbolism, metaphor and life lessons to thrill an English teacher to the bone (pun intended) this one makes for a high level read that takes a lot of time to absorb -- surprising, given the short chapters and succinct vocabulary.  The book spent time on the NY Times bestseller list, I think, because it is both literary and yet accessible.  Although it reads as a fictionalized autobiography, Garth Stein, the author, really "pieced" it together from a lot of different elements ... his own racing career and love of dogs, a poem he heard at a conference, the struggles of a colleague and a documentary from Mongolia that stated dogs are reborn as men.  The result is something that nonetheless feels very "real."  Those interested in car racing will also deeply enjoy the detail on that seemingly insane profession.

What I didn't care for as much was the structure of the book.  In theatre, they say that "reflection" is the worst kind of writing, because the drama is lost.  By looking back, you have a strong sense of how the story will play out, and that natural tension of "what is to come" never happens.  This is a book with few surprises, more driven by the nature of the storytelling than a sense of build and climax.  Again, it's not bad, it just had little "driving force" behind it.  There is also a theatre aphorism that you "find the humor" in everything (hence, Shakespeare's gravedigger scene in Hamlet).  There is little humor here, although there are rare moments of joy.

It is a rich novel but not, for me, a hugely engaging one given the predictability (yes, I had the kleenex ready exactly when I knew I had to have it handy).  Nonetheless, should it find the right audience (particularly if you are a pet owner), it will be greatly loved.