Love Story by Erich Segal

"Stop!" She cut off my apology, then said very quietly, "Love means not ever having to say you're sorry."

And so launched a thousand tears for the romance of the 1970's. Erich Segal first wrote Love Story as a screenplay, and when it was picked up by Paramount they asked him to write a companion novel to help sell the movie. Coming out on Valentine's Day 1970, it became a surprise number one bestseller (the top selling work of fiction of the year, nine months on the NYT list). The film came out shortly after and became the top box office winner of 1970 - and one of the highest grossing films of all time - a literary, film, and cultural phenomenon. The film's success had much to do with its stars Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw, who had the same swoon-worthy 'it' factor at the time as Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams did in The Notebook.

Oliver is a Harvard law student when he meets bohemian Jenny at a Radcliffe library. Instantly smitten he likes that she speaks her mind and doesn't fall for the usual BS. They meet his old money parents and her middle class Italian father, deciding to reject his rich allowance and strike out on their own. They both graduate and things look rosy, until the bad news. For a book whose first line is "What can you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died?", I was actually surprised, I forgot she gets leukaemia. Jenny is brave and forthright to the end, it's Oliver who struggles. There was a sequel in book and film called Oliver's Story, this time with Candace Bergen, but one love story is enough.

Love Story endures, like all bestsellers it's a book you don't have to read to know. For this reason, and for the iconic pop design of the cover, I enjoyed it. Simple and romantic, it had the young voice of the time you can recognize from The Graduate and The Sterile Cuckoo - hard not to hear Ryan O'Neal narrating it as you read.

The writing is ok, and it's a short 131 pages. You know it's dated and schmaltzy, but go ahead and enjoy it.

Read my review of the sequel Oliver's Story

1970 / Paperback / 131 pages