Love DOES mean having to say you're sorry. Repeatedly.

[insanepurin]

Comments

[gabbygrl]

More!

I was sixteen when I read it. My parents are That Age, and there were two copies in my home (which I located in my early teens rooting through shit) since they each brought one to their ill-fated marriage.

It was trite, silly, and cliche. Nothing original at all. And understand: I was SIXTEEN.

I complained to my mum, and she said "you kind of had to be there."

[muse_books]

I read it as a teen circa 1971 and seen the movie that it was the novelization for. Segal had written it the screenplay and then was asked to turn it into a novel to publicize the film.

It is incredibly sappy, even in its day, but everyone saw it/read it because it was 'The Twilight' of its day or the 'Dirty Dancing'.

I can recall eyes being rolled at it - especially the oh so beautiful death scene and that daft tag line which Ryan O'Neal made fun of in the film 'What's Up Doc'.

I agree though with gabbygrl's folks - you really had to be there - it was in terms of film and novel very much of its period.

[nuranar]

that daft tag line which Ryan O'Neal made fun of in the film 'What's Up Doc'.

Love that reference! For the record, my own parents are also of that generations and THEY also thought it was (one of the) stupidest things they'd ever heard. It might not be a coincidence that they're about to celebrate their 32nd year of marriage.

[insanepurin]

I can recall eyes being rolled at it - especially the oh so beautiful death scene and that daft tag line which Ryan O'Neal made fun of in the film 'What's Up Doc'.

Hee hee. That's awesome.

I imagine this would be more appreciated if I had lived in the 70s, but even my mom who had grown up in the period didn't care that much about the book either. Huh.

[insanepurin]

That's what I thought too! Each time I read that line, I finish it off with, "...Said the husband to his battered wife."

[perfectfigure]

This is very true... but I guess I interpreted it (NOT HAVING READ THE BOOK OR SEEN THE MOVIE, just hearing this stupid line in other places) to mean that love means never doing anything that you have to apologize for -- i.e., never being an asshole.

Which is a nice sentiment, but nobody's perfect, so apologies are probably necessary.

[masu_trout]

Yeah, I always have a hard time understanding how some of these romances ever got to be so famous in the first place. :/

On the other hand, though, your icon made me smile like nothing else.

[insanepurin]

Some things do not change through the decades, do they?

Thanks! I couldn't resist The Room jokes for a post like this. :P

[masu_trout]

Yeah, no kidding. I mean, "nothing under the sun is new" and all that, but you'd think we could get at least some originality.

There's never a bad time for The Room jokes.

[gehayi]

I read it maybe five or six years after it came out and even then, I thought it was dumb. "Love means never having to say you're sorry"? So you both just go on hurting each other without ever admitting that you had done something that hurt a person you cared about?

There was a sequel to it, Oliver's Story, which was even more forgettable than this was.

[insanepurin]

"It takes someone very special to help you forget someone very special."

Oh yeah. I imagine this went over very well with people, especially if they're widowed and/or remarried.