History Literature / TheArtOfRacingInTheRain

* AdaptationalHeroism: Trish is more nicer in the movie adaptation as compared to her novel counterpart. She's more accepting and open-minded to Eve's relationship with Denny, even defending their marriage when her husband voices his disapproval. She also gleefully hugs Denny when she and Maxwell come over to visit newborn Zoë. [[spoiler: Her guilt in backing up Maxwell's lies in their effort to win sole custody of Zoë catches up to her and admits the truth while on the stand. As a result, after he gets custody of Zoë back, Denny is still willing to let Trish and Maxwell be a part of Zoë's life.]]

* PapaWolf: This applies to both Denny and Enzo. Denny goes through so much to keep custody of his daughter, despite Trish and Maxwell's scheming [[spoiler:and he ''wins'']]. Enzo, a literal dog, can't do much to help with the legal issues, but he's very protective of Zoë and (in the film) tears up the adoption papers Denny's in-laws want him to sign, telling Denny not to give up yet. [[spoiler:Shortly after that, Trish had her HeelRealization and admitted their charges against Denny were false.

* EvilOldFolks: Zoë’s maternal grandparents, whose ever escalating bids to gain sole custody of Zoë fuel most of the story's conflict. It’s implied that they might not even care about Zoë, but just want to keep her away from her dad. As mentioned below, [[AdaptationalNiceGuy this is toned down in the film]]; while they visibly don't approve of Denny and Eve's marriage, they play nice until Eve passes, only showing their true disdain for him later. What's more, their love for Zoey here is clearly genuine, with Enzo implying that their pursuit of getting custody of their granddaughter is out of a subconscious desire to [[ReplacementGoldfish get their daughter back.]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: Trish is more nicer in the movie adaptation as compared to her novel counterpart. She’s more accepting and open-minded to Eve’s relationship with Denny, even defending their marriage when her husband voices his disapproval. She also gleefully hugs Denny when she and Maxwell come over to visit newborn Zoë. [[spoiler: Her guilt in backing up Maxwell’s lies in their effort to win sole custody of Zoë catches up to her and admits the truth while on the stand.]]

* EvilOldFolks: Zoë’s maternal grandparents, whose ever escalating bids to gain sole custody of Zoë fuel most of the story's conflict. It’s implied that they might not even care about Zoë, but just want to keep her away from her dad.
** As mentioned below, this is toned down in the film; while they visibly don't approve of Denny and Eve's marriage, they play nice until Eve passes, only showing their true disdain for him later. What's more, their love for Zoey here is clearly genuine, with Enzo implying that their pursuit of getting custody of their granddaughter is out of a subconscious desire to [[ReplacementGoldfish get their daughter back.]]

* AdaptationalHeroism: Trish is more nicer in the movie adaptation as compared to her novel counterpart. She’s more accepting and open-minded to Eve’s relationship with Denny, even defending their marriage when her husband voices his disapproval. She also gleefully hugs Denny when she and Maxwell come visit newborn Zoë. [[spoiler: Her guilt in backing up Maxwell’s lies in their effort to win sole custody of Zoë catches up to her and admits the truth while on the stand.]]

** Trish and Maxwell start as this and get worse from there.
** Their sons aren’t any better, as they try to force Denny not to attend Eve’s funeral, then resort to beating him up when he refuses. One of them goes as far as to call Denny a child molester, then backs off when he demands that his brother-in-law repeat what he said in front of Zoë.

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Trish and Maxwell start as this and get worse from there.

The story concerns Denny, an aspiring racecar driver. He meets and marries Eve, a bubbly, happy young woman. Together they have a daughter, Zoey. Things go well for the family for about six years before Eve unexpectedly dies from cancer. Denny is then forced to battle Eve's parents for custody of Zoey, all while trying to balance his burgeoning career and several unexpected legal troubles.

