Introduction Garth Stein, author of the renowned The Art of Racing in the Rain has a capacity to engage readers from the beginning to the end of each novel. One might ask how what his writing is so appealing; numerous people believe that great novels are because of the who the author is as a person. However, the author has to allow the characters to take on their own personalities; the characters are very much different from the author in truly iconic novels. Garth Stein certainly subscribes to this idea, as he is known for his stories that seem authentic and natural, driven by his original characters, rather than characters based off of himself. The Art of Racing in the Rain The Art of Racing in the Rain was the first book of Stein’s to gather …show more content…
Regarding The Art of Racing in the Rain, Stein states that “[he] didn’t want to get in the way of Enzo. He was just coming,” (Stein qtd. in Thomas 4). It isn’t about the author and his life; it has to be about the characters. Even so, in order to keep the flow of the story organic, the characters must follow the author’s lead to some extent. Denny and Enzo share the trait of being immensely determined with Stein. He was so set on publishing his book that when his agent turned it down, he said “I really disagree, so strongly that I’m going to go find a different agent” (Stein qtd. in Jasper 2). This demonstrates that although there are similarities present, it really is not about Stein; he has written a wide array of diverse novels that prove that stories are more dependent on their own essence than their