Sep 22, 2003 02:39 PM
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(Updated Sep 22, 2003 02:39 PM)
What we once love and deeply loved we can never lose ... for all that we love deeply, becomes a part of us ~ Helen Keller
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Dr. Matthew Hiller, a brilliant neurosurgeon, is scheduled to meet the great love of his life for the first time in the 16 years since they parted. That's when he goes into flashback....
Matthew Hiller, the first born of the two Hiller children is constantly trying to keep his childhood a normal one, living with his jobless violent father, overworked submissive mother & a bugging little brother. Matt loves his family intensely & is passionate about music, which he intends to pursue as a career. However, a temporary job at a hospital changes his heart & Matt decides to become a doctor.
Silvia Dalessandro
The only child of an Italian magnate, the director of “FAMA” the Italian car manufacturer including other construction & steel works - Silvia is apple of her father's eye who wants her to marry & settle down in life. Much to the dismay of her billionaire father, Silvia decides to become a doctor.
During the training in Paris, Matthew meets Silvia & its love at first sight for both. Their romance continues as they are posted to serve in a war stricken country of Eritrea in South Africa. Moved by the sad plight of the local people, the young couple decides to dedicate a few years to help the poor, helpless people to fight the countless diseases & injuries. This would also solve their problem of distance & different cultures & facing the wrath of Silvia's father. The couple decides to get married but on return after setting a wedding date, they are ambushed & Matthew is shot in the head. When he regains consciousness, there is no sign of Silvia & Matt learns of her marriage to the son of an Italian magnate. Little does Matt realise that he is the reason for Silvia agreeing to marry someone else as this was the condition laid down by Silvia’s father to facilitate immediate treatment for Matt.
Matt finds himself alone once again & returns to the jungles of South Africa to complete his duties, this time as the director of the whole mission. Once he achieves success in the arranging proper treatment facilities for the villager, he goes on to research on molecular biology & becomes a successful neurosurgeon but all this time he has not lived any other life; Matt has stopped socialising, relegated himself to a life of bachelorhood & has been unable to play the piano he loved so much because the music brought back painful memories of Silvia.
One word.... frees us of all the weight & pain of life..... that word is LOVE ~Sophocles
A whole new of everything begins for Matt when he meets his longtime friend Evie, who is now divorced with two daughters. It opens up a vein of memories, of missed opportunities, of chances lost as Evie & Matthew fall passionately in love & he realises that they should've never drifted apart in the first place. This newfound love gives Matthew a chance to begin life afresh & a chance to have a real family.
And now...... Mr. & Mrs. Nico Renaldi have approached Dr. Matthew to help them cure the tumor in Mrs. Renaldi's brain. As Matt's experimental treatment has been successful for such tumor cases, it would have been just another case for him but Mrs. Renaldi is his long lost love Silvia. His treatment, could be used to as a retrovirus to reverse the tumor, he is Silvia’s last chance to live. And as Matt is he discovers he still has feelings for Silvia. Matt faces excruciating emotional conflicts, as he now must choose between the two loves of his life. What happens then? Will he be able to treat & save her life?And if he does, what then?
The better part of life is spent saying ''it's too early'' and then ''it's too late'' ~ Gustave Flaubert
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The Author/ Book:
Erich Segal, the author of one of the best selling novels of all times - Love Story and his book ''Only Love'' could easily take place of a worthy successor. The love here ends tragically but yet gives a hope that life goes on & all that happens is for good.
The story is interestingly narrated from the first-person point of view of the hero Matthew, which gives a sense of directness. The reader can sense his mental, emotional & moral traits as he goes through the various phases of life. When meeting characters or reading the events, the reader feels as if he/she was there when the events occurred. Matt's love & friendship relation with both Silvia & Evie are beautifully handled. The story with its simple charm, in-depth feeling alongwith the author's sense of humour, captivates the reader's heart. Even for someone who has no musical sense, reading Segal's descriptions of the different classical works makes the heart sing.
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My Word:
After reading Erich Segal's Love Story, I stopped reading mushy books simply because for me this was best love story, one that none could match or there was nothing more anyone could write about love & its pain but then I happened to read Ayn Rand's We, The Living & this is now sharing my choice of masterpiece with Love Story. I picked up Only Love just for Segal's name, knowing fully well that it would not be fair to expect the same touch in each of his book but Segal surprises with yet another good book that has warm characters, a tugs-at-the-heartstrings story & his ever-unpredictable unhappy endings. Anyone who had his/her heartbroken in love would relate to Matt’s predicament, when his first loves comes back into his life but this very dilemma also ends his lifelong wonderment. Segal has effectively shown that Life & Love is full of surprises. A must read for all Segal & Love Story readers.
