A Forgotton Gem Is New Again

books:


	• The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread: A Novel Don Robertson Harper Paperbacks, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

a story of self-respect

Morris Bird III is 9y.o. and he's s typical boy in the '40's (or so I surmise from stories my dad has told me of his childhood.) The beginning of the book is slow, but very important to get the feel of the times and the characters.
When Morris's teacher gives a speech about self-respect he decides he wants that. He plans a trip to visit a friend that moved away to another part of town. He's going to visit his friend Stanley Chaloupka, whom is an odd bird and doesn't have any friends. From the beginning of the trip, things start to happen; first his sister Sandra demands she be taken with him or she'll scream and he won't get to go. Then a school friend loans him his wagon, but for a small fee. Some friend! On the way to Stanley's house many more incidences happen and one might just turn around, call it a good try and go back home. Morris doesn't though.
He is determined to do this one thing on his own!
In the end he saves four lives; his, his sister's, a burning woman, and a legless man. The legless man tells a police officer that 'Morris is the greatesst thing since sliced bread. He saved them. He's going to grow into a real man.'
Morris wonders if this has anything to do with what his teacher had talked about when she made her speech about Ulysses S. Grant.
This is a slow moving story, but it's such a powerful story of a 9 y/o's perseverance and a tragic incident in the city where he shows his strength of character, a step towards being an adult. And the situation is a catch-22. If he hadn't skipped his field trip to visit his friend Stanley, he wouldn't have been involved in the explosion, but then who would have saved the lady and the legless man?
I highly recommend reading this book.

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A Forgotton Gem Is New Again

"The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" (GTSSB) was published in 1965 at the beginning of a chaotic time in my life (college, war) and I missed it completely. I'm ashamed to say I had never even heard of it until recently. It has long been out of print and was only recently re-published by the estate of Don Robertson, who died in 1999. GTSSB jumps into the mundane life of nine year old Morris Byrd III in 1944 as America is beginning to look toward the end of World War II. Although the war touches young Morris only slightly, it wraps itself around his world in ways young children would notice. (Having a "C" gas ration sticker for your automobile conferred special status.)

The author tells us at the start the story will climax with the greatest industrial disaster in Cleveland history, the October 20, 1944 East Ohio Gas Co. explosion and fire. The actual fire takes up very little of the end of the story, which seems to have disappointed some of the reviewers here. GTSSB is not a story about a fire any more than "Huckleberry Finn" is a story about a river. It's a story about a nine-year old boy who commits an act of minor cowardice and decides, after hearing stories of historical courage from his teacher, to challenge himself to a personal journey of discovery. As Morris makes his way through unfamiliar streets to find his best friend whose family has moved, we meet other characters, some noble, some not, whose lives will touch one another on this grim Friday afternoon.

I got so caught up in the story that I pulled up a map of Cleveland on my computer and followed Morris' journey. The streets are still there exactly as described and the story is so plausible I felt it might have been a work of history rather than fiction. The characters are fictional but the rest of the story and tragedy, unfortunately, is not. GTSSB reminds me a lot of another favorite, "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. Robertson's writing is not as fluid as Irving, but Robertson was a newspaper writer and tends toward more spare writing, not always a bad thing.

If you are inclined to episodic fiction this may not be the book for you. If you like character studies set against the backdrop of history, you owe it to yourself to discover this forgotton gem.

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Magnificent

I loved this book years and years ago, and love it even more today. This book has the feel of Mark Twain, though set in WWII Ohio. Read this if you possibly can. It is a book that can not be beat.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

On a quiet autumn afternoon in 1944, nine-year-old Morris Bird III decides to visit a friend who lives on the other side of town. So he grabs the handle of his red wagon and, with his little sister in tow, begins an incredible pilgrimage across Cleveland . . . and out of childhood forever.

Set against the backdrop of one of the worst industrial disasters in American history, Don Robertson's enduring, beloved masterwork is a remarkable story of destiny, bravery, and responsibility, as fresh and relevant as when it first appeared in print.

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