My name is Dean Hickok, sergeant, late of the U.S. Marines. I nearly ran down a dog one night on a back road during a Kentucky rainstorm. The dog, it turned out, had been made to suffer and left to die in a crate. But his will to survive, his determination to overcome the many cruelties inflicted upon him, and the ultimate and unabated goodness that abided in him afterward, are the actual reason these pages bearing my name exist at all. I was profoundly wounded of heart and empty of purpose as I drove through the Kentucky darkness that night. I had recently returned from Iraq, the lone survivor of my squad, when my headlights bore through a sweeping rain to find him there, stumbled and fallen. Both of us being on that same road, on that night, and at that moment, was not an accidental happenstance but the poetry of fate. For as much as I saved a dogs life, he saved mine.
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Fabulously 40 & Beyond - fabulously40.com says:
Giv - The Story of a Dog and America, by the enigmatic, award winning author, Boston Teran follows the story of a dog named Giv on his journey across the America of 9/11 and Katrina and Iraq, the America of music and movies, crime and beauty, love and pathos, god and goodness, and the eternality of human redemption and healing.
It does that and so much more. A most unique, beautifully written and enriching book, it is to literature what the great murals are to painting and art. For that is what Giv is - an American mural. Murals have sweep and theme. They are a vison of life. A testament to ideas. This is Giv.
From the first moments at a motel in Arizona called St. Peter's to when the narrator of the tale - Sergeant Dean Hickok, a returning war vet from Iraq - finds Giv near death on a rainy backwoods road, the reader, through the dog, comes to experience the heart and soul of the nation.
Giv and the Sergeant are two veterans of the world, and wars. They are survivors, struggling, looking for a place, a home. Their journey together is the journey of healing one's life. As in all classic and mythic tales there are dramas and confrontations, sorrows and joys. There are sequences in this book that will grab at your emotions like few books I have ever read, and there are sequences that are spellbinding in their visual power (the section on Katrina, that takes you right into the flood, will stand as one of the all time descriptions of an experience). In this book there are an extraordinary range of characters: Anna Perrina, Ian, Ruthie Ruth, Mz. El, just to name a few. Through them and their stories, profound ideas and meanings are uncovered.
Let me quote here from the book... He can feel it all the way down in the thread of his blood. Somewhere he will come upon a sunrise where he can be childlike and pure again. Where he will be given a chance, a means, a way, a home, a friend, and the emptiness and wear will mean nothing. The strong light of beauty will outshine everything. This is but one of the many gems in the grand mural that is Giv. Experience it! --fabulously40.com
For those who love dogs there are already countless dog stories and then there's Boston Teran's incomparable novel, Giv. From the time you read the first page, prepare to have your heartstrings touched then strummed with a melody of beauty and sadness. The truth of the eternal human-canine innate love story is the thread that holds the fabric of this sometimes tragic tale together. Teran crafts a heart-wrenching novel with genuine characters, the likes of which most of us will never meet in our lifetime, but they are as much a part of our country's history as the upbringing that is remembered by most of America. Readers will be rooting for Giv from cover to cover, and I can picture them cheering for the dog to be victorious over all the trials that are thrust upon him by fate and inhumane caretakers. If this were a movie, I would stand up and applaud the indelible Giv, like I did when I was a child and the cinematic hero was coming to save the day. Look for this book to be in everyone s hands in the near future. --Holly Fox Vellekoop, author of Stone Haven: Murder Along the River
Giv is pro-small town America and pro-spirituality. It believes in the power of faith and sacrifice to overcome tragedy. It sees the potential for greatness in people and our country. And this book is not afraid to express love. It is everything that critics and reviewers dislike and look down on in books and movies... but that people who read books and go to movies love. Because, like myself they don't think it beneath them to be touched deeply. And this book will touch you deeply... --Steve Chaney
Hope For a Hurting World
Giv is a stray mutt, a dedicated survivor, the loyal witness to a string of episodes in recent American history. Stolen from his home as a puppy, he sees the highs and lows of Dallas' Deep Ellum, survives Hurricane Katrina with a cat on his back, escapes an animal testing lab, and saves a young boy from a raging wildfire. He's as indomitable as Benji, but grittier.
