Play Book Tag discussion

The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

3 1/2 stars

The Art of Racing in the Rain is the story of the life a a dog, Enzo. Enzo's family goes through a lot of changes in his life time. He started out as a bachelor's dog, but soon found himself in a family. I have had this book for over a decade. A friend that knows I like to read gave it to me with a raving endorsement. The problem is that I didn't think it was the book for me. I don't like sad books and the blurb about a dog's life (which usually means eventual death) and a family dealing with illness did nothing to make me want to pick it up. I always held on to it because I felt guilty that I had not given this friend's strong recommendation a chance, especially since there were other books I assumed would be too sad that I ended up liking a lot (The Fault in Our Stars, for example). When the tag of the month came up Animals and Auto Racing rose to the top of the list for the Poll Ballot Tally challenge I knew it was now or never. Unfortunately, it was even sadder than I expected. The positive was that it was a fast read that kept my interest. I wanted to know what would happen next and would it please get better soon for poor Denny (Enzo's owner). I liked Enzo's voice and point of view and I liked Denny's never give up attitude. The negative was it was depressing to me and things just kept getting worse. I could see much of it coming and dreaded finding out my hunches were correct. Some may feel that the ending made up for the sadness of the story, but to me it was too much and I felt manipulated. If you like tear jerkers, this would probably be a great book for you, it just wasn't the book for me.

Here I was just thinking I might read again because I loved it so much. I really liked Enzo's point of view and his observations about life.