Loved it. Almost cried at the end, and I don't even believe in souls or reincarnation or stuff like that.
It's going on the top shelf with McQueen's "Le Mans", my old battered VHS copy of Frankenheimer's "Grand Prix" my (maybe 1st edition?) hardback copy of Piero Taruffi's "The Technique of Motor Racing", and the key from my old BMW E3. Why, oh why didn't I listen to you people before now..
I'm glad you have seen the light. I read it last summer and had the same reaction. I don't know if I should be happy or scared but Patrick Dempsey bought the movie rights. Hopefully since he is a petrol head he will do it justice.
In reply to jlm_photo:
I just hope they remember that the whole damn story is told from Enzo's point of view. IMO, that's the thing that makes the book so wonderfully different, and if they lose that, they've lost everything.
You are right! If they are going to ruin it they should not even attempt to make it.
If they do the job they need to do with it on film, im not sure i could watch it... but anything less, wouldnt cut it...
Enlighten the unenlightened, of what book do you speak?
The Art of Racing in the Rain.
I thought the book had a decent plot, and a good storyteller, but found it slightly repetitive, and off-ish in a couple spots.
Overall though, I rate it quite highly. And, yes, I did cry at the end.
In reply to lewbud:
"The Art of Racing in The Rain", by Garth Stein. The story of the life of a talented, but unlucky aspiring semi-professional racing driver, as told by his beloved dog. Our community is really more of a setting for the story about his family, rather than about the racing per se, but there's a lot of good stuff in there about just how participating in a sport as insane as ours requires amazing mental and emotional strength, and how those strengths can get you through almost anything. I really can't describe it better without spilling plot details. Don't make my mistake, check it out of the library if you can't afford it right now..
Thanks FGC. Will keep an eye for it.
Buy it cheap on Amazon that way you can keep it and read it again. I am going to read mine again on vacation this year.
I had Garth sign my cop last year at the Mitty, I found the book to wonderful, just wish it was longer.
Hope Garth write another one soon.
That said BS Levy series is really good too, just unwrapped the 4th book, can't wait to read it but afraid there won't be any more.
BS Levy's stuff is great. I am finishing the third book in the four book series (The Last Open Road series). Buy them, read them. Warning: They get more expensive the farther you go in the series. He is said to be working on "The 200mph Steamroller" the last book in the series.
BS sells the books in packages if you want to save a few bucks. Well worth it to support a gearhead and entertaining. If you sign up for his mailing list, you'll get updates on Steamroller. It's turning out to be such a big book, it's getting split into several volumes.
Racing in the Rain may not be one of the timeless classics of literature, but it sure is one of the best books out there that has racing at the core.
I read it on a flight from LA-DC. I felt a little manipulated by it, but it got the fundamental racing stuff right, and anything that shares that with the rest of the non-racing world is a good thing.
And all the BS Levy books rocked.
After reading this post I checked the Scottsdale library; current 8 holds on the book. I had to stop by WalMart on the way home from work last night and they just happened to have it. I managed to get 200 pages read last night after the kids went to bed. And yes I am dragging today! Good read so far and already recommending it to my wife who isn't into cars and racing near as much as I am.
I had lost a family pet right before I read it and it was tough to get through a couple of chapters. I gave it to my wife and she has not been able to get past the first chapter. I am afraid that a movie will be similar to one of those sappy Disney stories but anything that is realistic about racing should be done.
I actually just got around to buying it a couple weeks ago. Hell, there were a couple places where I wish I could've cried it would have been easier. I handed it to my fiancé she hasn't started it yet. IMDB lists a projected release for the movie in 2012.
motomoron wrote: I read it on a flight from LA-DC. I felt a little manipulated by it, but it got the fundamental racing stuff right, and anything that shares that with the rest of the non-racing world is a good thing. And all the BS Levy books rocked.
"Full Disclosure" moment: I've been avoiding Mr. Levy's books "on purpose", since I'm trying to write one of my own about club racing..and don't want to steal anything from him.
OTOH, my project's not making any more progress than the scripts (I work in TV, my local commercials seemed to work, but there ain't no Emmy coming to my anytime soon..
) I tried to write back in the 1980s, so maybe it's time for me to just let the thing go..
dfrank wrote: After reading this post I checked the Scottsdale library; current 8 holds on the book. I had to stop by WalMart on the way home from work last night and they just happened to have it. I managed to get 200 pages read last night after the kids went to bed. And yes I am dragging today! Good read so far and already recommending it to my wife who isn't into cars and racing near as much as I am.
The main part of the story will do it. Like I said, it's not really about racing, but about the misfortunes suffered by an aspiring racer & his family.
OTOH, the book's also about how just how the human traits required to be a racer in the first damn place gives somebody the fortitude to conquer misfortune. So, maybe the book's really about racing after all?
"Denny didn't budge. A man who drives a two-thousand-pound car at one hundred seventy miles per hour does not get flustered by the honking of the geese."
-Enzo the Dog.
I just finished it a couple days ago (saw it in a grocery store of all places, remembered GRM reviewing it, and grabbed it.) Yeah, it made me cry too.
My wife read it, and LOVED it. That's no small task. This book really is a gem. If anyone out there has avoided it, succumb.
I loved Enzo, Denny, the little girl. Couldn't stand the wife or her family.
ddavidv wrote: My wife read it, and LOVED it. That's no small task. This book really is a gem. If anyone out there has avoided it, succumb.
My wife read the first half of it and then we nearly got divorced because after my rave about it, she thought I wanted to be a racecar driver with a dead wife so I could be away from home for weeks at a time.
After I convinced her none of that was true, she finished it and as far as I know, she enjoyed the rest of it.
Duke wrote: My wife read the first half of it and then we nearly got divorced because after my rave about it, she thought I wanted to be a racecar driver with a dead wife so I could be away from home for weeks at a time.
That's a bad time to bring up the subject of her life insurance...
i really liked the book, and recommended it to my wife. my wife read it; thought it was hokey. i responded that she has no soul. she rolled her eyes and laughed at me.
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