This book is essentially a road movie told from a dog's point of view. Giv moves from the heart of one survivor to another, steadily opening up hearts that had turned closed and bringing hope in his wake. People who had given up, who had run away, who wanted to die, all find hope in Giv's gentle loyalty.
Boston Teran depicts America sunk in dark malaise, a country adrift and wondering what it stands for anymore. But the love of a dog teaches people how to love once more, how to trust, and how to live like there's something worth dying for. People discover how to give because Giv teaches them that they have something others need.
Alternately angry and touching, this book is what America needs at a time like ours. In an era that has taught us to be hard-hearted and selfish, Giv reminds us that we are the hope for others in this world. And if we can find our way back to the home where we belong, maybe there's still hope for us and the rest of our hurting world as well. --Kevin L. Nenstiel, July 30, 2009
Dogs touch us in ways we cannot explain. The invisible beyond the visible within each of us. Through Giv's journey through life we experience goodness and evil, sorrow and tragedy, even triumph. The will to survive and the determination to overcome all that life throws our way to hold us back.
Giv's journey through life is an unusual and difficult journey. Giv is our window to the soul of this nation as we follow him from state to state and person to person. We are introduced to the people that Giv's life has touched. There is something special about Giv that brings up deep reservoirs of loss that passages of time cannot resolve.
Giv is found on a back road in Kentucky by Dean Hickok, sergeant, late of the U.S. Marines - war tested and weary, the victim of hardened years at the tender young age of three. Dean determines to reunite Giv with his owner in New Orleans post Katrina. Thus begins the journey into Giv's life...
Giv: The Story of a Dog and America is a well-written, moving and touching story. Giv will live on in your heart long after you've turned the last page. --Connie Harris, TCM Reviews
The protagonist Giv is a dog who has amazing adventures and endures all kinds of abuse and deprivation. Offspring of a dog with a mysterious past, Giv knows security and love in his first home but gets stolen and subsequently ends up with various owners - some who love him and some who do not. Giv's will to survive, his capacity for faithful love and his selfless courage enable some of the broken-spirited human characters in the novel to experience redemption from their pasts. These people have been devastated by loss from 9/11, war, murder, Katrina and other life-altering events.
Boston Teran has threaded the tale of Giv's travels with many insightful reflections about American people in various difficult circumstances. He not only portrays the low points in the lives of his characters, but also some emotional highs. Characters fall in love, find creative inspiration, and connect with their future purpose. The amazing qualities found within Giv and other Characters reflect the spirit of contemporary America. The story contains mystery, introspective reflection, and plenty of drama. It touches upon the most tragic national events faced by Americans of this generation. Boston Teran's novel evidences great sympathy toward those who have experienced these losses first hand and it also expresses hope and faith in America's ability to endure.
I really enjoyed this book. I fell in love with its lyrical writing style from the first page. The writing is smooth, poetic and rhythmic. The story develops systematically and the ending is very climatic and satisfying. The characters seem very realistic and the setting encompasses many different parts of America to create an interesting mosaic of images.
The book came to me with the quote, "The Forrest Gump of dog books." This was so right on target. The author crafted the story so well that I had to go back to make sure the story was fiction. This is the story of Giv, a dog who travels all across the states. He survives a kidnapping, Hurricane Katrina, an abusive period only to be rescued by a Marine, who finds it was he that needed rescued. This Marine decides to find Giv's owner, which takes him across the country. Once again Giv rescues someone and it is believed that Give is lost. When found his past meets up with his future. This was a wonderful book. Each owner has a story. It is usually one that starts out negative until Giv enters the picture. Lives are changed because of him. Anyone who has ever had a pet, or read stories of animals who have rescued others, often giving their own life for the human will want to read this book. Just like in Forrest Gump, every negative thing that happens to him turns into something positive. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 rating. --Jemima Adama, Musings of a Book Addict, July 16, 2009
Giv - The Story of a Dog and America, by the enigmatic, award winning author, Boston Teran follows the story of a dog named Giv on his journey across the America of 9/11 and Katrina and Iraq, the America of music and movies, crime and beauty, love and pathos, god and goodness, and the eternality of human redemption and healing.
