"Gestures are all I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature."
-- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
So begins the story of Enzo, an aging dog with a human soul who looks forward to being reincarnated as a man so he can enjoy talking out loud and using opposable thumbs. Enzo is the first person (first canine?) narrator of this story, which is enough in itself to grab the imagination.