Giv: The Story of a Dog and America by Boston Teran

Giv, The Story of a Dog and America by Boston Teran

The blurb:
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.

So begins what is described as..."A landmark American work of heart"...was born from a journey the author took across the country to collect stories about the dog and man.

But it is not just a book about a dog named GIV.  It is also about America, its places and people.  And the events that shaped our history and impacted our hearts.

Review:
Giv, The Story of a Dog and America is a moving and rather disturbing account of the abuse and trauma that a dog is put through.  Somehow, despite all the cruelty that he goes through, Giv remains a gentle dog. This makes the account even more difficult to stomach.  The story is told from the point of view of a soldier, also recovering from a destructive experience.    Reading Giv,  I couldn't help but think that this is why dogs are so much better companions than people. 

The book is not for the faint of heart - the author doesn't mince words and both the dog and the soldier go through dark times.    If you are a dog lover, this book will speak to you.

ISBN-10: 1567030556 - Hardcover $22.00
Publisher: High-Top Publishing LLC (June 15, 2009), 240 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author:
Boston Teran is the author of four previous novels, including the cult classic, God is a Bullet.  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, Readers Digest Best First Novel of the Year. His fifth novel, The Creed of Violence, was published by Counterpoint in 2009.  The Story of GIV is his sixth novel.