Opposable Thumbs and Dexterous Tongues

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Enzo is a dog obsessed with opposable thumbs and dexterous tongues. In this book he tells us all about his life with Denny, Eve, and Zoey.  Enzo "proves" what most dog lovers already tend believe - that dogs understand more and are more involved in the lives of their humans than most people give them credit for.

The story was good and interesting.  Denny is a race car driver, and so is Enzo at heart.  After spending hours on the couch with Denny watching video of his races, Enzo is convinced that all he needs to be a world class racer himself are the opposable thumbs he lacks to grip the wheel and a tongue dexterous enough to form the words he needs.  But racing isn't all that Enzo knows - Denny often leaves the TV on for him while everyone is away at work and school and Enzo learns all about the world via the Discovery Channel and NOVA.  For example, Enzo knows that after this life he'll get to return to the world has a man with opposable thumbs because he saw a documentary about Mongolia that taught him so.

While the story is a good one, it's not always a happy one.  In fact, most of the plot centers on Enzo's silent and tortured witness of death and other tragedy in his family. Anyone who can read the book without tearing up just a little bit has to be an emotionless person!  I listened to the book on my iPod while jogging, so luckily I didn't have to worry about teary eyes - I just had sweat running into my eyes.