Dog Stories

I've been on vacation and reading just for fun. My sister-in-law handed me a couple of books where dogs figure prominently: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski and The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.
Edgar Sawtelle introduces us to one family that for several generations has worked to selectively breed and train dogs that are highly intuitive in relation to their humans. Edgar's grandfather started out selecting promising dogs through chance encounters, based on stories (e.g., the tale of the Japanese dog who came back to meet his master at the train station for years after the man had died), and occasionally from respected kennels. The dogs were then bred and trained for an extended period of time before they were sold. They were tracked for their entire lifespan and reports of their behavior helped refine the breeding program for what became known as the Sawtelle dogs. Young Edgar, his father was also Edgar but went by Gar, is in early adolescence for most of this story; although we do hear of his early years. He was born mute, but not deaf, and has his own special dog that grew up with him, Almondine. From several perspectives--including that of the dogs--we learn of a family's devotion to creating an extraordinary group of dogs, and about the relationships between the family members, and between the dogs and the people. Edgar's father dies suddenly and his paternal uncle, Claude, who has recently re-entered the picture, begins to take over the running of the kennel and Edgar's mother's affections. Edgar is extremely intuitive in his own right and has an encounter with his father's ghost during a rainstorm; his father points Edgar to evidence that Claude killed him. Edgar's attempts to prove the murder have disastrous consequences and he runs away with several of the younger dogs; however, he can't stay away from his mother and Almondine. I couldn't stop reading the book. It is beautifully written, occasionally the phrasing and descriptions are just exquisite. But it is also the second "Oprah" recommended book I've read (She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb was the first) with such an irredeemably grim ending that I am swearing off reading anything on her list--again. One evil person is allowed to manipulate and then destroy everything good this family created. I guess that means I don't like books that offer no glimpse of hope.
Racing in the Rain, on the other hand, is infinitely hopeful, although bad things happen to one of the protagonists, and the narrator dies in the end. This is also a family story, about Denny Swift, an aspiring and gifted race car driver, his wife Eve, whose parents think she has married beneath her class, their daughter Zoe, and Enzo the narrator. Enzo happens to be Denny's dog but is at heart a philosopher who firmly believes the Mongolian legend that a dog who is ready to leave his dogness behind will be reborn as a man. He saw it once in a documentary on TV, which he watches during the day to learn how to be a person in his next life. There is a lot about car racing, but it is all tied to how one lives life with integrity and awareness. I loved this story. Don't be deterred by Enzo's death; he has learned what he needed to learn in this lifetime and he is happy to go.