It does that and so much more. A most unique, beautifully written and enriching book, it is to literature what the great murals are to painting and art. For that is what Giv is - an American mural. Murals have sweep and theme. They are a vison of life. A testament to ideas. This is Giv.
From the first moments at a motel in Arizona called St. Peter's to when the narrator of the tale - Sergeant Dean Hickok, a returning war vet from Iraq - finds Giv near death on a rainy backwoods road, the reader, through the dog, comes to experience the heart and soul of the nation.
Giv and the Sergeant are two veterans of the world, and wars. They are survivors, struggling, looking for a place, a home. Their journey together is the journey of healing one's life. As in all classic and mythic tales there are dramas and confrontations, sorrows and joys. There are sequences in this book that will grab at your emotions like few books I have ever read, and there are sequences that are spellbinding in their visual power (the section on Katrina, that takes you right into the flood, will stand as one of the all time descriptions of an experience). In this book there are an extraordinary range of characters: Anna Perrina, Ian, Ruthie Ruth, Mz. El, just to name a few. Through them and their stories, profound ideas and meanings are uncovered.
Let me quote here from the book... He can feel it all the way down in the thread of his blood. Somewhere he will come upon a sunrise where he can be childlike and pure again. Where he will be given a chance, a means, a way, a home, a friend, and the emptiness and wear will mean nothing. The strong light of beauty will outshine everything. This is but one of the many gems in the grand mural that is Giv. Experience it! --fabulously40.com
For those who love dogs there are already countless dog stories and then there's Boston Teran's incomparable novel, Giv. From the time you read the first page, prepare to have your heartstrings touched then strummed with a melody of beauty and sadness. The truth of the eternal human-canine innate love story is the thread that holds the fabric of this sometimes tragic tale together. Teran crafts a heart-wrenching novel with genuine characters, the likes of which most of us will never meet in our lifetime, but they are as much a part of our country's history as the upbringing that is remembered by most of America. Readers will be rooting for Giv from cover to cover, and I can picture them cheering for the dog to be victorious over all the trials that are thrust upon him by fate and inhumane caretakers. If this were a movie, I would stand up and applaud the indelible Giv, like I did when I was a child and the cinematic hero was coming to save the day. Look for this book to be in everyone s hands in the near future. --Holly Fox Vellekoop, author of Stone Haven: Murder Along the River
Giv is pro-small town America and pro-spirituality. It believes in the power of faith and sacrifice to overcome tragedy. It sees the potential for greatness in people and our country. And this book is not afraid to express love. It is everything that critics and reviewers dislike and look down on in books and movies... but that people who read books and go to movies love. Because, like myself they don't think it beneath them to be touched deeply. And this book will touch you deeply... --Steve Chaney
Hope For a Hurting World
Giv is a stray mutt, a dedicated survivor, the loyal witness to a string of episodes in recent American history. Stolen from his home as a puppy, he sees the highs and lows of Dallas' Deep Ellum, survives Hurricane Katrina with a cat on his back, escapes an animal testing lab, and saves a young boy from a raging wildfire. He's as indomitable as Benji, but grittier.
This book is essentially a road movie told from a dog's point of view. Giv moves from the heart of one survivor to another, steadily opening up hearts that had turned closed and bringing hope in his wake. People who had given up, who had run away, who wanted to die, all find hope in Giv's gentle loyalty.
Boston Teran depicts America sunk in dark malaise, a country adrift and wondering what it stands for anymore. But the love of a dog teaches people how to love once more, how to trust, and how to live like there's something worth dying for. People discover how to give because Giv teaches them that they have something others need.
