Thinking Aloud

Erich Segal is widely-known for his books  Love Story and Oliver’s Story. True enough, my first encounter with him was through these bestsellers. However, I’ve also managed to read his other books namely The Class, Prizes and Acts of Faith.

The Doctors though, stands out as the best Erich Segal book for me. In fact, I am inclined to make it the best book I’ve ever read (not counting HP series because its a different world).

This is the reason why I am reading it again, for the nth time. My copy got lost years ago and while the postage of the book i won via auction is much more than the cost of the hard-bound book, I didn’t mind.

The book chronicled the story of a batch of Harvard Medical School students Barney Livingston, Laura Castellano, Bennett Landsmann, and Seth Lazarus. There are other characters as well but these four are main ones.

At the heart of the novel is the story of Barney and Laura, two individuals who grew up together and for the longest time, shared a friendship that far outweighed their respective romantic relationships with others. One might think that such a relationship can never exist in real life and I must say that while I wish that it is not true, I’m afraid that what they had is not something we see everyday.

Barney was Laura’s protector, her shield and her source of strength. Laura on the other hand, was Barney’s one-woman-cheering squad, from the time he started playing basketball until the time that he started making a name as a writer. Indeed, they shared such a wonderful friendship that even if they got involved with other people, they inevitably ran to each other in times of sadness and confusion. Barney walked Laura to the aisle when she married Palmer although at the back of his mind, it was a mistake. Years and so much tears after, he was proven right. And he was the first person Laura sought when Palmer divorced her. The same thing happen when Laura broke off with his next serious beau. Barney lost his girlfriend that night as he had to go and see Laura who was distraught that same night he was supposed to propose to Ursula.

And while I have read it several times already, I am still looking forward to finishing it and perhaps, years from now, I’ll go and read it once again. Such is the beauty of the book.

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