Monday, August 24, 2009

Dog Days of Summer Post


The Art of Racing in the Rain is my book pick for The Dog Days of Summer at Literate Housewife. I would like to thank Jennifer for hosting. This was great fun.

During the event we were to send in a picture of our dog for Dog Days of Summer. Unfortunately I was unable to get it to Jennifer on time. Instead I will post a picture of my cute little dog, Nachat. He's name means Joy in hebrew.







The Art of Racing in the Rain
By Garth Stein

There are only a few main character's in the book, The Art of Racing in the Rain.
Enzo is the dog, and then there is he's master Denny. There is Eve, soon to become wife, and mother. Then there is his soon to be made family, he's daughter, Zoe.

The book opens with Denny and Enzo being single and the bestest(mispelled on purpose) of friends, man's best friend. Enzo wants to be human. This is the story about a dog that thinks he's human.

He and Denny share the love of car racing. Denny's occupation is car racing. He is constantly on the racing tour circuit. Denny has to leave Enzo at his own devices. What does Enzo with his time? He watches documentaries. The Learning and Discovery channels, and watches the car races.
He is obsessed without having a thumb like a human, called the Dew thumb.

Denny falls in love with a women named Eve. He is not thrilled about it because he has to learn to share. But in time he accepts her and falls in love with her too. After they are married Zoe is born.

After a few years, he sees Eve's ear he knows something is wrong he smells a odor in her ear. He does not know how to tell anyone. He keeps it quiet. Eve suddenly becomes ill and has to go to the hospital. They discover she has cancer.

Denny seems to always be travelling in the racing circuit. So he agrees to allow Eve to stay with her parents called the "Twins". I am not sure why the name. He feels the best for Zoe, and Eve is to stay with the parents. After sometime she dies.

This is where the trouble starts. The parents want to keep Zoe. Denny wants Zoe to come home. The shock has not even worn off. The parents don't give Denny even a chance to digest the news before they ask for custody of Zoe.

Denny retains a lawyer. In the mean time. There is a relative names Annika. She felt rejected and cried Rape when Denny did not accept her advances. The girl told her parents a story and he lost custody of his daughter. Anything they could find to make Denny look bad.

Even at the funeral, he was not allowed to participate at the funeral. He was accused of being called a molester. Denny did not plan the funeral, Eve's parents did.

There was alot of money spent to try to keep his daughter. But the parents found ways to find things wrong with Denny. Denny lost alot of money to try to win Zoe back.


Denny is about to sign papers but Enzo knows there is something fishy. He grabs the papers before Denny signs them. He urinates on them. Denny does not sign the papers. Decides to never give up.

Denny is offered a great chance to work for Ferrari. He does not understand why a man from Ferrari would help him. He decides to get in touch with him when his life is situated so he waits.

During the investigation Denny sees the teenage girl at a cafe. He confronts her but manipulates the story to make her feel like she is the victim. But guess what it worked. She decides to fess it and tell the truth.

The trial is brought to court. Denny is brought up to the witness stand, and other members of the family.

During the trial Enzo is dreaming. During the trial Enzo is speaking with a human voice. The court asks him to tell them what happened with the girl. Since he saw everything, he could tell the court everything that happened.

During the proceeding at the witness stand the cousin breaks down and tells the truth. She withdraws her testimony. Denny is given custody back to Zoe.

During the trial Enzo starts to have health issues and becomes ill. He has a medical condition called hyperplasia( hip problem).After the trial Enzo is hit by a car. Enzo passes away.

Denny is given a job in Italy with Ferrari to try and make a fresh start.
Then while he is doing a job, he meets up with a father and his son, ENZO. He is trying to figure out if this is coincidence or is this a reincarnation of his dog Enzo.

I remember this documentary says that after a dog dies, he's soul is released into the world around us. His soul is released to run in the world. run through the fields. enjoy the earth, the wind , the rivers, the rain, the sun the- When a dog dies, his soul is released to run until he is ready to be reborn, I remember. It's OK.
When I am reborn as a man, I will find Denny. I will find Zoe. I will walk up to them and shake their hands and tell them that Enzo says hello. They will see. You can go.


When I first read this book I did not think I would like this. I was totally wrong. This was a dogs perspective of life. Of course fiction. But I did enjoy it up to the very end. Even though it was sad at the end. There was a conclusion, a happy ending.
Did you ever wonder what your dog thought about things?

Now I wonder what Nachat thinks. I thought the author did a great job explaining how he ate his food, and cleaned himself, and other things. It was so cute, and funny.

I loved the part at the end. When the dog was dreaming and wanted to give his side of the story about the teenage girl. Nothing really went on, and he wanted to have his say. He wanted to tell everyone what really happened in a human voice.

The ending to the philosophy of a dog's life and what happens to Enzo and what he thinks about life and what happens after he dies he very interesting.

I rate this book four bones and I would recommend this to anyone that has a dog.
Thank you again Literate Housewife. This was a fun event. If you would like to see what other people had to say. Or to see what The Dog Days of Summer is all about check it out at Literate Housewife.

4 comments:

bermudaonion said...

I loved this book too! We often wonder what our dog thinks or dreams about. We know she's very smart, because she's in charge in our household!

Literate Housewife said...

What a great picture! I love your dog's name, too. Just beautiful!

I'm glad that you enjoyed this book. I did, too. I'll be posting my review later this week. I liked your comment about wondering what your dog is thinking. He seems pretty happy to me!

In the meantime, I'll be linking to your post this evening.

Valerie said...

I loved this book and enjoyed your review. Like you, I now wonder what my own dog (Winston) is thinking!

Jen Forbus said...

I have often wondered what my dogs are thinking! There just seems to be so much going on behind those expressions on their faces...especially when they cock their heads at you. I just love that. Like bermudaonion, my dogs run the place. I will often say I'm just the housekeeper; the house belongs to them!

I believe at one point Enzo mentions that the "twins" always dress alike and that's why he starts referring to them that way. I could be mistaken, but I thought that was the reason.

This is definitely a book for dog lovers. Thanks! :)