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A review by rr_author
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
2.0
I was told this book is sooo much better than the movie, which I loved! In my opinion, the movie was much better. It was made family friendly, which the book really isn’t.
This book was just weird, obviously others like it, but it was not for me. I could get past it being written from the perspective of the dog. The whole new age worldview was too much, it was in the movie too - but a little more toned down? There was foul language which I didn’t appreciate, and some descriptions of women/girls were so obviously written by a man... although I guess technically they’re supposed to be from the perspective of a dog? I had to skip some inappropriate parts. I almost stopped reading, but finished it just because I wanted to see how the end compared to the movie.
The only thing I enjoyed about the book was the father-daughter relationship, and some funny moments. I appreciated the representation of how some people play dirty during custody cases, even going to the lengths of making up false abuse claims. However, I didn’t think that whole part of the story was handled very well, almost like Denny was accepting/admitting to blame when he didn’t do anything.
Overall, I would not recommend or read again. Go watch the movie instead, lol. It took the good parts and made them better.
This book was just weird, obviously others like it, but it was not for me. I could get past it being written from the perspective of the dog. The whole new age worldview was too much, it was in the movie too - but a little more toned down? There was foul language which I didn’t appreciate, and some descriptions of women/girls were so obviously written by a man... although I guess technically they’re supposed to be from the perspective of a dog? I had to skip some inappropriate parts. I almost stopped reading, but finished it just because I wanted to see how the end compared to the movie.
The only thing I enjoyed about the book was the father-daughter relationship, and some funny moments. I appreciated the representation of how some people play dirty during custody cases, even going to the lengths of making up false abuse claims. However, I didn’t think that whole part of the story was handled very well, almost like Denny was accepting/admitting to blame when he didn’t do anything.
Overall, I would not recommend or read again. Go watch the movie instead, lol. It took the good parts and made them better.