Customer Reviews

A Dedication

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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.

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.

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.

This heartwarming novel by John Zaiss introduces and connects two generations through friendship, love and spirit. Quinn, as a typical teenager finds and accepts himself by learning to accept those around him. Joe, the elder, is a man we probably all knew growing up somewhere in our life; either a parent, grandparent, neighbor, or teacher. Whoever he was in our lives he taught us, he opened our eyes...Quinn grows through these lessons. This novel is tender, heartfelt and left me with a feeling of true love its rewards and its regrets. A Dedication is a good read for all generations.

Quinn Marshall maybe your next door neighbor; or he maybe your own son. We all know a Quinn, a teenager struggling to find his own identity and purpose in life. For Quinn, he battles against authority, does not use the intellect that is his, but a man named Joe Toscano is about to make a mark on Quinn's life.
Joe is a no-nonsense man, having fought in Korea and Vietnam, and also having made some foolish mistakes in his life; he extends wisdom in a way that young Quinn cannot refuse and in doing so changes both of their lives.

In this work we see a boy coming to terms with life, with all of it's goodness and evil; we cheer, we cry, we shake our head and perhaps even remember or connect in someway to the raw emotions that we see. We watch as a friendship bridges the gap and fills the voids in the lives it touches. And in the end we smile at the mark it has made in our world.
A Dedication is a story of life, of taking and giving, loving and hating, living and dying, but most important of forgiveness of oneself and of others. A story of life, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Quinnlan Marshall, known as Quinn to his friends and family, can probably be best described as a rebellious teenager. Guilty of plagiarizing a history paper and failing multiple courses in his junior year of high school, he further rebels against his parents. But Quinn does love something...his photography. While in the pursuit of this, he meets a special person, Joe Toscano, a 72 year old former Marine.

Joe's secret past and subsequent battle with cancer is the ultimate tear jerker. Quinn finds a true friend...one who helps him to turn his life totally around...and then loses him. This unlikely and unusual friendship shared by such diverse characters is what makes [A Dedication] by John Zaiss so special.

This book is for everyone, especially any teenager out there who is rebelling. It will inspire and teach; make you laugh and bring you to tears...but, most importantly, it will teach you the most lasting lesson in life...true friendship. Read it...or buy it for that important friend in your life. You won't regret it!

The main character in this book is a seventeen year old named Quinn Marshall. He is the 21st century version of Holden Caulfield - a bright, perceptive kid who uses most of his abilities to convince the rest of the world that he really doesn't give a damn.

Enter Joe Toscano, a retired Marine who can see through Quinn's false bravado and gives the teenager a chance to prove he is something other than some stereotypical, rebel-without-a-pause seventeen year old. In the process of giving Quinn these life gifts, Joe also seeks to quiet some ghosts from his own life.

There seem to be precious few books these days that take the time to develop characters - the kind a reader can really care about. This is one of those few books. If these types of reviews don't typically move you to buy the book, make this your one exception. You won't regret it.

Oh, and be sure and BYOK (bring your own Kleenex).

This was not the type of story I am normally drawn to but I was hooked almost from the start. The characters seemed like people we all have known. Quinn was someone who I could relate to, someone who could only be reached by an extraordinary person. We find that person in Joe, a hard edged ex-warrior with many levels under the surface.

A DEDICATION was one of those books that stayed with me when I wasn't reading it. I finished it quickly because it was difficult to put down. Not a false note to be found. It was real and engaging and, at times, profound.

I hardly ever cry reading fiction, but this book did it. It didn't take long before I found myself having to read "just one more chapter" before forcing myself to put it down. As a mother, I have to say that the author captured the spirit and attitude of the teenager in this book (Quinn) just perfectly. The story is poignant and an easy read...the reviewers are right...it'll make you laugh and make you cry. I plan to have my book club read it next month, and would definitely recommend it to other book clubs. The characters have a lot to offer, and the story is so good -- it will certainly inspire some spirited conversation. Excellent!!!

I was delighted and inspired by reading this beautiful story of a young man struggling to find his way in life through a beautiful relationship with a man he met via a chance meeting that forever changed his life.

The lessons learned through this story are ones that can benefit young and old and put an inspiring perspective on life through relationships. An excellent story that teaches us that even the most difficult experiences life has for us can be the most inspiring and life altering. It is not in the mistakes we make but what we learn from them and what we do from there. As a single parent messsages so beautifully shared are ones I will share with my daughter.

Highly entertaining as well as moving and have recommended The Dedication to everyone. I laughed and cried and as I read the final words and closed the cover I knew the experience of reading Mr. Zaiss's novel has changed my outlook on life and death forever.