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What Happened
Fictional Novel
342 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
61 people want to read
About the author
Merle Miller
43 books26 followersMerle Miller, born in Montour, Iowa, wrote almost a dozen books, including more than half a dozen novels. His first, ''That Winter'' (1948), was considered one of the best novels about the postwar readjustment of World War II veterans. His other novels included ''A Day in Late September,'' set in suburban Connecticut on a Sunday in September 1960, ''The Sure Thing,'' ''Reunion,'' and his masterwork, the monumental "A Gay and Melancholy Sound" (1960).
Oral biographies accounted for his greatest success. The first of them, ''Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman,'' was published in 1974. It was adapted from an abortive television series for which the former President spent many hours in the early 1960's talking with Miller, the researcher and writer for the project.
His Johnson biography, a book for which he conducted 180 interviews and consulted almost 400 oral histories, was a best seller in 1980. Although he said he began the biography disliking the former President, in part because Miller was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, he ended up appreciating Mr. Johnson's parliamentary achievements and calling him ''one of the most complex, fascinating Presidents of all time.''
In 1971, Miller wrote a widely discussed essay for The New York Times Magazine, ''What It Means to Be a Homosexual,'' which, he said, brought him more than 2,000 letters, many of them from other homosexuals thanking him for helping to restore their self-respect. This article, and the enlarged book published from it, "On Being Different," made Miller the first nationally-known advocate for gay rights. He closely followed that famous essay with the novel "What Happened," fictionalizing some of his own horrific life experiences which lay behind the NYT essay.
Miller attended the University of Iowa and spent a year at the London School of Economics. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and served as an editor of Yank magazine, in both the Pacific and in Europe, until his discharge in September 1945. He worked briefly as an editor at Time and Harper's magazines.
Oral biographies accounted for his greatest success. The first of them, ''Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman,'' was published in 1974. It was adapted from an abortive television series for which the former President spent many hours in the early 1960's talking with Miller, the researcher and writer for the project.
His Johnson biography, a book for which he conducted 180 interviews and consulted almost 400 oral histories, was a best seller in 1980. Although he said he began the biography disliking the former President, in part because Miller was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, he ended up appreciating Mr. Johnson's parliamentary achievements and calling him ''one of the most complex, fascinating Presidents of all time.''
In 1971, Miller wrote a widely discussed essay for The New York Times Magazine, ''What It Means to Be a Homosexual,'' which, he said, brought him more than 2,000 letters, many of them from other homosexuals thanking him for helping to restore their self-respect. This article, and the enlarged book published from it, "On Being Different," made Miller the first nationally-known advocate for gay rights. He closely followed that famous essay with the novel "What Happened," fictionalizing some of his own horrific life experiences which lay behind the NYT essay.
Miller attended the University of Iowa and spent a year at the London School of Economics. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and served as an editor of Yank magazine, in both the Pacific and in Europe, until his discharge in September 1945. He worked briefly as an editor at Time and Harper's magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 29, 2015
"This novel is dedicated to all the people who tried to kill me along the way."
How fortunate I found this book. In two words: beautiful and heartbreaking. Isn't it thrilling when you discover a book that no one has reviewed or rated, that has been completely ignored for the forty-three years since its publication—and it turns out to be magnificent? How even more unlikely it is, then, when it becomes one of your all-time favorites out of thousands of books!
It's well worth wondering why a book that's highly literate, perceptive, very intelligent, and oh, so moving, was ignored. When you do figure that out, Miller's purpose for writing the book will be fulfilled.
Maybe I'll prepare a more lengthy, justifiable review later, but more likely I will want to keep this book to myself: no defense for my feelings is necessary. What Happened is not a book to share with others: it's one to bring inside and keep close to your heart.
How fortunate I found this book. In two words: beautiful and heartbreaking. Isn't it thrilling when you discover a book that no one has reviewed or rated, that has been completely ignored for the forty-three years since its publication—and it turns out to be magnificent? How even more unlikely it is, then, when it becomes one of your all-time favorites out of thousands of books!
It's well worth wondering why a book that's highly literate, perceptive, very intelligent, and oh, so moving, was ignored. When you do figure that out, Miller's purpose for writing the book will be fulfilled.
Maybe I'll prepare a more lengthy, justifiable review later, but more likely I will want to keep this book to myself: no defense for my feelings is necessary. What Happened is not a book to share with others: it's one to bring inside and keep close to your heart.
July 18, 2023
This book was a dreary slog of a read. It was about the life of an openly gay concert pianist looking backward and reviewing his life. Such much of the content was almost self hating and it was full of unpleasant, antisemitic and homophobic people. There were almost no positive characters in the entire book. I have enjoyed Mr. Miller's nonfiction but this was one sad and unpleasant read
July 5, 2017
I read this once before in 1972 or 1973 when I was just coming out. I wanted to go back and reminisce.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews