Love DOES mean having to say you're sorry. Repeatedly.
Apparently, I must the wrong audience for this book. That, or I was born in the wrong decade. I found this at my grandmother's house while I was on vacation. I had never seen the movie, nor do I plan to. But hey, the book is short and simple, it'll be a harmless read whether I cared for it or not.
Despite gushing praise from the critics how Love Story will "change your life forever" and "break your heart and tug your heartstrings", all I felt along the lines was "...Eh."
Love Story, I have a couple issues with you.
- What I don't understand is why Oliver Barrett III is such a horrible person. Okay, he's Distant Dad aka "Old Stonyface." Yet he hardly says a word of dialogue that makes me believe that he is cutting down Oliver IV or being demeaning of him in any way. His biggest crime apparently is having awkward non-conversations with his brat of a son. Oh, and going out of his way to leave work to watch him at his hockey game. Horror of horrors. I found myself asking the same questions as Jen; "What the hell do you have against your dad?" You can't just tell us "Old Stonyface" is bad and leave it at that. Why is he bad? Show us! And you failed to do that.
- Which leads us to the scene where Oliver IV refuses to meet his dad at a reunion (?) and screams at Jen, causing her to run out the door and him looking frantically for her. He finds Jen back at the front porch of their house where she says the famous line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Cynicism aside, I'm unconvinced. Oliver IV owed both Jen and his dad a great big apology.
- Rich boy meets poor girl, opposites attract, girl loves Bach and Mozart and Beatles, girl gets leukemia and dies. If you're trying to tell me this is groundbreaking storytelling, this is nothing new. Just because it's a romance that ends tragically doesn't mean it's original or memorable. Basically, what I'm getting out of this is, "So that's where Nicholas Sparks came from!" I don't mind a simple story, which is what the book seemed to be going for, but it tried so hard to punch me in the gut with Jen's death, and I still didn't care for her or Oliver IV after she kicked the bucket.
While I don't hate this book, I'm incredibly lukewarm towards it in a So Okay It's Average way. Which can be a fail in its own right.
I'm curious about everyone else's thoughts. Is it me or is anyone else more cynical about Love Story than I am?