Alternately angry and touching, this book is what America needs at a time like ours. In an era that has taught us to be hard-hearted and selfish, Giv reminds us that we are the hope for others in this world. And if we can find our way back to the home where we belong, maybe there's still hope for us and the rest of our hurting world as well. --Kevin L. Nenstiel, July 30, 2009
Dogs touch us in ways we cannot explain. The invisible beyond the visible within each of us. Through Giv's journey through life we experience goodness and evil, sorrow and tragedy, even triumph. The will to survive and the determination to overcome all that life throws our way to hold us back.
Giv's journey through life is an unusual and difficult journey. Giv is our window to the soul of this nation as we follow him from state to state and person to person. We are introduced to the people that Giv's life has touched. There is something special about Giv that brings up deep reservoirs of loss that passages of time cannot resolve.
Giv is found on a back road in Kentucky by Dean Hickok, sergeant, late of the U.S. Marines - war tested and weary, the victim of hardened years at the tender young age of three. Dean determines to reunite Giv with his owner in New Orleans post Katrina. Thus begins the journey into Giv's life...
Giv: The Story of a Dog and America is a well-written, moving and touching story. Giv will live on in your heart long after you've turned the last page. --Connie Harris, TCM Reviews
The protagonist Giv is a dog who has amazing adventures and endures all kinds of abuse and deprivation. Offspring of a dog with a mysterious past, Giv knows security and love in his first home but gets stolen and subsequently ends up with various owners - some who love him and some who do not. Giv's will to survive, his capacity for faithful love and his selfless courage enable some of the broken-spirited human characters in the novel to experience redemption from their pasts. These people have been devastated by loss from 9/11, war, murder, Katrina and other life-altering events.
Boston Teran has threaded the tale of Giv's travels with many insightful reflections about American people in various difficult circumstances. He not only portrays the low points in the lives of his characters, but also some emotional highs. Characters fall in love, find creative inspiration, and connect with their future purpose. The amazing qualities found within Giv and other Characters reflect the spirit of contemporary America. The story contains mystery, introspective reflection, and plenty of drama. It touches upon the most tragic national events faced by Americans of this generation. Boston Teran's novel evidences great sympathy toward those who have experienced these losses first hand and it also expresses hope and faith in America's ability to endure.
I really enjoyed this book. I fell in love with its lyrical writing style from the first page. The writing is smooth, poetic and rhythmic. The story develops systematically and the ending is very climatic and satisfying. The characters seem very realistic and the setting encompasses many different parts of America to create an interesting mosaic of images.
The book came to me with the quote, "The Forrest Gump of dog books." This was so right on target. The author crafted the story so well that I had to go back to make sure the story was fiction. This is the story of Giv, a dog who travels all across the states. He survives a kidnapping, Hurricane Katrina, an abusive period only to be rescued by a Marine, who finds it was he that needed rescued. This Marine decides to find Giv's owner, which takes him across the country. Once again Giv rescues someone and it is believed that Give is lost. When found his past meets up with his future. This was a wonderful book. Each owner has a story. It is usually one that starts out negative until Giv enters the picture. Lives are changed because of him. Anyone who has ever had a pet, or read stories of animals who have rescued others, often giving their own life for the human will want to read this book. Just like in Forrest Gump, every negative thing that happens to him turns into something positive. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 rating. --Jemima Adama, Musings of a Book Addict, July 16, 2009
From the Publisher
The dog and his relationship with man has always been something marvelous and beautiful that touches me deeply. I wanted to write a novel about a dog, but I also meant for it to be about America, with its relevant times, places and people. My idea – the dog was to be a window through to the soul of this nation as we follow him on a journey from person to person.
Most of the characters in this work were quilted out of my own personal journey across these United States. I made that trip a study for the book I wanted to write. I talked with people in coffee shops and bars, struck up conversations at truck stops and RV parks. I went to church charities for animal shelters and biker rallies for rescue missions and gatherings in city parks for the “Blessing of the Animals.”
