The Art of Racing in the Rain

So guilty do I feel for not updating this blog more regularly!

Without further ado, here's a little post I wanted to write dearly:

This one deals with a most amazing book advised and sent by a dear friend,

And I must say, this story made me shed a few tears in the end.

I grew attached to the characters: the man, the woman, and most of all, the dog.

Each time I love a book, I fold a lot of page corners, and I keep it near me.

No need to say, this one is on my favourite shelf, and it won't leave.

The story is both simple, and hard to tell without losing too much of its content.

It is a story of love and hardship. There is a lot of love, and a lot of hardship.

Dreams we follow, the love of our life, illness, birth, death, parenthood, financial troubles...

The main character goes through joy and pain; he also has a passion (car racing), and the will to fight and survive.

And, he has a dog, Enzo, and this is where the book gets fascinating. The whole story is told by a dog, who is highly intelligent, and who loves his master more than the whole world. He gives all the support he can to his master, and later, to his master's wife. The world of humans seen through the eyes of a very smart dog is transcended by devotion and perception. It is beautifully written, with an abundance of all these mundane, little details that give so much meaning to our lives. The dog knows it, the humans around him not always...

Enzo also has a way of considering his animal instincts. Our animal instincts. Our self-destructive nature. Our will to survive and/or to give up. And the narration, together with Enzo, tends to assimilate car racing to life itself. It all depends on where you want to go, and how much you want to go there:

"In racing, they say that your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes from the wall as he spins out of control will meet the wall; the driver who looks down the track as he feels his tires break free will regain control of his vehicle.

Your car goes where your eyes go. Simply another way of saying that which you manifest is before you".

This book is a wonderful philosophical tale and a beautiful love story between a man and his dog. It is full of simplicity and good common sense, full of wisdom and a kind of beautiful serenity, full of pure absolute love. 

In the last pages, Enzo speaks about racing again: "But racing in the rain is also about the mind!  [...] It is about believing that you are not you; you are everything. And everything is you." 

Garth Stein, the author, has wrapped an amazing narration with the themes of a love that goes beyond attachment and of a mind that shows incredible insight. The last pages show a master and a dog who reciprocally free each other through an unvoidable separation that holds in itself the promise of meeting again...

I am so thankful that Sachi brought this book to my knowledge.