Customer Reviews

Haint: A Tale of Extraterrestrial Intervention and Love Across Time and Space

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Any one who has ever loved a dog has seen it. You know, that look. That look that makes you wonder for a moment who is in charge here. and who really is the one who knows the truth. You know, the deeper truth of life. Admit it, we have all felt it.

Sometimes we feel guilty because we are so inadequate to measure up to their love. But there is more. Something else just beyond our grasp, that bothers us a little bit, because we feel they might know something they are not letting on.

Joy Ward's Haint exposes these head-cocked wonderings. Our hunches were correct.

We also know instinctively that dogs make us more human. We don't know how true that is. Haint tells the story of a transforming love that gave form to hope for humanity.

In the words of Haint, a Weimaraner,

"Our essence changed their matter. Every time a human petted us or sat with us or let us sleep on their bed, we were changing them. We exchanged our cells for theirs. It was slow, achingly slow sometimes as we watched them wage wars against each other, but we persisted. But over the centuries, humans evolved and became more like us.

They learned to love more deeply and they learned how to trust one another. They learned that to achieve anything of size or depth takes sharing and working together. We gave them that. We brought our older, more evolved natures into contact with their newer ones, and they learned and grew." - Haint p. 92"

Two voices alternate to tell this tale. One, a human with extrasensory gifts, and the other, an ancient extraterrestrial spirit now choosing the form of a dog. Together these two voices show the intertwined fates of two species at the edge of disaster. The earth is dying because of the foolish hubris of man, despite all the efforts of his best friend. Weather has become wild and inhospitable to the species that has abused his environment. The end of the world is imminent. Hot winds tear the air, spawning tornados that destroy buildings as the melting poles raise the sea level. The wells of fresh water are drying up, and skin cancer and other diseases are epidemic.

As the human civilization crumbles, man and dog revert to their earlier symbiosis. New tribal groups emerge called Breeds because they are centered on distinct breeds of dog that each specialize in a distinct skill with their partner humans. Territories ruled by Weimaraners, Airedales, Danes and such hold civilization from the brink of anarchy.

This is not like "Animal Farm," it feels believable, maybe even likely. Suspension of disbelief is not as difficult as one might imagine, in fact, the reader feels drawn in naturally to this world. It explains a lot.

In this crisis time the best and worst of both species appears and becomes prominent, as it does in any time of crisis. It is a question of survival. It is a question of survival for both species bound together inextricably. Maybe the ancient Latin warning, "cave canem" was merely misunderstood. We should listen to their warnings when they ...speak.

As a person who has two Weimaraners I am a bit biased, but I thought that this book answered a lot of questions about these "grey ghosts" and their haunting expressions. The story was engaging and believable (and very scary). Told from two viewpoints, one a human and one a Weimaraner named Haint, the story came together beautifully. I only wish that there had been time to get to know the characters more fully, it left me wanting more.

Even for dog lovers, the idea of a book written from the POV of a dog is a risky concept. In the hands of a less accomplished writer it could have been flat out sappy. But Haint is flat out wonderful. The story takes place in the future when global warming and warfare have taken their toll on the human race and the relatively small number of human beings who have survived have reorganized themselves around the breeds of their companions, their dogs. OK so far so good, pretty interesting stuff and believable, given current realities. But the most fascinating portions of the book (to me anyway) were the portions told in the voice of a very wise old soul, Haint, a weimeraner. How the dogs directed their own evolution to appeal to the human beings they chose to be their companions and watched the human beings themselves evolve is fascinating and also believable. The author is clearly scientifically knowlegeable as all good writers of science fiction should be. The reader does not so much suspend disbelief as get drawn into some truly fascinating speculation about possibilities that have not actually been ruled out. I am recommending this book to everyone I know who is interested in animals, in the environment, in spirituality and in science (as well as science fiction). One expects a book about dogs and humans to appeal on an emotional level but Haint appeals as well on intellectual and philosophical levels. On a scale of one to five I would like to give this one a six.

I have to admit, I'm not a dog lover. I feel more attached to cats, so I don't know where I would fit in Ward's world where dogs have become the ultimate companions (as some would say they already are).

However, I still found this a wonderful and deeply moving book. As the mysterious "they" always say, a dog is a man's best friend and this book takes that cliche and turns it into something much deeper.

I recommend this book to anyone.

For Weimaraner lovers, this book takes you there and beyond! I loved it, and only wish Joy would continue the story.

Unique, well written, terrific premise...a novel of a future world where man's relationship with dogs is the key to survival... a terrific story for sci-fi fans and dog lovers...I was choked up when I read the denoument.

Joy Ward's experience with dogs, especially Weimaraners, permeates this novel. She clearly loves the breed, as the Foreword by the photographer, William Wegman, who's made photographing Weimaraners an art form all by itself, illustrates.

But this book isn't about dogs. It isn't even about the age-old conundrum common to all dog owners when they consider just who owns who. And if you don't get that, you haven't been owned by a dog.

This book is about the end of the world, and what happens after.

Haint and the other Weimaraners, and all the other Breeds as well, all know what is happening as a result of the Warming and the end of human civilization. Humans huddled with their Breed dogs and tried to ignore what the dogs knew. This novel is the story of the dogs and the humans coming to terms with the end of the world.

There could have been lots of things wrong with this novel. There could have been polemics about climate, about greed and pollution, but Ward manages to walk the tightrope between the didactic novel and a real story with real characters. Every time I dissect the writing and plotting of this novel, I see how tightly written it is, and how spare. It owes a lot to Hemingway's "less is more" writing style, as it describes the journey Amanda takes to discover why the water level is dropping at home. It is a journey of discovery in the finest traditions of the quest story. Not only does Amanda discover the answers at the end of her quest, so does Haint, and so does his Border Collie friend, Master.

The Breeds have been companions, guides and friends of humans for all of human history. Consider the possibility that they are, and have been, more.

Unique and different concept, portraying men & women as attempting to achieve the heights reached by our faithful companions.

I found the writing & story interesting at times, but I found the same few ideas & thoughts repeated so often it was distracting.

The bitter sweet ending was to be expected. Love between man & dog are the highest of priorities.

I would guess the author worships the Weimaraner breed.