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The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened
If there was one genuine truth that Morris Bird III thought he understood, it was that the world forever and relentlessly changed. But only in one directionâ from simple to complicated.
When he was nine, Morris Bird III learned the meaning of bravery. Now, at seventeen, he's on the verge of adulthood . . . and he's fallen in love. But it's 1952 and the Korean War hangs over his head like a dangling swordâ and his prickly, complicated relationship with his cold and silent father has never been satisfactorily resolved. When Morris's own mortality stares him in the face, he learns what it truly means to become a man.
The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened is the final book in Don Robertson's classic trilogy featuring one of the most endearing characters in American literature.
When he was nine, Morris Bird III learned the meaning of bravery. Now, at seventeen, he's on the verge of adulthood . . . and he's fallen in love. But it's 1952 and the Korean War hangs over his head like a dangling swordâ and his prickly, complicated relationship with his cold and silent father has never been satisfactorily resolved. When Morris's own mortality stares him in the face, he learns what it truly means to become a man.
The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened is the final book in Don Robertson's classic trilogy featuring one of the most endearing characters in American literature.
Paperback
First published October 1, 1977
About the author
Don Robertson
70 books35 followersRobertson was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended East High School. He briefly attended Harvard and Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) before working as a reporter and columnist.
Robertson won the Cleveland Arts Prize in 1966. The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature presented him with its Mark Twain Award in 1991. The Press Club of Cleveland's Hall of Fame inducted Robertson in 1992, and he received the Society of Professional Journalist's Life Achievement Award in 1995.
Robertson died on his birthday in 1999, aged 70. He's buried in Logan, Ohio.
Robertson won the Cleveland Arts Prize in 1966. The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature presented him with its Mark Twain Award in 1991. The Press Club of Cleveland's Hall of Fame inducted Robertson in 1992, and he received the Society of Professional Journalist's Life Achievement Award in 1995.
Robertson died on his birthday in 1999, aged 70. He's buried in Logan, Ohio.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 7, 2018
Oh how I will miss Morris Bird III....one of the most compelling and enduring characters I have ever met. In my very humble opinion, Don Robertson is one of the best authors of American Literature.
October 16, 2024
Che bello, come sempre. Ma che triste.
March 21, 2023
Con questo ultimo capitolo della trilogia dedicata al formidabile Morris Bird III, Don Robertson si riconferma grande cantore della provincia americana. Non è l'epilogo che mi aspettavo e speravo per il mio protetto (caro Don, ti dovrai far perdonare!), ma tornare a Cleveland, ormai, è sempre un po' come tornare a casa. Dei tre volumi è forse quello che ho meno apprezzato, ma ho sorriso tanto e ho versato qualche lacrimuccia, che non è cosa da poco.
Caro Morris, mi mancherai tanto.
Caro Morris, mi mancherai tanto.
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June 19, 2021Third book in a trilogy written by a Cleveland author. Book takes place in 1952. Boy (Morris Bird) is now 17 and this trilogy , in my opinion, is a classic and heartbreaking.
October 11, 2022
Bello e straziante.
February 7, 2021
Morris Bird III is seventeen. He is a big man on campus. He has a girlfriend, he’s on the basketball team, and everything in his life looks like he’s going places. Except for the relationship with his father, the radio and TV announcer.
Everything seems great, and then life throws a curveball at him that he never expected. His life changes overnight, and he isn’t sure what to do next. All he can do, it seems, is keep being himself.
This is the conclusion of my favorite trilogy in American literature. I met Morris Bird III a few years ago when he was 12, as he grieved the loss of his grandmother in “The Sum and Total of Now.” Last year, I saw him at nine, as he endured one of America’s worst industrial accidents in “The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.” I have met a lot of memorable characters in my life as a reader, and Morris Bird III may be my favorite. He is the most inhabited, enthusiastic, adventurous, and relentlessly optimistic boy in modern American literature.
If you know or love a boy, or have ever known or loved a boy, between the agent of nine and seventeen, I could not recommend strongly enough getting to know Morris Bird III and introducing him to the boys in your life.
Everything seems great, and then life throws a curveball at him that he never expected. His life changes overnight, and he isn’t sure what to do next. All he can do, it seems, is keep being himself.
This is the conclusion of my favorite trilogy in American literature. I met Morris Bird III a few years ago when he was 12, as he grieved the loss of his grandmother in “The Sum and Total of Now.” Last year, I saw him at nine, as he endured one of America’s worst industrial accidents in “The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.” I have met a lot of memorable characters in my life as a reader, and Morris Bird III may be my favorite. He is the most inhabited, enthusiastic, adventurous, and relentlessly optimistic boy in modern American literature.
