Now I know that not every story needs years and years to feel true, as some only take place over a day.

I think of a great love story, and I think of decades of struggle and discovery, cultivating in a fond, dramatic goodbye. Oliver and Jenny’s love feels true, and they do learn some serious lessons about love and family during their struggles. In fact, the love story has nothing to do with rebellion or hormones running wild. Some people call Love Story the Romeo and Juliet of the twentieth century, but it’s so much more than impetuous young love bringing two families together. It only chronicles five years in Oliver and Jenny’s lives, and while you do get to know them well, it hardly feels like enough time to create a love story for the ages.

That’s kind of the best thing, but also sort of the problem, with this book. Oliver starts out as a cocky athlete madly in love with the bespectacled academic named Jenny, and when he has to bust his butt to support his wife, he learns very quickly what it takes to grow up. I think it’s incredible how well Segal showed the growth and progression of these two idealistic youths-Oliver especially-into hardened adults in so little time. Love Story involves Oliver Barrett IV and Jenny Cavilleri, two different people who meet at college in the mid 1960’s, fall in love, and get married. And yet, if a writer doesn’t do good enough with their characters, you can see those scenes coming and roll your eyes at them… It’s shameful if a book manipulates its characters to result in a cheap cry, and yet, you cannot fault a writer for making you care enough about the characters to make you feel on such a level. And yet, I keep coming back to them because somehow or other, they draw me in. I’m kind of indifferent to love stories, since they’re usually pretty manipulative and their main goal seems to be making you cry. I found this book at the famous Half-Price Books Mega Sale in Indianapolis last fall, and didn’t think to buy it until I realized I hadn’t read a romance in a long time. That was me after reading the simple, albeit kind of corny novel Love Story, by Erich Segal. Or perhaps you read a book that plucks your heartstrings like an instrument and you don’t know whether to scream or cry. Maybe you’re having a gloomy day and you’re already predisposed to depressing thoughts.

Love Story by Erich Segal