Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

21 reviews

carissa230's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Definitely a book for dog lovers. We all want to know that our dogs love us as much as we love them. That we are giving them as much as they give us. Enzo shows that he loves his family as much as they love him. 

Enzo is living a wonderfully happy life with his human Denny. Denny loves to race cars and be with Enzo, but then Denny meets another human. At first, Enzo is not a fan of Eve. Eve is taking Denny's time and he doesn't want anyone to take Denny's time. But Eve does something that Enzo likes which is bring him Zoe. Zoe is life-changing for Enzo. Enzo loves the tiny human almost as much as Denny. 

When Eve gets sick Enzo stays with her for a while to make her feel better. Eve has to leave to live with her other humans and Zoe while she tries to get better. This is a lot for a dog to handle.

The story is told well through the dogs perspective. There are obvious gaps in the story as the dog wasn't involved in situations. The story is told through conversations that he overhears so the reader doesn't really miss anything. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Grief

pageafter_paige's review against another edition

The way the author writes women is uncomfortable to me. The scene with the 15 year old female cousin seemed creepy and irrelevant to book that’s supposed to be from a dogs pov. I thought this was going to be better and more wholesome I guess? Instead the dog hates women but I don’t see how that’s necessary…

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

leweylibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The book being told from the pov of a dog was interesting, although sometimes it was just really awkward and too forced. It was also obviously much more about the humans and their DRAMATIC ass story than it was dog, and that's a bummer really.

There was also one part concerning sexual assault that I just could not handle, and the victim blaming after the fact really made my skin crawl. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement and Police brutality

pippamillerxoxo_'s review against another edition

hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Rape, Grief, and Death of parent

alicemorrison1029's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

while i liked the story being told from the perspective of the dog, some parts of this just made me uncomfortable. there were some really gross comments made about a young teen girl in this which just grossed me out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

brie_fern's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, and Grief

annelihghh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

saoreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The writing was very casual and goofy-like. It somehow emitted the persona of a dog itself, something easy to process and simply defined. In the proceeding chapters, it was so infuriating and grief-inducing that it wanted you to lash out and scream at the world

how difficult it was for the love of your life to be taken away from him due to death, and in the process, even how close his child was due to custody.

It definitely is a book that taught me plenty. At first, I was unused to it and found it unfamiliar and surely unrelatable due to car and racing terminologies, yet how the narrator wishes to speak to its audience using those as metaphors made it indeed soothing to read and, I ugly cried.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

popiloey's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Rape