A magical offering for the many fans of "Forrest Gump", this entertaining tale tells of a deaf-mute who sees and "hears" everything in his small Southern town--and spends a lifetime guarding a shocking, dark secret. A Hallmark Hall of Fame television presentation scheduled for November 23, 1997.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A confusion of tone muddles Gearino's debut novel, an otherwise engaging yarn about an abandoned boy who feigns a handicap to expose religious and moral corruption in a small Southern town in the 1960s. Sammy Ayers, the 62-year-old first-person narrator looking back on his life, seems to aspire to a form of Gumpdom (the idiot who's really not an idiot makes idiots of everyone else)-but he's just a bit too literate and a bit too savvy. Abandoned at 10 by his mother at the bus station in Barrington, Ga., Sammy conceals his ability to speak. He works out an arrangement with the station manager to clean the facility in exchange for room and board; and after a brief but unsuccessful try at school, he begins to perform odd jobs around town where he grows into adulthood. Thinking he's deaf and dumb, people speak freely around Sammy, and in this manner he learns most of the town's secrets, chief of which is the fact that Tolliver Tynan, the local minister, is involved in an illegal land deal. Various forces of corruption and duplicity come together during a tragedy at an anti-Beatles bonfire organized by Tynan, who becomes incensed by John Lennon's famous crack about being "bigger than Jesus." Unfortunately, as North Carolina journalist Gearino moves back and forth between the various subplots, the implications of the tragic rally and Sammy's occasional efforts to track down his lost father, he never settles into a comfortable storytelling stride. This scattershot approach dulls his characters and cuts a ragged, not very dramatic path to the novel's final revelations about Sammy's parentage.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From AudioFile
Ten-year-old Sammy Ayers awakes on a bus in Barrington, Georgia, to find that he's been abandoned by his mother. Scared and alone, he doesn't speak, leading residents to believe that he's a deaf-mute. He ends up living in the bus station, working as its janitor. At age 62, he relates the strange course of his life. This touching, wise and humorous tale is well narrated by Barrett Whitener, who captures the cadences of both Southern dialects and Northern accents. His wry tone is just right for Sammy. This enjoyable tale keeps the listener interested and surprised. M.A.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A secret kept all too well,
By A Customer
This review is from: What the Deaf-Mute Heard (Hardcover)
Why is G.D.Gearino not more publicly recognized as a fantastic writer and storyteller as he so deserves to be with his novel What the Deaf Mute Heard? In the age of Stephen King and Danielle Steel, I suppose there is not room for true talent and thus, the secret of Gearino is kept all too well. I have never visited the South myself, but was immeadiately swept into the compelling world of Sammy Ayers, Jenkins the bus manager, and the rest of the characters portrayed here so vividly. Gearino's language, thoughts, and feelings expressed through Sammy's eyes are some that will not soon be forgotten, my favorite being, "If you can't make fun of death, then what's the point of living?" The story was truly original and one of such inspiration and triumph that it is unthinkable that this accomplishment should go unnoticed. And while Steven King charges six dollars a pop for the new 150 page enstallment in his atrociously written trilogies, plots, characters, and st! orytelling such as Gearino's, should be deemed priceless.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book showing people's blindness to handicapps.,
By A Customer
This review is from: What the Deaf Mute Heard Movie Tie In (Paperback)
It is easy to ignore deaf-mutes. They are just another type of handicapped people in the world. In the book What The Deaf-Mute Heard, Sammy Ayres, a ten-year-old boy, was abandoned in a bus depot. He seemed invisable to everyone. Unbeknownst to most people, Sammy only acted as a deaf mute. Truth was, he could hear and speak clear as a bell. This allowed for folks to talk in front of him and even expose their private thoughts as if he wasn't there. The bus commisioner Jenkins and the diner owner took him under their wing. When he grew up, he became the town handy man, and was used by everyone to do chores around their homes. Because he was "deaf", he became privy to a church insurance fund scam. It became apparent to him that he may have to decide whether to expose himself and the people involved. One of the people involved with the scam was Tolliver Tynan. He was a rich arrogant snob who had always been a thorn in Sammy's side. I enjoyed this book because the characters were fully developed. Reading about their impact on Sammy's life convinces you you've known them all your life. Some scenes from the book are for more mature audiences. The TV movie based on the book left out scenes that showed Sammy's "coming of age", such as Sammy going to school with Tolliver bullying him around. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I think you would too.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good book worth reading,
By
This review is from: What the Deaf-Mute Heard (Hardcover)
G.D. Gearino's novel "What the Deaf-Mute Heard" is kinda goofy, but worth the reading time. It tells the story of young Sammy Ayers who wakes up on a bus only to find his mother gone. He rides the bus to the last stop all the way into Barrington, Alabama. When the owner at the time, Jenkins, finds him, he decides to hold on to Sammy just in case somebody comes to get him. Nobody does. When Sammy learns that his mother won't come get him, he decides to unofficially settle in. He enrolls in school where he meets the biggest pain of his entire life: Tolliver Tynan, the local brat. Eventually, the book skips ahead a few years, where the world is questioning something huge. Who is greater? Jesus or John Lennon? Yes fans, this is set in the forties-sixties. Anyways, Sammy overhears Tolliver discussing a major road change that would cost the entire church insurance fund, and decides to report it. Now you have to undertand, this is coming from a man who has hardly said a word in 50 years. The story jumps around from being in the 40's right up to the big bonfire where they burn the albums. That's what makes the book unique. It tells as if Sammy's your grandpa. You can honestly say that if you ever hear a story from your grandpa he skips around. All in all, it's a good book, and worth the reading time. Oh and one more thing, this is not a book for the young ones. He doesn't hold anything back. I recommend for 10 and up.
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