Meaning of the Title-
Garth Stein, the books author, used to be a street car driver in Seattle before a major crash ruined his career. Ironically, it allowed him to peruse a career in writing. The main character, Denny Smith, has a career in racing much like Gareth did. He tries to balance his career and being a family man to the fullest of his ability but he often ends up leaving his family to chase his dreams. On the day of Garth's accident it was raining outside, so that explains the title of the book I guess. sort of. This is one aspect of racing that Denny was better than Garth was; racing in the rain. Denny knew how to handle the car under any condition, rain shine sleet snow hail tornado hurricane etc. When he's off the course he is challenged with many adversities and unknown sufferings no one can explain. His wife dies of cancer, he gets his daughter taken away from him, he's charged with rape without any evidence, the list goes on and on. Through Enzo, his dog and the narrator of the book, he is able to overcome these adversities and control these emotions. Just like he does out on the track.
Garth Stein, the books author, used to be a street car driver in Seattle before a major crash ruined his career. Ironically, it allowed him to peruse a career in writing. The main character, Denny Smith, has a career in racing much like Gareth did. He tries to balance his career and being a family man to the fullest of his ability but he often ends up leaving his family to chase his dreams. On the day of Garth's accident it was raining outside, so that explains the title of the book I guess. sort of. This is one aspect of racing that Denny was better than Garth was; racing in the rain. Denny knew how to handle the car under any condition, rain shine sleet snow hail tornado hurricane etc. When he's off the course he is challenged with many adversities and unknown sufferings no one can explain. His wife dies of cancer, he gets his daughter taken away from him, he's charged with rape without any evidence, the list goes on and on. Through Enzo, his dog and the narrator of the book, he is able to overcome these adversities and control these emotions. Just like he does out on the track.
A Dog's POV
Stein writes the enitre novel from Enzo's point of view, which is very enteresting. Through a dogs eyes and senses, little things are more observable to the reader. The imagery is more prevelant than from a human's point of view in most novel. Enzo describes thing through scent, an example being when Eve gets sick he can smell the sickness steaming through her head, an umpleasent fungus scent. Seeing life through a dog also gave me the chance to see why dogs act and think the way they do. Enzo is always telling himself how smart of a dog he is, and how he's not like other dogs, which is very true. He's obedient, he responds to Danny through different forms of communication as Danny tries to communicate with him, he's always respectful to zoe and never tries to inflict her. However, he is often distracted by obstacles that stand in his way or at least what he thinks are in his way. Zoe's stuffed zebra is technically one of the antagonists in the novel. It hypnotizes Enzo, creating an image that depicts him as a villainous obstacle that Enzo must destroy to save his family. When he attacks the zebra and rips it to shreds, thinking he did something write in destroying the wretch of a villian. He gets a different reaction from Danny though and is punished. How was he supposed to know he did something wrong.. I mean, he thought he was protecting zoe right? This can be understood by every dog's instinct to be the pack leader of a family. Although Enzo is and extremely bright and loyal dog and is able to understand his family, his instinct tells him to lead his family and attack the horrid zebra who may endanger his sister. When people come to my front door, my shi tsu turns into a pitbull and basically foams at the mouth.. But through Enzo's actions I was able to see why dogs do this and the depths they'll go to in order to protect their families from the "horrid" outside world
Stein writes the enitre novel from Enzo's point of view, which is very enteresting. Through a dogs eyes and senses, little things are more observable to the reader. The imagery is more prevelant than from a human's point of view in most novel. Enzo describes thing through scent, an example being when Eve gets sick he can smell the sickness steaming through her head, an umpleasent fungus scent. Seeing life through a dog also gave me the chance to see why dogs act and think the way they do. Enzo is always telling himself how smart of a dog he is, and how he's not like other dogs, which is very true. He's obedient, he responds to Danny through different forms of communication as Danny tries to communicate with him, he's always respectful to zoe and never tries to inflict her. However, he is often distracted by obstacles that stand in his way or at least what he thinks are in his way. Zoe's stuffed zebra is technically one of the antagonists in the novel. It hypnotizes Enzo, creating an image that depicts him as a villainous obstacle that Enzo must destroy to save his family. When he attacks the zebra and rips it to shreds, thinking he did something write in destroying the wretch of a villian. He gets a different reaction from Danny though and is punished. How was he supposed to know he did something wrong.. I mean, he thought he was protecting zoe right? This can be understood by every dog's instinct to be the pack leader of a family. Although Enzo is and extremely bright and loyal dog and is able to understand his family, his instinct tells him to lead his family and attack the horrid zebra who may endanger his sister. When people come to my front door, my shi tsu turns into a pitbull and basically foams at the mouth.. But through Enzo's actions I was able to see why dogs do this and the depths they'll go to in order to protect their families from the "horrid" outside world
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Reoccuring Themes in the novel
-Life isn't just about going fast
Danny, the main character in the novel is a strategist on the course. In racing, the fastest driver isn't always the victor. The driver who has the strategic advantage is often the one who is able to finish out on top of the polls. This also applies in life, but Danny often tries to do the opposite of what he does in the racecar. Danny often rushes past the important things in life- mainly his family, in attempt to persue his driving career. He's not there as often as he should for Eve when she's sick, he's not there for Zoe as much as her Grandparents would like, etc. This ends up serving him a major consequence when he's falsely accused of rape of a teenage girl after his wife dies, restricting him from seeing his daughter only a few times a month. If he lived life with more simplicity by balancing family life with career, maybe things wouldn't have been so chaotic.
