I admit I wasn’t looking forward too much to reading The Art of Racing in the Rain, mostly because of the kid-centric ad campaign for the movie in 2019 which made it look cheesy. Even when I first cracked the book open, I didn’t exactly fly through it. Using the dog as the narrator was to me an odd choice, awkward even for a while, and I love dogs.
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I always read multiple books simultaneously (a habit I picked up long ago that seems to unnerve some people) and I finished several before this one hooked me. But when I realized it wasn’t in fact a low-rent Marley and Me with a motorsports flair, I got to the heart of the narrative and was moved deeply by Garth Stein’s story.
Apparently, there are people who mistakenly believe The Art of Racing in the Rain is a novel for kids – it absolutely isn’t. That’s caused some controversy, but if parents would actually read the book before handing it over to junior, they’d learn firsthand it’s like nature itself: breathtakingly beautiful and viscerally brutal simultaneously.
If you haven’t read the book, you might want to stop here because I’m about to get into some light spoilers. Watching the movie doesn’t count because it cuts out the most brutal parts of the novel and so completely whiffs the message. But then the film wouldn’t have been marketed at kids, probably would’ve been rated R, yet has a dog narrator and some people’s minds can’t grapple with such complexities.
Stein weaves motorsports Zen philosophy, the Tao of Driving if you will, into a story about how devalued and even disdainfully discarded men are in large swaths of modern society. He does so without getting preachy or heavy-handed, which is why the story works so well. You as the reader have to interpret this and some people just see a story about a dog and family. But if you let sink into you how awful one of the main plot threads, that his in-laws try stripping Denny of his custodial rights immediately after his wife dies, that brutality of human nature really hits you in the gut.
Then Stein throws in the mix false accusations, reputation destruction, and financial ruin for Denny. Talk about kicking a man when he’s down. This book portrays so well how so many men in society are tossed aside like a used tissue once people decide their utility has come to a close. And yet Denny doesn’t ultimately become a bitter mess, even though most would feel he has every right to be that way. Yes, he grapples with bitter feelings and the looming threat of absolute defeat, but just like an endurance racer battling with the elements, mechanical problems, and the persistent demands of a race circuit itself, but he learns to focus on one turn at a time, performing his best given the awful circumstances.
There’s beauty in this lesson and much to be learned in the wisdom contained in this book, even if you’re not into motorsports. For those who understand the racing principles Stein embedded throughout, it’s just that much sweeter.
While I started off not really loving the novel, I grew to appreciate the deeper principles embedded in the pages as Denny winds his way through a deepening personal hell. For that reason, I heartily endorse The Art of Racing in the Rain, but it absolutely isn’t for kids or even younger teens. I love that it’s not watered down but instead pulls no punches in its beautiful brutality.
Images via IMDB, Amazon
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