Erich Segal is one of my fav authors and never fails to impress me. This book of his, goes straight to my All Time Favorite list. If there is any author who knows how to bring out emotions and make you bawl like a baby then it is Segal.Fidelity is something that is becoming a rare virtue in today’s fast pacing world. May be in the next century Infidelity might be in fashion. Who knows ! But this cannot be generalized. Nonetheless a strong marriage needs strong commitments from both partners. The vows taken if handled lightly can bring about catastrophes unimaginable. Now who needs to be reminded of Glenn Close – Micheal Douglas starer Fatal Attraction. :) That’s where it may lead. Ok, I know that’s extreme but yet, infidelity can have effects , some really profound effects. That is what forms the crux of this novel.Sheila Beckwith has a perfect family , a loving husband Bob , two beautiful daughters Jessica and Paula , a job she loves , what more can one ask for ? All this was until ,she got to know that her husband Bob had a brief affair with Nicole, a French doctor, when he had been to France on a business trip and Bob fathered a son , about whom he knew nothing until the day he received a phone call informing him of Nicole’s death. Now, Jean Claude is an orphan and the responsibility falls on Bob, to take care of him . Sheila reluctantly agrees to let him stay with her family and thus begins ,the couples new journey towards accepting one another for being not so perfect , a journey of accepting a new member in to their fold ,knowing very well that he is the image of all that is threatening to break their marriage and family apart.Characters are kept very real .It’s not a fairy tale. It’s a take on real incidents, real situations .That’s what I love about Erich Segal. The interactions among the children are endearing and certain moments in the book make us reflect on human weakness , those that are almost always avoidable but are committed nonetheless and regretted all life.A story of love,a story of forgiveness . It’s a story of acceptance.It’s a good read. Totally recommended , though I needed a box of tissues for all the crying I did.
In this book, it’s neither the man, nor the woman, but the child Jean-Claude who grabbed me the most, by his robustness and resilience, and by his dignity.After his mother’s accidental death in France, Jean-Claude arrives in Boston, to meet his biological father Robert Beckwith, who has his own happy family, but met Jean-Claude’s mother on an academic trip to Montpellier in France. He is still a child, but he knows his place in his father’s life, and does everything he can not to perturb his family, yet seeks out the natural parental protection after his mother dies.Through discretion and devotion, he manages to win the heart of his father’s family, even reconcile his father from his estranged wife over the exposition of this illicit affair, and gains a position of ‘leader‘ among his father’s children, by managing to pacify that hooligan on the football field by non-violent means.Robert’s feeling for his illicit son is tested to its limits when Jean-Claude falls sick and nearly perishes. It pushes Robert to reconsider his relation with his family seriously, and his stagnated life, but the same incident also brings the best out his wife’s heart, and she falls for Jean-Claude as her own son.But Jean-Claude wants to keep his mother’s wish: to go to a school in France his mother always wanted. The part that wrenched my heart is where Robert is driving Jean-Claude to the airport, and is trying his best to act tough with his feelings, but finally gives in. Then, it’s Jean-Claude who shows him the light to his foggy eyes, and lifts his weight.When the boarding gate closes behind Jean-Claude, Robert manages to smile again, in the midst of his tears. And, I realized, I was doing the same, because the page was all wet!!
What do You think about Man, Woman, And Child (1993)?
This is the second Erich Segal novel I have read..Well all I could say is I'm very jealous of him :)He's a gifted storyteller, his stories start of the very instant without any monologue openings and I like him especially for that..The conversations happening between the characters in his books are some of the best I have read, these conversations have been copied and used again and again by our filmmakers..Its no wonder this book was gave way to Shekhar Kapur's great film "Masoom (1983)" which being an adaptation of this book :)..A very touching and realistic story, Well I wish I could be a good STORYTELLER like Eric Segal :)
—Sathish
Another good quick read by Erich Segal. I will be reading more from this author for sure. The author shows the husband Bob and the wife Sheila as having the perfect marriage with two daughters. That is, until Bob receives a call from his friend in France informing him of the death of a woman he had an affair with. She had his son, Jean-Claude and had not told the son who the father was. With no family for him to go to, the boy would end up an orphan and his friend asked if he would take the boy. Bob eventually agrees to taking him on the condition that his friend can find someone else to care for him in one month.Bob has the challenge of telling his wife of his affair and that the woman he slept with had his son and never said anything to him. To commit such adultery and to ask for forgiveness is quite ballsy. You can see how it rocks their marriage and tears up Sheila with wanting to know why he chose to do it. It was a difficult read in wanting Sheila to set aside her anger for her husband and let his SON stay and be apart of their family. You can't really blame her for her feelings as she felt betrayed. It was an emotional read and very enjoyable, I would read it again.
—Chrissy
جان كلود ، الطفل الذي اتى عبر علاقة عابرة بين الامريكي المتزوج عالم الاحصاء (بكويث ) و الطبيبة الفرنسية الشابة ( نيكول غيرين ) آبان الثورة الطلابية الفرنسية في الستينات.ان هذا الطفل البريء الجميل كان شرارة بعثت الاضطراب في عائلة ( بكويث مع زوجتة وابنتيه جيسكا المراهة وبولا الصغيرة ). لقد تناولت الرواية سكيولوجيا العائلة والعلاقة الزوجية والمقدرة على التعامل مع خيانة الشريك.فمثلا؛ حينما راود زوجة بكويث ان ترضخ لاغراء زبونها في العمل كانت بهذا العمل في ((لاشعورها)) تعاقب زوجها على خيانته.ومثال اخر: حينما كانت تحس بكراهية تجاه الطفل جام كلود وتشعر بذنب في نفس الوقت بشبب انه لم يكن السبب بل يجب ان تكره زوجها.لقد كان صراعا داخلها.وبشكل عام فالرواية تروي صراعا سيكولوجيا يتجلى بين هذه الشخصيات وفي اعماقها وذلك من اجل المحافظة على بقائها كما كانت على الاقل.. ولكن تطور الصراع والاحداث يفضي الى نتائج متوقعة وغير متوقعة.. وهذا ما على القارئ ان يستشفه! ولكن ما اعجبني هو صلابة الطفل وبنفس الوقت احسست بحزن شديد تجاه ما واجهه فهو لم يختر كل هذا . وبرغم ذلك فهو قوي جدا وذو شخصية فريدة بحق.
—Alhaytham Alawdi