What makes the book unique is that it's not the told from Denny's perspective, or Zoey's, or even Eve's parents. The narrator is actually Enzo, Denny's dog. He provides commentary on the events as they happen and offers a unique perspective only a dog can provide. Along with Denny's main plot is Enzo's subplot about the belief that if he's prepared enough, he'll return after he dies as human.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Denny goes through the emotional wringer over the course of the story, but he ultimately [[spoiler:wins his custody battle over Zoey and goes on to a be famous Formula One racer.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: Annika was willing to use a FalseRapeAccusation on Denny as revenge for not falling in love with her, but after realizing how [[spoiler:Eve's parents were using her to gain custody of Zoey, as well as how miserable he would be without her, she drops the charges.]]
* EvilOldFolks: Zoey's maternal grandparents, whose ever escalating bids to gain sole custody of Zoey fuel most of the story's conflict. It’s implied that they might not even care about Zoey, but just want to keep her away from her dad.
* FalseRapeAccusation: Annika, one of Eve's teenage cousins, tries to get Denny to fall in love with her by taking off her clothes in his presence. He sternly tells her to stop and drives her home. When he tries to battle Eve's parents for custody of Zoey, they get Annika to say he raped her. [[spoiler:However, after learning how miserable he is without Zoey, she drops the (false) charges.]]

** This same treatment is applied to the movie, where Annika is AdaptedOut altogether, and this particular plotline is changed to a confrontation between Danny and Maxwell getting physical, resulting in the latter getting pushed into a pillar when he tries to attack Danny, and culminating in Maxwell filing charges for assault and using said incident as a pretense to take custody of Zoey. Likewise, Enzo's hallucination is changed to the stuffed zebra tearing apart its fellow stuffed brethren before it tears itself to pieces.

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Eve's parents are ''not'' happy that their daughter winds up marrying a rookie racer with more dreams than actual accolades, to the point where after Eve dies they immediately try to get Denny out of Zoey's life by any means possible.

* RagsToRiches: [[spoiler:Denny, who goes from penniless divorcee to Formula One champion.]] The book has others describe his meteoric rise to success in the face of all the adversity as nothing less than a fairy tale.

* ExcitedShowTitle: The kid's version: ''Enzo Races in the Rain!''

A film adaption was released on August 9, 2019.

* IllGirl: Eve, who loses a battle against cancer.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Annika was willing to use a FalseRapeAccusation on Denny as revenge for not falling in love with her, but after realizing how [[spoiler:Eve's parents were using her to gain custody of Zoey, as well as how miserable Denny would be without Zoey, she drops the charges.]]

* EvilOldFolks: Zoey's maternal grandparents, who's ever escalating bids to gain sole custody of Zoey fuel most of the story's conflict. It’s implied that they might not even care about Zoey, but just want to keep her away from her dad.

* MatureAnimalStory: ''The Art Of Racing In The Rain'' is from a dog's POV but it includes dark topics, such as a FalseRapeAccusation. It has toned down versions for younger audiences.

* EvilOldFolks: Zoey's maternal grandparents, who's ever escalating bids to gain sole custody of Zoey fuel most of the story's conflict.

* LighterAndSofter: The YA and kid's versions of the novel cut some of the more mature content from the main book, such as Annika's false rape allegations against Denny and the infamous scene where Enzo imagines Zoey's stuffed zebra sexually assaulting her other toys. This same treatment is applied to the movie, where Annika is AdaptedOut altogether, and this particular plotline is changed to a confrontation between Danny and Maxwell getting physical, resulting in the latter getting pushed into a pillar when he tries to attack Danny, and culminating in Maxwell filing charges for assault and using said incident as a pretense to take custody of Zoey. Likewise, Enzo's hallucination is changed to the stuffed zebra tearing apart its fellow stuffed brethren before it tears itself to pieces.

* IllGirl: [[spoiler: Eve]], who loses a battle against cancer.

* TheNoseKnows: Enzo smells the decay emanating from [[spoiler:Eve]] quite some time before [[spoiler:her cancer makes itself known.]] Unfortunately, because Enzo is also a dog, he's unable to alert Eve and Denny to said threat before it's too late.
* ParentalMarriageVeto: Eve's parents are ''not'' happy that their daughter winds up marrying a rookie racer with more dreams than actual accolades, to the point where [[spoiler: after Eve dies they immediately try to get Denny out of Zoey's life by any means possible.]]

* LighterAndSofter: The YA and kid's versions of the novel cut some of the more mature content from the main book, such as Annika's false rape allegations against Denny and the infamous scene where Enzo imagines Zoey's stuffed zebra sexually assaulting her other toys. This same treatment is applied to the movie, where Annika is AdaptedOut altogether, the allegation is changed to that of a false assault leveled by Eve's father, Maxwell. Likewise, Enzo's hallucination is changed to the stuffed zebra tearing apart its fellow stuffed brethren before it tears itself to pieces.