What an amazing novel. I finished reading this book on the 15 hour drive down to Florida for Thanksgiving. I couldn't put it down. The novel, by Garth Stein, is beautifully written and uniquely told from the viewpoint of the family dog, a plot device that could have turned out too disney-esque and kitschy, but didn't. Stein succeeded in creating a realistic and sentimental narrative in the voice of Enzo. Enzo is owned by Denny, a race car driver who falls in love, builds a family, and faces great trials on the track and within his family. Enzo loves television - his main form of education- and racing and his family. Throughout the book, Enzo uses descriptions of great race car driving in comparison to living life. He repeats a motto instilled by Denny: "The car goes where the eyes go," a mantra focused on the idea that within a man's mind he creates his own destiny. It is what a man focuses on that shapes his life.
There is a similar mantra at church. The words you speak with your mouth, the words that come from your faith, will come to be in your life. Speak and believe. The same idea rests in "the car goes where the eyes go." Where a man's eye is set, so in that direction his life will lead.
Psalm 42 paints it in a different metaphor: “ As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” When an animal is thirsty, that thirst leads them. The need for water leads them to seek water. In the Psalm, the soul thirsts not for water, but for God. So, when we long for a closer relationship with God, if we keep our eye on Him, we will seek him and meet him.
Life is a race and where our focus lies is where our race leads. Hebrews 12: 1-2 states: "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Running the race with our eyes focused on God will lead to peace and salvation. Denny raced with eyes focused on not winning, but on being a part of the course, on giving up his egotism and becoming one with the car, on overcoming each marker and each turn until he did finish. Enzo explained, “In racing, they say that your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes away from the wall as he spins out of control will meet that wall; the driver who looks down the track as he feels his tires break free will regain control of his vehicle.” If a man focuses on failure, he will fail. If a man focuses on triumph, he will succeed. If a man focuses on God, he will live as a faithful servant and prosper, even at time he fails. Another one of Enzo's quotes: “The true hero is flawed. The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles - preferably of his own making - in order to triumph.” Or the true hero has to have faith in God to over come those obstacles...as I would add.
The book has many many beautiful quotes and is definitely worth the read. Melissa recommended. : )