If you know or love a boy, or have ever known or loved a boy, between the agent of nine and seventeen, I could not recommend strongly enough getting to know Morris Bird III and introducing him to the boys in your life.
March 18, 2011
You really need to make sure you read Don Robertson's trilogy featuring Morris Bird III in order, starting with The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread. (The Sum and Total of Now is the second book.) Four more years have passed and Morris is now 17. He has a girlfriend, by his own admission he swears too much, and he's on the basketball team in high school. He imagines he will be drafted and heading off to the Korean War after graduation. He's also a little concerned that he's been feeling sleepy and out of breath lately. This is Robertson's heartbreaking last novel featuring the unforgettable character of Morris Bird III.
I very highly recommend reading all three books in the series.
http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
I very highly recommend reading all three books in the series.
http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
June 16, 2018
This is the third and final book in the trilogy about Morris Bird III. Of the three books, I liked this book the least. I don't want to write much for concern that I will give away the plot. Morris Bird III is now 17 years old and he is thinking about what most 17-yr-old boys think, but with that said, he is still becoming the man that his grandma would have been proud.
February 22, 2015
The final book in the trilogy that started with one of my all time favorites, "The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" - it's fun to read all the Cleveland references, but this one was profoundly sad and the writing style became as cumbersome as a bag of rocks.
November 20, 2009
My friend Laura lent me this and I loved it. Funny and touching and profound and sad. I think I now understand the power of the teen aged boy's sex drive!
April 23, 2023
Following along the life, loves, and deep thoughts of Morris Bird III was a pleasure that has come to a very sad end with the last of the trilogy. In this book, it is 1952, and Morris is now 17 years old, still questioning why life keeps changing and how he is to fit in with the world and disappointing aspects that surround him. Along with these concerns comes his sexual awakening and wish to lose his virginity with his true love, the "Golden Princess" Julie Sutton. Another vexing question bothers him: why did his mother call his dad a "pig" with her dying breath? It's not helpful that his dad seems so distant and is outspokenly racist, while a good friend of Morris's and his Black family have moved in next door.
A distracting ambition for Morris is to star on the East High (Cleveland) basketball team. He gets his chance when a first-string player sprains his ankle. The amazing talent of author Don Robertson is displayed in this exciting play-by-play narration of the entire game, including the ambiance of the crowd, the half-time nervousness of the coach and team, and Morris's thoughts and observations as he puts all of his energy into winning this game against a "better team."
As the game ends, a new crisis appears for Morris, and he must face his own mortality. Morris finally reveals to his father a secret that he's kept since the previous book in this series. It's Christmas time in Cleveland, and all beautiful things of this trilogy come to an end.
A distracting ambition for Morris is to star on the East High (Cleveland) basketball team. He gets his chance when a first-string player sprains his ankle. The amazing talent of author Don Robertson is displayed in this exciting play-by-play narration of the entire game, including the ambiance of the crowd, the half-time nervousness of the coach and team, and Morris's thoughts and observations as he puts all of his energy into winning this game against a "better team."
As the game ends, a new crisis appears for Morris, and he must face his own mortality. Morris finally reveals to his father a secret that he's kept since the previous book in this series. It's Christmas time in Cleveland, and all beautiful things of this trilogy come to an end.
October 28, 2022
Un gran bel libro! D'altra parte con Don Robertson si va sul sicuro. Quello che più apprezzo nei suoi libri è la capacità di non sprecare mai le parole; quando leggi un suo libro non si ha mai l'impressione che avrebbe potuto anche scrivere meno pagine, non è mai superfluo. Qui una delle parole chiave è "decoro", una parola desueta ai nostri tempi e che nel libro ritorna spesso a ricordare il valore di ogni vita, quella di Morris Bird, come quella della nonna defunta, di Sandra, di Julie, della professoressa e in fondo anche del padre.
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November 15, 2019The conclusion of the Morris Bird III trilogy, which chronicled the growing moral sense of a Cleveland everyman (boy?) from early childhood, takes an abrupt and unexpected turn here, such that almost any description would serve as spoiler. Rather than offer that I'll just say I found this funny and sad, stylistically unremarkable but extremely readable and genuinely affecting. Taken together they serve as a really lovely, unassuming bildungsroman that should be better known than it is.
March 20, 2024
Libro straziante. Capolavoro. Talmente intimo che è difficile empatizzare fino in fondo con la storia, quindi molto difficile da seguire. Con il passare delle pagine però ti trascina in un vortice di emozioni e sensazioni disarmanti. Pagine finali dense di significati. Autore fantastico che scrive magistralmente. Un peccato che siano solo 3 libri.
February 11, 2019
When I bought this book, I didn't realize it was the 3rd of a Trilogy. The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened can stand on its own, but with that said, I think reading the trilogy in order would probably make this book even more amazing than it already is.
