What I’m Reading: The Art of Racing in the Rain

I just finished up the audio book The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein.

I have to say, the first little bit into listening to this book, I almost quit.  I was listening to a different audio book on my MP3 player and that book had just finished.  It was a really good book.  The MP3 just kept playing and this book started.  I guess I just wasn’t ready to listen to a book told by a dog’s perspective so I clicked on through and came to a different book.  Then the other day I was cleaning out the files of my MP3 player and decided that the book had been there long enough.  I either needed to listen to it or get rid of it.  I started listening…and kept listening and kept listening.  It was good and I was so glad that I didn’t just delete the book without giving it a fair try.

If you’ve loved a dog or had a dog a love you, I think you’d like this book.  Enzo, the dog, tells the story of a family over about a 11 year time span.  There are happy moments, sad moments, moments when I thought no one could do that to someone and I’ll admit, moments when I cried.

Amazon doesn’t say a lot about the book, “A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope–a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.”

Amazon readers give it 4.5 stars and I am agreeing with them.  People who didn’t like the book said it was a downer-and I’ll admit it is sad in spots…but so is life.  Other people who didn’t like the book didn’t like the dog telling the story saying it was a little sentimental…again true but I think that’s the kind of book I was looking for.

I sure can say that I am so glad I gave the book a second chance.  It was good.