An Unexpected Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         After all this time, it all comes back to Roberta!!!!!!!!!!!  Back in Eighth Grade English, with Mrs. Debra Clifford--who was quite a character; she was Miss Debra Solomon, the year before we became eighth graders--we were discussing books recently read, and Roberta mentioned "A Stone For Danny Fisher."  Well, of course, darlings, I knew right then and there, I had to read it; I did not know it would take me about 45 years, until I did.

                                           When we were in eighth grade, Harold Robbins was considered, certainly by my parents as "dirty;" there were  no copies of "The Carpetbaggers" in our house, (which I finally read about ten years ago!!!!!) and even though, later that year, I would go on to read "Valley Of The Dolls," and "Peyton Place," which would both change my life forever, I kind of forgot about Harold Robbins.  And as he aged, when he started writing crap like "The Betsy," (which I am embarrassed now to say I have read) he was one step up from hard core porn.

                                             So, it was a big surprise, when, on a recent dental visit,  I passed a used book vendor, and came across, wrapped, the above edition of "A Stone For Danny Fisher."  While I am sure it was daring for its time--it was first published in 1952, and it spans the years 1932 through 1944--it was better than I thought; sort of a third rate version of Henry Roth's "Call It Sleep" (which I still have to read), but full of mysticism and philosophy.  The final revelation of the book, when you are forced to think back on all having gone before, absolutely knocked me for a loop!  I should have seen it coming with the title, but then I was not raised in the Jewish faith.

                                               The early Harold Robbins is very hard to find.  But if you are fortunate enough to, I do recommend "A Stone For Danny Fisher."  It is not Chaim Potok, but it is evocative both of the era in which it was first published, and the time its story takes place.

                                                  Who would have thought Robbins had it in him to be even this literary???????  Too bad he sold out; he lacked the campiness of Jacqueline Susann, so his forays into that market never succeeded with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                       And, remember, girls--Travilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!