Giv: The Story of a Dog and America

by Boston Teran

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781567030556
Publisher:	High-Top Publishing
Publication date:	06/15/2009
Edition description:	High-Top Publishing
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Boston Teran is the author of four previous novels. He has been nominated or won numerous awards including, the John Creasy Award, International IMPAC Award, Book of the Year in France, Book of the Year in Japan, and Readers Digest Best First Novel of the Year. Two of his novels are being developed into major motion pictures. His fifth novel, The Creed of Violence, which is to be published by in the fall of 2009 was bought by Universal Studios for the second highest price ever paid for an unpublished manuscript. Giv: The Story of a Dog and America is his sixth novel.

Editorial Reviews

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

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

Fabulously 40 & Beyond - fabulously40.com says: 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.

Hope For a Hurting World

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

O. MY. GOSH. I loved it. I'm not sure if I loved it because I had no expectations or what, but what a beautiful book. Beware: If you are the type that might tear up while reading a book, this is one of those books. The idea behind the story is based on events in the author's life.

While the book is about a dog named Giv, it's also about the people he meets. Memorable characters. Heart-wrenching characters. It's about the free-will, undying spirit of man and man's best friend. I loved how the idea of the act of rebellion, not always a bad thing, was a piviotal aspect of the book and the character of Giv. Boston Teran wrote rebellion as "the power to choose freely who one will or will not be". I like that. As he points out, America was founded by rebels and there's a little bit of rebel in us all.

http://lifeandtimesofanewnewyorker.blogspot.com/2009/11/giv-boston-teran.html

November 13, 2009

TCM Reviews (www.tcm-ca.com/reviews/3107.html)

 

Giv: The Story of a Dog and America

Reviewed by Connie Harris

 

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 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.

By Jemima Adams

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. 

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 Giv 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. I gave this book a 5 out of 5 rating.

Musings of a Book Addict Review

July 16, 2009

From the Publisher

A while back, I was contacted by Jim at Kelley and Hall about reviewing a book by Boston Teran called The Creed of Violence. It looked really interesting so I said, sure! A short while after they sent me that book, they sent me another one of his books, Giv: The Story of a Dog and America. I wasn't under any pressure to read or review it, but I thought it would be a great addition to my Dog Days of November reads. So I grabbed it off my shelf.

And O. MY. GOSH. I loved it. I'm not sure if I loved it because I had no expectations or what, but what a beautiful book. Beware: If you are the type that might tear up while reading a book, this is one of those books. The idea behind the story is based on events in the author's life. You can read his idea for the book here.

lifeandtimesofanewnewyorker.blogspot.com

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.

fabulously40.com