OK, it’s not midnight, but 9:30 p.m. is my equivalent of midnight since I get up so early in the morning. I just finished reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Never one to be on the leading edge of a trend, the book was published 9 years ago and it made the NY Times bestseller list. I have a list of books I want to read that I keep on an iPhone app – this one has been languishing there a while! Amazon probably doesn’t need my review; it would be #7,883 if I were to write one.
The whole book is a metaphor for life and the metaphor used is car racing, particularly driving a car on a wet track. I didn’t know anything about racing, but now I do. The story is written first-dog. That’s like first-person, except the not a person, but a dog. Yep, it’s completely told by a dog. If you love dogs, believe they are super smart and wonder what they are thinking half the time, this is for you. Unless you don’t like sad moments in stories; there are some of those. I’m not spoiling the story to tell you that the dog dies in the last chapter because Chapter 1 reveals the dog is just about ready to cross over and then the other 50-some chapters tell the story of his life before catching up to the end of it again.
The story is based in Seattle and the dog’s human races cars. They say if you are going to write a book you should write about something you know about. Stein has a dog, has raced cars and lives in Seattle. I thought it was neat that the whole story was a metaphor for life – from birth to death, the good and the bad that we all experience, how we deal with adversity and how we achieve goals. Good writers use metaphors – or at least the ones I seem to like. I really enjoyed how this book used them. Some examples:
It sounds like a weird book, I know -- told by a dog? But I really liked it. Say I had one of those really smart dogs like in the book...I might be worried about the stories he would tell!
The whole book is a metaphor for life and the metaphor used is car racing, particularly driving a car on a wet track. I didn’t know anything about racing, but now I do. The story is written first-dog. That’s like first-person, except the not a person, but a dog. Yep, it’s completely told by a dog. If you love dogs, believe they are super smart and wonder what they are thinking half the time, this is for you. Unless you don’t like sad moments in stories; there are some of those. I’m not spoiling the story to tell you that the dog dies in the last chapter because Chapter 1 reveals the dog is just about ready to cross over and then the other 50-some chapters tell the story of his life before catching up to the end of it again.
The story is based in Seattle and the dog’s human races cars. They say if you are going to write a book you should write about something you know about. Stein has a dog, has raced cars and lives in Seattle. I thought it was neat that the whole story was a metaphor for life – from birth to death, the good and the bad that we all experience, how we deal with adversity and how we achieve goals. Good writers use metaphors – or at least the ones I seem to like. I really enjoyed how this book used them. Some examples:
- “The race is long - to finish first, first you must finish.”
- “In racing, they say that your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes away from the wall as he spins out of control will meet that wall; the driver who looks down the track as he feels his tires break free will regain control of his vehicle.”
- “There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.”
It sounds like a weird book, I know -- told by a dog? But I really liked it. Say I had one of those really smart dogs like in the book...I might be worried about the stories he would tell!