LOVE STORY by Erich Segal

In fact I was thinking of what to write for a week and now I just got the idea. I guess you all know what the story is about by just having a glance at the title; it is of course about LOVE. LOVE STORY, which brought tears to most readers (but not me), is one of the products by Erich Segal. The setting of the story was in Boston, US, during the year 1980s. Before making a very short review of the story let me tell how come I got to know the story.

Again, I have no strong interest in novels but I do read some anyway. I first learnt about the story since I was about 15 years old when I was studying part-time English, pre-intermediate level, at NEW YORK international school. My teacher, Seang Sopagna, was one of the smart students from  IFL, where I am currently doing my Bahelor too. He introdued the LOVE STORY to us (I forget what was his reason to do so) and the students started to by and read the book. I was so lazy to bother with suh a thing. I came to class regularly and listened to what people discuss about what it was in the book; just listened. The class then seemed to go deeper to the literature concept and again I was always the listener.

I am sure IFL buddie know about the story too. I met LOVE STORY again at IFL, in year 1 semester 2. This time I had no choice but to study in detail about the story. Honestly, I still have no idea why the story was introduced to IFL student because it has nothing but the LOVE between a couple and I have to admit that their love was quite fantastic, interesting and touching. AND here the story goes:

“Oliver Barrett first met Jennifer Cavilleri in Radcliffe library where she was studying. Jennifer was unimpressed with neither his intelligence nor his wealth and she thought that he was a loser. Despite her low opinion of him, he couldn’t help invite her to dates and his hockey games. That started their relationship. It wasn’t long before Oliver told her that he loves her although Jennifer didn’t believe him, they were still happy together. She provided him a different perspective to his wealthy life. He grew up in a severely strict house where reputation needed to be uphold and affections were not entertained. With Jennifer, Oliver for the first time felt real love. When Jennifer suddenly started talking about going their separate ways after graduation, Oliver panicked. He was not ready to end their relationship and so he proposed to Jennifer. They went to his parents to announce the news of their marriage but his parents were disapproving of Jennifer because she had no reputable lineage and was poor. Oliver was angry with his parents and he disowned himself. He proceeded to marry Jennifer while finishing his law degree. It was tough without his unlimited access to money. They scrounged every day, working part-time juggling both school and work just to make ends meet. But after graduation, he got great offers from law firms and that made their lives easier. It wasn’t long before they planned on having a baby. But after many futile attempts, they sought medical expertise. It turned out that Jennifer was sterile. But the worse news was that she was dying of leukemia. Oliver couldn’t believe it and he was in so much grief. Furthermore, he needed to tell his wife of her disease. He decided not to tell Jennifer and tried to act normal. He forsook his job in favor of spending more time with her. But Jennifer found out eventually and they couldn’t do anything but share the grief together. Only a month passed when Jennifer became very ill and they knew that her time was almost up.”

Jennifer died and what she left for Oliver was the reconciliation between him and his father; LOVE means never have you to say SORRY! Jenny said it once to Oliver and now Oliver said it again to his father.

What do you think???