Sebelum membaca buku ini, gua tidak pernah mendengar penulis novel bernama Erich Segal. Steven Seagal mungkin sering terlintas, tapi dia adalah bintang film. Awalnya hanya sekedar iseng melihat-lihat di toko buku TogaMas, dalam rangka menghabiskan waktu untuk menunggu mulainya jadwal mengajar. Ketika pandangan mata dialihkan ke bagian novel, gua mulai mengambil novel satu-persatu mulai dari yang menarik judulnya, sampulnya, ataupun penulis yang memang sudah gua kenal. Ketika sampai di novel ini dan membaca sinopsisnya di sampul bagian belakang, gua langsung teringat dengan novel-novel Jeffrey Archer yang seringkali menceritakan berbagai macam karakter tanpa menekankan salah satu yang menjadi tokoh utama. “Wah, menarik nih…” adalah respon yang pertama kali gua keluarkan setelah membaca sinopsisnya, apalagi ditambah dengan cerita yang menurut gua bukan sekedar roman picisan (meminjam grup musik Dewa).Andrew Eliot, Daniel Rossi, Jason Gilbert, Theodore Lambros, dan George Keller, adalah karakter-karakter yang diceritakan sebagai mahasiswa S1 (bachelor) di Harvard University oleh Erich Segal sepanjang novel ini. Andrew Eliot, merupakan keturunan klan Eliot yang memang telah memiliki tradisi untuk memasuki Harvard sebagai mahasiswa S1. Daniel Rossi, musisi muda yang berusaha keras menyenangkan ayahnya. Jason Gilbert, Yahudi yang berusaha menutupi keyahudiannya, yang karena keyahudiannya dia ditolak di Yale University. Theodore Lambros, si miskin yang telah menjadikan Harvard sebagai bagian dari kehidupannya namun tetap harus berusaha keras memasuki Harvard. George Keller, imigran Polandia yang kabur dari negara asalnya setelah revolusi berlangsung. Lima karakter, ditambah karakter-karakter lain yang mewarnai perjalanan novel ini ternyata sudah tidak asing lagi bagi gua. Setelah membaca novel-novel Jeffrey Archer yang memiliki tipe serupa, kesulitan untuk memahami cerita yang terbagi dalam lima karakter utama bukan lagi menjadi masalah. Meskipun menurut gua, penceritaan Jeffrey Archer dalam menampilkan konflik pribadi si karakter ataupun konflik antar karakter lebih baik dibandingkan dengan Erich Segal. Gua berpendapat, novel karya Erich Segal tak lebih dari menceritakan lima karakter masing-masingnya, tanpa ada kontak langsung yang substansial antar karakter. Meski diceritakan beberapa karakter pernah berhubungan, entah itu dalam satu asrama, pertemuan pertama dalam kelas, atau yang lainnya, Erich Segal tidak menceritakan lebih jauh bagaimana hubungan itu akan memberikan dampak bagi masa depan mereka. Berbeda dengan Jeffrey Archer yang memang menceritakan dengan gamblang bagaimana masing-masing karakter berusaha bersaing satu sama lain (baca First Among Equals). Hal ini dapat dimaklumi, mengingat masing-masing karakter yang ada di novel ini bergelut dalam bidang yang berbeda. Andrew Eliot menekuni dunia tulis menulis, sejarah, dan perbankan. Daniel Rossi menekuni dunia musik. Jason Gilbert lebih dikenal sebagai atlet. Theodore Lambros yang bekerja paruh waktu di restoran ayahnya. George Keller yang tenggelam dalam dunia politiknya. Sangat masuk akal jika interaksi antara mereka sangat sedikit kecuali hubungan sesama mahasiswa Harvard yang terus menjadi ikatan. Berbeda dengan karakter-karakter dalam Jeffrey Archer yang memang diceritakan berada dalam dunia yang sama, politik.Agak sulit untuk bisa membandingkan cerita dari Erich Segal dengan realita yang sedang terjadi sekarang. Karena novel ini menceritakan mahasiswa-mahasiswa yang baru masuk pada tahun 1954, dan lulus di 1958. Yang pada akhirnya menceritakan tentang reuni mereka yang berlangsung pada tahun 1983. Kondisi sosial politik selama lebih dari dua dekade itu tidak begitu gua pahami. Selain ada beberapa kejadian dunia yang amat berpengaruh, misalnya pembunuhan John F. Kennedy, skandal watergate Nixon, Perang Enam Hari antara Israel dan negara-negara Arab di tahun 1967, Perang Yom Kippur (lagi-lagi antara Israel dengan negara-negara Arab) di tahun 1973, dan tentunya Perang Dingin antara Amerika Serikat dan Uni Sovyet.Ketika melihat ringkasan/iklan novel-novel karya Erich Segal lainnya, ternyata dia lebih banyak menuliskan cerita roman yang menurut gua memiliki kecenderungan seperti novel-novel Sidney Sheldon. Jadi tentunya, penulis ini tidak masuk dalam daftar kategori penulis yang akan menjadi favorit gua.
