THE CLASS

by Erich Segal ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1985

Harvard, that is, class of '58--in a long, flat, unabashedly one-dimensional saga that follows five Harvard men, four of them super-achievers, through the decades, ending up at their 25th reunion. Unlike the better examples of this pre-fab genre (Rona Jaffe, Anton Myrer's The Last Convertible, etc.), Segal's version makes very little attempt to pull the five lives into dramatic criss-crossings or overlappings; instead, aside from occasional phone-calls, the classmate/friends go their separate ways--as the narration follows them in a monotonous merry-go-round pattern. Ted Lambros, a somewhat autobiographical character, has the most credibly detailed climb: a ""townie"" who lives at home and works nights at the family's Greek restaurant, Ted nonetheless becomes a top classics student and postgrad instructor; he fails to get Harvard tenure, however (because of his unclassy background?), and moves with supportive wife Sara (also a classics whiz) to Vermont's Canterbury College--where he makes a few oily compromises and rises to a Deanship; finally, he does return to Harvard in academic glory--but only after losing Sara (now an academic wow in her own right). The three other class standouts here are much more cardboard-corny and unpersuasive: Danny Rossi (faintly resembling Andr‚ Previn) is a superstar pianist even as an undergrad, branches out into conducting and composing (a ghost-written B'way smash), and philanders manically--till his Dr. Feelgood drugexcesses end his piano career and bring him down to earth; handsome jock Jason Gilbert, child of utterly assimilated Jews, undergoes an unconvincing roots epiphany, moves to an Israeli kibbutz, and has a glorious military career up through his hero's death at Entebbe; coldly ambitious George Keller, a refugee from 1956 Hungary, becomes Kissinger's prot‚g‚, a top adviser to Nixon, Ford, and Reagan--but, haunted by his past, he's emotionally crippled, ethically compromised, an ultimate suicide. And the fifth classmate is disenchanted millionaire preppie Andrew Eliot, whose major achievement in life is Harvard fund-raising. Domestic problems (divorce, adultery, rebel-children) pop up here and there; likewise a patchy parade of headlines and celebrity cameos; and a few of the vignettes from show-biz and academia add a trace of satiric amusement. But, though eschewing some of the genre's frequent flaws (gratuitous sleaze, wildly contrived melodrama), this bland, easy-reading printout is inoffensive at best--if likely to sell via the Segal/Harvard names and major marketing.

Pub Date: May 1, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bantam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION