In these days when tempus has a way of so quickly fugiting, it scarcely seems seven years since Erich Segal taught us that love means never having to say you're sorry. