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Giv: The Story of a Dog and America
is a story that starts out about a dog that has survived starvation, beatings and most of all, being without love. " This is a great soul fallen on hard times." He is wandering, lost. Where did he come from? Whats his story?
Anna is lonely. Lost her loved ones in a horrible auto. accident. She misses her husband and her dog that her husband had surprised her with one birthday. Living alone with her dog Angel, she senses something outside, she smells him. Going to the window, she see's him. He's leary of her and she puts out her hand to him. This begins her family, Angel and Giv. "Giv and Angel, Angel and Giv", they are inseparable and soon Giv is a daddy. But poor Giv, he has a tumor and its his time to go. Anna calls the puppy Giv.
This is where Giv's life starts.
The story is beautifully, poetically written.
" You are not alone old one, for heaven is here in the great trees you lie beneath, and in the named rocks around you, and the earth that will cover your bones. Soon, you will receive thy bounty."
Giv Jr. is stolen from Anna and the rest of the story is about bravery, compassion and love.
The end brings tears of sadness and joy.
"See the Dog. He is being drenched with rain as he tries to pull himself free using the doors as braces. Like the butterflyl out of the cocoon, the bird out of the egg, the child from the womb-yet what he is trying to free himself of is a greedy human dream exacted by man to whom heartbreak is less than pocket change."
Highly recommend this book.
From the website Giv The Story of a Dog and America:
Introduction
'My name is Dean Hickok. Sergeant, late of the U.S. Marines. I authored this work, though I did not create its people nor their stories. These, you will come to find, I inherited.
The book and its people became known to me because 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 even 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 dog's life, he saved mine. And a little boy's... but that is for later in the story...
So begins what is being described as... "A landmark American work of heart"... that was born from a journey the author took across this country to collect stories about the dog and man.
But it is not just a book about a dog known as GIV. It is also about America, its places and people. And the events that shaped our history and impacted our hearts.
"Giv was meant to be," wrote the author, "a window through which to view the great soul of this nation. Giv is a compass, guiding the reader through passages of generosity and sacrifice, courage and goodness, to that most essential and eternal of places - selfless love.'
The book and its people became known to me because 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 even 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 dog's life, he saved mine. And a little boy's... but that is for later in the story...
So begins what is being described as... "A landmark American work of heart"... that was born from a journey the author took across this country to collect stories about the dog and man.
But it is not just a book about a dog known as GIV. It is also about America, its places and people. And the events that shaped our history and impacted our hearts.
"Giv was meant to be," wrote the author, "a window through which to view the great soul of this nation. Giv is a compass, guiding the reader through passages of generosity and sacrifice, courage and goodness, to that most essential and eternal of places - selfless love.'
About the author from his website:
Boston Teran is the acclaimed author of six novels. GOD IS A BULLET is considered a cult classic that has been compared to such seminal works as Joan Didion’s THE WHITE ALBUM and John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS. NEVER COUNT OUT THE DEAD has been called a modern equivalent of MacBeth and TROIS FEMMES (THREE WOMEN) has been reviewed as "a true masterpiece."
His two newest works: GIV - The Story of a Dog and Amercia and THE CREED OF VIOLENCE have been garnering the kind of praise that is adding to the author's iconic literary status. The author has been published around the world and has been nominated or won such far reaching awards as the INTERNATIONAL IMPACT AWARD OF DUBLIN for Best Novel, the Best Novel of the Year in Japan and the John Creasy Award in England.
Best regards,
vote it up!
3 comments:
I've seen this book around but wasn't sure if I could handle it withought my heart breaking. Your review and recommendation has me thinking I needto add it to my list. Great review!
I'm a dog lover, so I bet I'd like this book. It sounds wonderful!
Wow! This book sounds like a powerful read!
Thanks for sharing it, Natalie.
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