Erich Segal is a celebrated author with books like ’’Love Story’’ , ’’Oliver’s Story’’ , ’’Doctors’’ , ’’Only Love’’ , ’’Prizes’’ , ’’The Class’’ and ’’Acts of Faith’’ under his belt. I came across Erich Segal very recently , avoiding his books earlier as I though they were the typical Love Story kind of books. But after much cajoling by a friend when I read ’’Love Story’’ I realized how good an author he is . His books are not long and winding with thousand pages, the most likeable point about this books are that he gets right to the point without any preamble and also the depth of the characters in his novels which make them almost lifelike.
The book we are talking about is ’’Man woman and Child’’. Lets go through the Characters -
Man - Robert Beckwith (Bob) , a Professor of Statistics , a loyal husband living with his beautiful wife and two angel like daughters having twenty years of successful marriage. He loves his family very much. His fault is that he committed one mistake in his life , he cheated on his wife , ten years ago.
Woman - Sheila Goodhart Beckwith , an editor wife to a loyal husband, she is a part of an ideal family. She is immensely faithful to her husband bob , until one day his nemesis catches up with her and threatens to break up the family.
Child - Jean Claude , a ten year old intelligent child , son to Nicole Guerin, raised in France. His life is shaterred when he loses his mother in an accident and circumstances force him to stay with bob and family. His fault - he is the mistake that Bob made ten years ago.
The story moves beautifully from how the issue hits the happy family , to flashbacks, of loving moments between Bob and Sheila and then the one night stand between bob and Nicole. Erich has also thrown in another male character who woos Sheila , when she is in distress for good effect as it keeps the reader interested.
This book has very limited characters , so one does not get confused and can relate to each of the character. You can feel Sheila’s sorrow , the anger when she sees the child and the mother in her that makes her love him , Bob’s helplessness and confused state of mind, torn between his son and his wife and Jean Claude’s innocent yet mature demeanor.
This book has been adapted and made into a movie ’’ Masoom ’’ in hindi by Shekar Kapoor. The ending in the book is different from the movie and is more realistic. This makes an easy read for the weekend . Don’t miss this one my dear MS ites coz this one takes you in a whirlwind tour of emotions.