So I haven't been motivated enough to read the more ambitious novels on my shelf, and just wanted the kind of read that is like a big bowl of steaming pasta - total comfort reading. As such, I borrowed The Class to read for the zillionth time (though I haven['t read it for years) - anyway I decided to come back to where I posted it here (I've missed writing reviews and while this is sort of a cop out, ntil I have more time or energy this will just have to do) because it's so interesting to re read Segal now - I loved loved loved him as a junior high/early teen even though even then I knew the writing wasn't all that great - and now I find it all the more extreme - the writing is even less good yet I am all the more enthralled - interesting. What I decided was that, first, Segal falls under my personal shelf of 'guilty pleasures' - not harlequins, because those are just trash, but books that you know fall short yet grab you tightly and bore into your being. Segal breaks all my rules - he tells, not shows - his dialogue is trite and forced - his characters are often one dimensional - he sidesteps large emotional issues and just slaps unnatural behavior onto his characters - yet his eye for tragedy (I guess this comes from his backgtround in classics) makes for that timeless catharsis that the Greeks were so good at - people get their just desserts, faulty characters end up orchestrating their own downfall and eventually learn a lesson, everyone gets what he or she deserves.This book had a very strong feminist agenda which I missed when I was kid (though I did note that just about every marriage was doomed no matter how starry eyed it first appeared, and that the women started out as victims and then grew in power) which felt overdone and therefore rather cheesy - and the overall rah rah Harvard thing didn't resonate with me - it was the whole premise of the book yet at the end of the day it just seemed like the incidental place where they all met.Anyway I think Segal is one of those who, for all my nitpicking, still comes out on top for his ability to play with one's emotions and evoke interest in his characters based on their foibles if not their deveoped personae, and that is pretty impressive in itself.
What do You think about The Class (1986)?
A wonderful story that takes you through the lives of five different characters and makes you attached to them. It shows the different turns that one's life can take. It makes you feel sad seeing most of the characters end up the way they do, and makes you realize what you are today would not be how you would be tomorrow. Nothing, success or failure, lasts forever. Fame, power and money should not be the goals of life. A life lived for oneself is without meaning and will not give one eternal happiness or satisfaction.A lot to take from the book!
—Varun Goel
OH GOD!!! that was sooo bad!!!!!!!!!! what a let down mr segal and i was actually givng you a secod shot after that disaster of "a Love Story"where do i begin... oh k so the start was rather good. you have a look into the basic life of harvard students and get to realise that not much has changed. the same divisions the same jocks etc. but somewhere just when you have picked a favourite character outta of the handful you are following the book goes downhill.whereas danny rossi's (the musician wh
—Heba Naseem
Have you ever read a book that has the undefined power to take you through a journey even when you know that you are not a part of the theme but still feel the happiness, agony, frustration that the characters go through? That is what makes this work special, yet awesome and that is what you call the class in real sense.Written about The Harvard class of 1958 (though fictional), Erich’s story circumscribes around the lives of five main characters who enter Harvard as children and exit as men who defy all the obstacles to become the heroes of the class of 1958. One peculiar virtue of Erich’s writings has been his mesmerizing way of defining his characters be it Love Story or be it Doctors (I haven’t read others) and how these characters, being special in their own, capture the theme of the story as a unit. The story talks about Danny Rossi, who breaks away from his father, to transform himself from a musical prodigy to an icon that the whole world bows when he takes the stage. There is Ted Lambros, who spends his Harvard years as a commuter, ascents to the top and finally achieves what he always craved for: tenure at Harvard. Then there is Jason Gilbert who is born as a hero, lives his life as a hero and also dies as a true hero. George Keller, the Hungarian, enters Harvard barely knowing the intricacies of English language but masters everything to reach a place where everyone aspires to be but only a few dare. And lastly, Andrew Eliot, who could not satiate himself with his entity and purpose of life, eventually finds solace at the end.A good story cannot be but a striking balance between the ups and down of the life. And this is where Erich Segal has proved himself time and again. This reveals itself from the fact when Andrew writes in his diary “I guess he just didn’t know how to be happy. That's the one thing they can't teach you at Harvard”. Although all these men find whatever they ever desire, one thing they ultimately realize that there is one more thing that is above success, above all and that is happiness and it is priceless. The people get so much blinded by success that they forget that there even exists a word in the dictionary called success and that is what the author has tried to convey to his readers, and to this world. Another interesting feature that I could make out is Erich Segal’s ability to involve real events like war, elections etc and playing fictionally with the real characters that have stood out in the history, which makes this novel all the more real and less fictional and that is what enthralls the readers.In my opinion I would juxtapose this book with all the other must reads because it truly justifies what we say in literal sense “vicarious thrill” of reading any book.
—Abhinav
