Barbara Samuel is the author of such gorgeous books as Lady Luck's Map of Vegas and Madame Mirabou's School of Love. As Barbara O'Neal, she's written The Lost Recipe for Happiness, which I am desperate to read. Her review of The Art of Racing in the Rain was previously published on her blog and is reprinted with permission.
If I tell you it is narrated by a dog, you might think it won’t be something you’ll like…too precious, too self-conscious. But you would be wrong on both counts. Enzo the dog is one of the best characters I’ve ever met. He’s honorable and flawed, devoted and hungry for his own goals. His beloved master, Denny, is a race car driver who must face a terrible series of events (and there are some parts through the middle that make it hard to read). Throughout the novel, Enzo explains to us how racing works, who the masters are and how they make it work.
I loved Enzo. I loved Denny. I love the graceful, wistful, beautiful message underlying the tale, but most of all, I loved the ending. Even thinking about it now, I feel myself getting choked up with gratitude all over again. No spoilers here, but let me just tell you that I spent the last ten or so pages alternately sobbing and laughing and stopping to savor the explosion of gratitude I felt toward Stein for getting it so perfectly, perfectly right.
The Art of Racing in the rain is compassionate and powerful, and dog lovers will love it with a particular passion, but so will women’s fiction readers of all sorts.
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Enzo the dog is one of the best characters I’ve ever met. He’s honorable and flawed, devoted and hungry for his own goals
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