When this book came across my radar screen I immediately dismissed it. After all, it had to be a rip off of The Art of Racing in the Rain, right? A story told from the point of view of a dog? Didn’t Garth Stein fire his agent because he skoffed at the idea of the protagonist being a dog? So how was W. Bruce Cameron able to pitch his book? I imagined a meeting much like a movie pitch “You really want to publish this book . . . it’s the next Art of Racing in the Rain . . . You know they are making that into a movie with Patrick Dempsy, right?”
This book went right to the bottom of the pile. Been there, read that. And then . . . slowly it worked it’s way up the stack. Maybe I was a sucker for the black lab on the cover because I grew up with that breed of dog. Or maybe nothing else looked good that day. But, I picked it up and thought to myself “you can always put it down if it’s just a rip-off of ARR”
Hi, thank you so much for giving my novel a chance. You may be interested to know that A Dog’s Purpose was started on Nov 5, 2007, which was six months before Racing in the Rain came out. I was actually rather stunned to hear from my agent that there was “already a reincarnated dog book” when we took my novel out to publishers. I really loved Racing in the Rain, though, even as I’ll note that Mr. Stein and I took a different approach to the subject. Your assumption, though, is one I’ve heard often–that I must have copied the idea. I really, honestly, didn’t draw any inspiration from Racing in the Rain, but I do understand why so many fans of that book might think so.
Hi Bruce! Thanks so much for the information. It is interesting to note that you started the book before ARR. Like I said above, I was fearful that it was going to be too similar in nature. I’m glad that I was wrong! After The Da Vinci Code the market was flooded with books that tried to capture that same feel. I got to the point that I wouldn’t even touch a book if I heard someone refer to is as “the next Davinci Code.” That’s why I was hesitant with your book. But I’m so glad that I picked it up and that I was 100% wrong with my assumptions.
Job well done!