Loyalty-
A man's best friend; the stereotypical relationship saying for a dog. In this novel, Enzo is one of Danny's only loyal friends. Ever since Danny picked him out of patch of puppies on a farm, the two understood each other almost like twins. Enzo understood his owner's feelings and troubles better than the back of his paw. Danny went through various ups and downs in the novel, the most heart wrenching being the fact that his daughter was practically taken from his comforting hands after the death of his wife. Through thick and thin, Enzo stays loyal to his owner and trusts that he'll always do the right thing
-Life isn't just about going fast
Danny, the main character in the novel is a strategist on the course. In racing, the fastest driver isn't always the victor. The driver who has the strategic advantage is often the one who is able to finish out on top of the polls. This also applies in life, but Danny often tries to do the opposite of what he does in the racecar. Danny often rushes past the important things in life- mainly his family, in attempt to persue his driving career. He's not there as often as he should for Eve when she's sick, he's not there for Zoe as much as her Grandparents would like, etc. This ends up serving him a major consequence when he's falsely accused of rape of a teenage girl after his wife dies, restricting him from seeing his daughter only a few times a month. If he lived life with more simplicity by balancing family life with career, maybe things wouldn't have been so chaotic.
Loyalty-
A man's best friend; the stereotypical relationship saying for a dog. In this novel, Enzo is one of Danny's only loyal friends. Ever since Danny picked him out of patch of puppies on a farm, the two understood each other almost like twins. Enzo understood his owner's feelings and troubles better than the back of his paw. Danny went through various ups and downs in the novel, the most heart wrenching being the fact that his daughter was practically taken from his comforting hands after the death of his wife. Through thick and thin, Enzo stays loyal to his owner and trusts that he'll always do the right thing
"Never Too Late"
This
world will never be
What I expected
And if I don't belong
Who would
have guessed it
I will not leave alone
Everything that I own
To make
you feel like it's not too late
It's never too late
Even if I
say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your
life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all
around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late
No one will
ever see
This side reflected
And if there's something wrong
Who
would have guessed it
And I have left alone
Everything that I own
To
make you feel like
It's not too late
It's never too late
Even if
I say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your
life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all
around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late
The world we
knew
Won't come back
The time we've lost
Can't get back
The life
we had
Won't be ours again
This world will never be
What I
expected
And if I don't belong
Even if I say
It'll be
alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your life
Now and again
we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all around
'Cause it's
not too late
It's never too late
Maybe we'll turn it all around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late (It's never too late)
It's
not too late
It's never too late
This
world will never be
What I expected
And if I don't belong
Who would
have guessed it
I will not leave alone
Everything that I own
To make
you feel like it's not too late
It's never too late
Even if I
say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your
life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all
around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late
No one will
ever see
This side reflected
And if there's something wrong
Who
would have guessed it
And I have left alone
Everything that I own
To
make you feel like
It's not too late
It's never too late
Even if
I say
It'll be alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your
life
Now and again we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all
around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late
The world we
knew
Won't come back
The time we've lost
Can't get back
The life
we had
Won't be ours again
This world will never be
What I
expected
And if I don't belong
Even if I say
It'll be
alright
Still I hear you say
You want to end your life
Now and again
we try
To just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it all around
'Cause it's
not too late
It's never too late
Maybe we'll turn it all around
'Cause it's not too late
It's never too late (It's never too late)
It's
not too late
It's never too late
This song is basically about not giving up in difficult circumstances. Denny goes through a vast amount of hardships throughout his life and often finds it difficult to overcome this. Enzo is able to provide him with the strength to overcome the adversity and eventually have a good life by the end of the novel.
"In Mongolia when a dog dies, he is buried high in the hills so people cannot walk on his grave. The dog's master whispers into the dog's master whispers into the dog's ear his wishes that the dog will return as a man in his next life. Then his tail is cut off and put beneath his head, and a piece of meat or fat is placed in his mouth to sustain his soul on its journey, before he is reincarnated, the dog's soul is freed to travel the land, to run across the high desert plains for as long as it would like."