I collected this living documentary of true stories and personal insights about man and the dog that were as rich and moving as poetry and paintings and felt like music and that spoke to the unfathomable ways of existence. Somewhere long into my journey I began to realize I was missing a centerpiece character, who along with the dog, could anchor this mural of American life I was trying to create. Then one night, life intervened.
I was on a California back road heading toward the desert. There were storms that night and the wipers had to fight away the rain. The road was black and where it swept through a low ascension of hills towards the AT and SF railroad tracks I came upon the scene of an accident.
A pickup had hit a dog. Its headlights fleshed out a young man kneeling over the wounded animal. As I ran toward the scene the young man looked up and asked if I could help get the dog into his truck, and he would take him to an animal hospital in town.
As we set the dog on the front seat I noticed a U.S. Marine tattoo on the young man’s shoulder. And from that decal on down to his wrist was a hatchety scar that spoke to me of a battle wound.
Pointing at it I asked, “Iraq?”
His face told of having experienced much. “Iraq,” he said.
Whether it was an accidental happenstance or the poetry of fate, those few fleeting minutes would prove to be at the soul of everything I wanted to say, from the intimate to the ultimate. And so, on a back road in the rain, I found the character I was searching for to be an anchor, along with the dog, for this mural of American life.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
See the dog........,
By
This review is from: Giv: The Story of a Dog and America (Hardcover)
Boston Teran is known for his crime novels, his debut, God is a Bullet is considered a cult classic, personally I would take away the word "cult" and just call it as it is!
I did however find that his follow up novels did not reach the standard of his debut and while I enjoyed them I felt that there was a better book in Boston Teran waiting to get out. Well that book has finally been written and it is called Giv: The Story of a Dog and America. We first discover the dog called Giv on a lonely stretch of road as a former US soldier, just returned from Iraq, narrowly avoids running him over. Giv has been badly treated and is barely alive. The soldier (who as it happens is also in need of saving) takes care of Giv and sets out to discover how and why the dog ended up nearly dead on a desolate stretch of road. We then follow the story of Giv from his days as a puppy, the people who come and go in his life, the kind and sometimes awful things that happen to him and the positive effect he in turn has on others. Along the way some of the biggest events in recent American history are touched on, the Kennedy assassination, Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq. The climax of the book, in which the soldier, aided by Giv attempts to find redemption through an heroic act will have the reader furiously turning the pages. This is an extremely touching and moving book written in Boston Teran's usual hip style. I cannot recommend it highly enough, not just to dog lovers but also to anybody who likes to read great American fiction
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An ideal gift for any pet lover,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Giv: The Story of a Dog and America (Hardcover)
Friends provide many inspiring stories, and man's best friend is no different. "Giv: The Story of a Dog and America" is a collection of stories about man and dog, and how they inspire one another. After saving a dog from near death, Boston Teran brings readers many inspiring stories from across the country about the unity of pet and master. An ideal gift for any pet lover, "Giv" will bring a smile to many faces.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Giv,
By
This review is from: Giv: The Story of a Dog and America (Hardcover)
The book came to me with the quote, "The Forrest Gump of dog books". This was so right on target. The author crafted the story so well that I had to go back to make sure the story was fiction. This is the story of Giv, a dog who travels all across the states. He survives a kidnapping, Hurricane Katrina, an abusive period only to be rescued by a Marine, who finds it was he that needed rescued. This Marine decides to find Giv's owner, which takes him across the country. Once again Giv rescues someone and it is believed that Give is lost. When found his past meets up with his future. This was a wonderful book. Each owner has a story. It is usually one that starts out negative until Giv enters the picture. Lives are changed because of him. Anyone who has ever had a pet, or read stories of animals who have rescued others, often giving their own life for the human will want to read this book. Just like in Forrest Gump, every negative thing that happens to him turns into something positive. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 rating.
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