Art of Racing in the Rain, Chapters 20-28
The chapters we’re discussing this week really captured the dark heaviness of Eve’s illness and the impact it was having on Denny, Enzo and Zoe. I thought it was interesting that Enzo, like all of us, began questioning his ability to respond to the complex emotions that arise in these types of experiences. In chapter 23 Enzo struggles to know what to do or how to react to a gravely ill Eve, “All I could do was move to her bedside and lie down before her like a rug.” So many times in life I’ve been confronted with the emotional or physical pain of someone close to me, and all that there is to be done is to sit with them; words, actions, responses or any kind of “doing” somehow seem out of place. While Enzo interpreted his conflicting feelings as meaning that he was perhaps not yet ready to be human, I thought that the emotions he expressed in these chapters were very human and exactly like what each of us experience in similar situations. Even Enzo’s reaction to Eve’s death, although presented as a reversion to his animal-nature, was so human in so many ways. “I couldn’t be human anymore and feel the pain that humans feel.” I think that everyone has had at least one life experience in which they feel a thread of this – a pain so intense that an escape from it must be found – an adrenaline-filled, heart-pounding physical release is sometimes the only way to deal with the frenzied jumble of emotions that are swarming within. Sometimes I wonder if the theme of this book is not so much how human Enzo and other animals can be, but that we may be much closer to our animalistic nature than we realize or care to admit.
What do you think?
As always, I look forward to reading your comments on these chapters and anything leading up to this point.
Thank you, Seraphina, for writing what you did. I have always been a thinker and a striver, not letting myself internalize feelings. Enzo does such a great job of being human. But I love it when he reveals his animal-nature with his non-thinking actions. Sometimes I need to do that too, get in touch with my own nature and feel the energy in me and around me. On the other side, one of my best friend’s boxers died last week. It was unexpected and really hard for her as she’d lost her other dog, the boxer’s sister, about ten months before. I knew both dogs well as I had spent some weekends with her in her mountain home. So I called her, listened to her, and shared stories. I was, as Enzo was Eve, with her. Thanks for the reminder in your insights.
“Sometimes I wonder if the theme of this book is not so much how human Enzo and other animals can be, but that we may be much closer to our animalistic nature than we realize or care to admit.”
In reading this statement you wrote, it brought me back to something my son said to me while my daughter-in-law was in a labor a few months back. As we listened and helplessly tried to comfort her, her growls and moans were gutteral and excruciating. My son looked at me and said, ” We are all instinctually just animals.” Enzo acknowledges that he may not yet be ready to be human because he did not know what “actions” or words that Eve needed from him, but maybe learning from Enzo is what we “humans” need to do and be more often: just being there and present is all that required.
Wonderful thoughts and ideas, folks! I’m enjoying the discussion!
This book is so dear to me, to start with. And my husband could really relate to the racing. But I do believe Enzo is the voice for anyone who has gone through painful times and wish they could express what they are feeling. I definitely have had times when I don’t know what to do, but that’s exactly what you must be doing..nothing.
Susan, that’s such a great insight. Enzo’s character gives voice to the painful emotions that we often struggle to understand and express. There’s a bit of irony in there – that a dog whose greatest wish is to be human is somehow better able to give voice to emotions that most humans grapple with.
Book club bloggers, I just want to point out that our new blogging friend, Garth, is in fact Garth Stein, the author of our chosen book. Thank you for visiting our book club, Garth!
Such great insights from these chapters! I was so moved by little Zoe on the last day with her mother. Enzo wanted to play his “Enzo fetch” game and she said, “That’s a baby game, I have to be grown up now.” It is so sad that children will hear adults speaking and internalize their thoughts as their own. “Sometimes bad things happen,” she said to herself….She was speaking someone else’s words, and I’m not sure she believed them or even understood them.”. This just confirms the fact of how important our intentions are and how they can affect others.