May 02, 2003 01:23 PM
4645 Views
(Updated May 02, 2003 01:25 PM)
Of all the books that I have read in the world (which are hardly any), hardly a few have gained popularity enough to have a sequel written. One of the most deserving of them is or rather was Love Story by Eric Segal.
People were aghast at the prospect of leaving Oliver just like that, to fend for himself and with no one to turn to. So Eric Segal probably decided to cash in on it (the one time in his life when he did not write for the novel) and wrote a sequel. Cut to the publication of Oliver's story, an apt title obviously for a widower's story. People hungrily lapped it up, thinking that it would hold the solutions to their problem of leaving Oliver alone. and so the copies were sold in thousands first and then millions, since reviews were done by word of mouth and not by MouthShut members!
And when the 183 pages were done and over, people regretted everything they had done, including buying the book and including not leaving Oliver alone.They were aghast to find that the new girl Narcie Mash... ohhh...Sorry... Marcie Nash was nothing like Jenny. Horror of horror's even the Jenny described was nothing like Jenny! A sense of revulsion ran among the people who secretly denounced the novel and sore never ever to come within 200 miles of it ever again.
Trying to forget the existence of a loved one is not such an easy task as Oliver learns it the hard way in the book. He meets up with a psychologist who is practically non-existent in terms of characterization. Then he meets up with a Marcie Nash who turns out to be a big-shot business woman. At the behest of the psychologist and Phil (Jenny's Father, remember?) he falls in love with her (yes, really!!). And then he gives her up for some child labour employed in some stupid sweatshirt factory owned by Marcie.
The characterization is bad and loosely built. We see more of Phil in the sequel and less of O.B.III (again!!). The story loses pace and grip at prime points in the plot and slackens off very often. Frankly completing the 183 pages becomes an strenuous task at the end of which you are left exhausted and gasping for a breath of something fresh!!
The End Result..
DO NOT BUY IT irrespective of whether you are a Segal fan or not. Save yourself the pain.
OR
If you are a sadist; Gift it to your enemy
If you are a masochist; gift it to yourself!!