June 11, 2021
This is the third book in a trilogy of a young boy who is now 17 in this book. Written by a little known author from Cleveland. This book takes place in 1952. This trilogy is a little known classic which had me crying but no spoilers as to this beautifully written book.
August 7, 2023
The last story about Morris Bird eye eye eye. More thoughtful and sad, a coming of age and coming to terms with his humanity.
November 18, 2009
I spent my afternoon finishing this book (Abel was at preschool and Matthew was napping). I cried, skimmed, and finished it with a satisfied feeling. Although there was A LOT of swearing, I found that I could skim with out reading those words and still get the plot and thoughts of the author. It also had a couple scenes of a sexual nature that I had to skim also. All that aside, it was a good book and well written. I preferred the first in this trilogy, "The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" b/c of the innocence it emphasised. This book definitely was true to a 17-year old's world or what I imagine an average teenage male with hormones would feel.
What I find remarkable is how many authors deal with major life questions ("Why am I here?" "What is the purpose of life?") and insist on answering them without including God. Remarkable in the fact that they (the authors) can truly feel after writing such compelling stories that strike a cord a truth in their readers that God really has little or nothing to do with one's decision or happiness in life. Most always come to the conclusion that LOVE is the driving force but they never equate that to God.
One of my favorite characters in this book was Miss Goldfarb, Morris' English teacher. She lead a discussion in her class that gave, what I believe, was Robertson's point of the book. She said:
In Mormon culture, we would call such "confusions" as "opposition" and we take it a step further to say that by learning to chose the good despite the opposition, we ready our soul for heaven. Robertson definitely didn't go there with his philosophy. I think he would rather leave such musings to someone else.
What I find remarkable is how many authors deal with major life questions ("Why am I here?" "What is the purpose of life?") and insist on answering them without including God. Remarkable in the fact that they (the authors) can truly feel after writing such compelling stories that strike a cord a truth in their readers that God really has little or nothing to do with one's decision or happiness in life. Most always come to the conclusion that LOVE is the driving force but they never equate that to God.
One of my favorite characters in this book was Miss Goldfarb, Morris' English teacher. She lead a discussion in her class that gave, what I believe, was Robertson's point of the book. She said:
Marybeth here believes that everything in life is either good or bad. Suppose for a moment that everything were bad. Life would be intolerable, correct? On the other hand, if everything were good, it also would be intolerable, isn't that so? I mean, how would we know the difference? And so what do we have left? We have confusions - an alternation of the good and bad things. Beauty and ugliness. Sin and virtue. Joy and sorrow. And our friend archy comes right out and says to us expression is the need of my soul. If all the confusions and the contrasts did not exist, what would he have to express?
In Mormon culture, we would call such "confusions" as "opposition" and we take it a step further to say that by learning to chose the good despite the opposition, we ready our soul for heaven. Robertson definitely didn't go there with his philosophy. I think he would rather leave such musings to someone else.
October 27, 2015
Wow, an amazing finish to a great trilogy. Be prepared, this is not your typical ending where the hero rides off into the sunset, for a coming of age tail I didn't see this coming. From the three books that I read, I'm also surprised that more people did not know who Don Robertson was. I work at a Cleveland history museum and many co-workers who have been in Cleveland a long time did not know about these tails. The setting is now the holiday season of 1952 and a thrilling basketball game, 1950s style, takes place between Collinwood and the now closed East High School. For Clevelanders that don't realize that the Christmas Story is not set in Cleveland, this is a real glimpse into the holidays of downtown Cleveland past, and the next time you're at the Horseshoe Casino think about Morris Bird III going up the down escalator!
September 22, 2011
It's hard to catch my breath after finishing this book. Our hero is now 17, in the early 1950's, in Cleveland. He's so DECENT. In spite of many things in his life that could be used to understand/describe why he would not be DECENT. But Morris Bird III is not decent in a preachy or overly altruistic way.
The ending will blow you away--at least it did me!!
The ending will blow you away--at least it did me!!
April 7, 2012
The concluding book in the Morris Bird III trilogy. And you care so much about this boy now becoming a man. Harks back to Paradise Falls as do all Robertson's books. Just a wonderful writer. The Morris Bird books are not nearly as dense as some of his others. Almost like VERY long short stories.
September 11, 2016
I like the trilogy about Morris Bird III. It's touching and very readable except when the author describes a game. Fortunately in the third and last book, Morris plays basketball, which is easier to understand than baseball. B earing in mid its age (of the book), it still looks quite modern.
June 3, 2011
This book literally had me in tears....it was very moving. The setting is in Cleveland, OH 1950's.
January 12, 2017
Last of the Morris Bird III trilogy. A great book which I have read several times.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews