A Dedication [Hardcover]

John Zaiss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2005

How do the stumbling blocks of adolescence become stepping-stones to maturity? What can heal thirty-year wounds? The answers are revealed when the journeys of a rebellious teenager and a retired Marine sergeant collide. A Dedication is a story of frustration and struggle, of compassion and forgiveness, and ultimately, of awakening to life'ss possibilities.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

A story of frustration and struggle, of compassion and forgiveness, and ultimately, of awakening to life’s possibilities.

How do the stumbling blocks of adolescence become stepping-stones to maturity? What can heal thirty-year wounds? The answers are revealed when the journeys of a rebellious teenager and a retired Marine sergeant collide.

Quinn Marshall is an intelligent teenager who resents anything hinting at authority. His finely honed "whatever" attitude is humorously cynical, insightful, and completely self-absorbed. But when the conflicts of day-to-day life escalate, Quinn responds with a decision that changes his life forever.

Joe Toscano is a modern-day Renaissance man. A retired Marine who fought in Korea and Vietnam, he’s become an enthusiastic artist and perpetual student at the University of Colorado. During an encounter with Quinn, Joe recognizes both undeveloped potential and destructive behavior, and decides to get involved. As his straightforward manner and nonjudgmental approach crack Quinn’s hardened defenses, a friendship develops shaped by listening and laughter and life.

But Joe’s relaxed approach masks a shattered past, positioning Quinn as a final chance for redemption.

About the Author

First-time novelist John Zaiss is the president of Crescent Capital Management, a registered investment advisory firm. He lives in Las Vegas and Whitefish, Montana.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Synergy Books (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975592238
• ISBN-13: 978-0975592236
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,886,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boy to Man, May 22, 2005

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Dedication (Hardcover)

Rebeccasreads highly recommends A DEDICATION as a worthy teaching read wrapped up in a fine adventure. It's manly & amusing, emotional & instructive, about a young man who survived to tell the tale, about another young man who survived war to give guidance to a life of peace.

Quinn, a clever & cynical high school senior, & his huge, Letterman classmate Winnie are out exploring the mountains around Boulder, Colorado after school one day. Quinn is there to satisfy his photography addiction, & Winnie because he likes to think of other things beside football. When they come upon a lone, old man on the shore of a hidden lake, painting the scene in oils, they surprise him. Before anyone can stop it, there's a bit of a fight in which Quinn puts his foot through the painting, & while trying to free himself from the old man's attack, gets whacked on the cheekbone by one of his cameras.

After peace is restored & the old man gives Quinn his business card, & the boys hightail it for home. Unfortunately, home is where the real battle is raging. Quinn is failing all his classes, except photography, & his parents expectations. Then he finds out not only has he been caught plagiarizing a history report, he's been given Fs in everything, & his parents crack down: no car keys, no computer, no music & worse... no more cameras.

Quinn's life is out of control. For two months he's been holding a self-righteous siege in his dirty room, purposefully keeping his hair long & unwashed, & testing just how far he can push both at home & at school. He's been kind of happy in his misery, until the day he meets the man whose picture he took & whose painting he stomped, in a cafe, & they start talking.

Lots of everyday taboo subjects get raised: healthy & unhealthy habits; laziness vs passion, honor vs skating around the truth, what education really is & what grades really mean.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope and Redemption in an Extraordinary First Novel, May 3, 2005

By 

D. A. McPhail (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Dedication (Hardcover)

Seekers of small, special moments will want to read this hopeful and wonderful novel. Congratulations to author John Zaiss for creating a marvelous work. In a lecture some years ago, Ken Kesey asserted that a writer is obligated to create something that leaves the reader better off for having read their work. I am certainly better off for having read A Dedication. It is beautiful, realistic, tightly constructed yet flowing; and the characters are real and true individuals.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you liked Secret Life of Bees & Lovely Bones . . ., March 22, 2005

By 

BookNooker (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Dedication (Hardcover)

A Dedication is the story of a troubled teenager who is befriended by a retired Marine (now a student at the University of Colorado) and the life lessons shared. But about halfway through the focus changes to the issues of the older man . . . and that's where you can't put the book down.

The characters are engaging and the story really tugs at your heartstrings, so keep the Kleenex close. A Dedication has just been added to my "favorites" list.