I bought "The Class" by Erich Segal from The Book Point in Himayatnagar in Hyderabad. It was on my bookshelf for a long time and I never got around to reading it. I started reading it slightly before my recent vacation but read a big part of it during my vacation and on the flight to my vacation destination.
I picked up an Erich Segal after a long time. I have previously read his "Man, Woman and Child", "Doctors" and "Love Story". "Doctors" is my favourite Erich Segal book. I am quite amazed by the variety in his writing ranging from lives of doctors to intricate and complex relationships.
This particular book is about a few Harvard students and what they live up to be 25 years on. The book has 2 parts, which in turn has 2 been conveyed in 2 ways. The book focusses on the lives of a bunch of students in the Harvard's class of '58, mainly- Andrew Eliot, Daniel Rossi, Jason Gilbert, George Keller and Ted Lambros. The story of the book is conveyed in 2 ways as mentioned earlier- one is through the writer and another through the diary of Andrew Eliot.
The book starts with an introduction to the background of these 5 students and how they managed to get into Harvard and then moves on to their lives at Harvard. 4 of the 5 students- Daniel Rossi, Jason Gilbert, George Keller and Ted Lambros are portrayed as exemplary students with several achievements under their belt, while Andrew is shown to be this everyday, average guy whose only achievement is the influential family into which he is born into. There are a few other friends and some girlfriends/wives of these characters that also make a significant appearance in the book by virtue of their relationship to the main characters. The second part of the book focusses on how these students have made it in a life after Harvard which culminates in their reunion after 25 years. This is the gist of the book and any more information would definitely be a spoiler.
Erich Egal has beautiful woven the key current affairs of the time into the story and characters. He has boldly used real people as characters of the story, such as Henry Kissinger, Ron Reagan, Yonathan Netanyahu etc making the reader feel very close to reality and wonder if this is a true story. These are some of the characters which have a significant appearance in the book. What struck me was the kind of prejudices that have been said to have existed in the US/Harvard at the time, such as - prejudices against Jews. It was kind of strange to think it could have existed in institutions like Harvard. Of course the story is based in the 50s and reading the book in 2018 startled me a bit and made me realise how much life has changed.
Most of the characters have been developed quite well with several aspects of their personalities being explored. However, at the end of the book, Andrew Eliot is declared as the best man in the class of '58; somehow I felt his character could have been built some more, different facets of his life could have been shown which could make the readers convince that he was the best in a more whole-hearted manner. I think this was one character who could have been explored more.
The language in the book is nice and fluid. It is not a slow book but not too fast either. I would not call it "unputdownable" but it was quite engaging. Considering the time at which this book was published, I would say, this was not a very common concept for books so I can imagine how enjoyable it must have been to the readers in the 80s as it must have come to the readers at the time, as a whiff of fresh air. Even to this day, I cannot think of too many books with such a concept.
There are several female characters in the book and play a significant role in the book. They have been portrayed as strong and intellectual, with opinions they do not fear to voice.
I enjoyed reading this book immensely and would rate it 4/5.
I picked up an Erich Segal after a long time. I have previously read his "Man, Woman and Child", "Doctors" and "Love Story". "Doctors" is my favourite Erich Segal book. I am quite amazed by the variety in his writing ranging from lives of doctors to intricate and complex relationships.
This particular book is about a few Harvard students and what they live up to be 25 years on. The book has 2 parts, which in turn has 2 been conveyed in 2 ways. The book focusses on the lives of a bunch of students in the Harvard's class of '58, mainly- Andrew Eliot, Daniel Rossi, Jason Gilbert, George Keller and Ted Lambros. The story of the book is conveyed in 2 ways as mentioned earlier- one is through the writer and another through the diary of Andrew Eliot.
The book starts with an introduction to the background of these 5 students and how they managed to get into Harvard and then moves on to their lives at Harvard. 4 of the 5 students- Daniel Rossi, Jason Gilbert, George Keller and Ted Lambros are portrayed as exemplary students with several achievements under their belt, while Andrew is shown to be this everyday, average guy whose only achievement is the influential family into which he is born into. There are a few other friends and some girlfriends/wives of these characters that also make a significant appearance in the book by virtue of their relationship to the main characters. The second part of the book focusses on how these students have made it in a life after Harvard which culminates in their reunion after 25 years. This is the gist of the book and any more information would definitely be a spoiler.
Erich Egal has beautiful woven the key current affairs of the time into the story and characters. He has boldly used real people as characters of the story, such as Henry Kissinger, Ron Reagan, Yonathan Netanyahu etc making the reader feel very close to reality and wonder if this is a true story. These are some of the characters which have a significant appearance in the book. What struck me was the kind of prejudices that have been said to have existed in the US/Harvard at the time, such as - prejudices against Jews. It was kind of strange to think it could have existed in institutions like Harvard. Of course the story is based in the 50s and reading the book in 2018 startled me a bit and made me realise how much life has changed.
Most of the characters have been developed quite well with several aspects of their personalities being explored. However, at the end of the book, Andrew Eliot is declared as the best man in the class of '58; somehow I felt his character could have been built some more, different facets of his life could have been shown which could make the readers convince that he was the best in a more whole-hearted manner. I think this was one character who could have been explored more.
The language in the book is nice and fluid. It is not a slow book but not too fast either. I would not call it "unputdownable" but it was quite engaging. Considering the time at which this book was published, I would say, this was not a very common concept for books so I can imagine how enjoyable it must have been to the readers in the 80s as it must have come to the readers at the time, as a whiff of fresh air. Even to this day, I cannot think of too many books with such a concept.
There are several female characters in the book and play a significant role in the book. They have been portrayed as strong and intellectual, with opinions they do not fear to voice.
I enjoyed reading this book immensely and would rate it 4/5.
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