Love Story (Love Story, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Dec 27, 2018 Sophie Brookover rated it did not like it

Shelves: grown-up-novels, 2018-finished

I read this book for an episode of Overdue that I recorded over the summer with my beloved Margaret H. Willison. Reading Love Story was torture but talking about it was genuinely a lot of fun.

Wow this book is bad. Like, appallingly bad. I KNOW it's a relic of its particular moment, but WOW. If you want to read something bad, here's some of what you can look forward to in this doozy of awfulness:

Oliver has, like, zero good or charming qualities: he's a legacy student & is perfectly happy to rest I read this book for an episode of Overdue that I recorded over the summer with my beloved Margaret H. Willison. Reading Love Story was torture but talking about it was genuinely a lot of fun.

Wow this book is bad. Like, appallingly bad. I KNOW it's a relic of its particular moment, but WOW. If you want to read something bad, here's some of what you can look forward to in this doozy of awfulness:

Oliver has, like, zero good or charming qualities: he's a legacy student & is perfectly happy to rest on his academic laurels, he's good at hockey, but is no Ovechkin, SORRY GUY, and he has massive trauma from growing up with emotionally remote WASPs. His money would make it easy for him to gain access to quality mental healthcare if he were so inclined (spoiler: he is not).

Jenny seems at least pretty good? I guess? -- she's smart, hard-working, won't take shit from stupid Oliver, but then falls for him, because....yeah, I really don't know why, either!

Oliver & Jenny decide they are star-crossed, but then events intervene: his parents have some concerns, Oliver has a giant chip on his shoulder, Oliver makes Jenny give up her chance to pursue her music career in Paris, Jenny takes a low-paying teaching job (a super-easy fallback career that nobody has to prepare for & certainly needs no particular aptitude to perform successfully), they move to Manhattan, Jenny falls ill with The Cancer and her doctor doesn't inform her, instead telling Oliver she has weeks to live. Perhaps worst of all, this book inflicted on an unsuspecting populace one of the worst & most objectively wrong pieces of advice of all time re: personal relationships, "love means never having to say you're sorry." (For a much better take on apologies, please see Margaret's & my issue on the subject from October!)

The one bit of credit I'll give it is that it was a very effective marketing tool for the film of the same name. They were, respectively, the best-selling book and highest-grossing film of 1970. Congrats, I guess, on executing a strong ~~scam~~ marketing scheme! ...more

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Aug 28, 2018 Ilias rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2018

OKAY HERE WE GO. Erich Segal is dead + this book had 50,000 reviews, so I can say whatever the fuck I want. + what I want to say is: I hated this book. I read it bc it was on Overdue, a podcast abt the books you've been meaning to read, + I enjoy reading the books they discuss, + bc I was assured it was very short + we've already discussed the shit I'm in w my reading challenge.

And it was short! A+. It also sucked. Every character was terrible. This is literally a book abt how sometimes when you OKAY HERE WE GO. Erich Segal is dead + this book had 50,000 reviews, so I can say whatever the fuck I want. + what I want to say is: I hated this book. I read it bc it was on Overdue, a podcast abt the books you've been meaning to read, + I enjoy reading the books they discuss, + bc I was assured it was very short + we've already discussed the shit I'm in w my reading challenge.

And it was short! A+. It also sucked. Every character was terrible. This is literally a book abt how sometimes when your wife dies it's good bc it reconciles you w yr shitty [but no shittier than you] father with whom you explicitly engineered a falling out bc you felt guilty abt being disgustingly rich, like I DON'T CARE. Also in this scenario you have exactly the same educational pedigree as the first girl I ever loved who Wronged Me + so I Hate that as well.

Honestly maybe if it had been longer + we'd gotten to develop any sort of attachment to the characters?? The love interest might have been good but that she loved the protagonist who has ZERO!!!!! Redeeming qualities. I'm so angry abt this book. Like 1.5 stars I guess. I'm rounding up for the moment bc it's not as horrifically offensive as my 1-star books, but I might come back + change my mind.

The fact that she's portrayed as a, like, Spitfire [he uses the word bitch to describe her Constantly but like in an endearing way; this is a bad book] but then immediately gives up her whole future to financially support this rich asshole because he refuses to be polite to his family who love him + then as soon as he graduates law school she quits her job + becomes a housewife in a totally different city so he can be promoted immediately way beyond his station bc of his name + pedigree + play squash w his Harvard friends + I DON'T know if we're supposed to hate him??? The author is??? Jewish??? According to my Jewish friend I mentioned it to + he explicitly mentions how the protagonist gets all of these job offers bc the people who beat him @ school were Jewish + then we just Move on + I don't know??? What we are supposed to think abt this????

THE PART WHERE THE DOCTOR IS LIKE "YOUR WIFE IS DYING; I LIED TO HER FACE ABOUT IT SO YOU CAN DECIDE WHATEVER YOU WANT ABOUT IT!!!!!" WHAT???!!!!!! I know that's a thing that used to happen????? But like???? Okay!!!!!!! She's not even angry abt it when it comes out!!!! I'm so fucking pissed!!!!! ...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Stephanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I read this as a young teenager; I didn't cry, but I was sad.

This is the book that taught me that love can be snarky and that if you find someone you can trade barbs with and still love them, you are very lucky. ...more

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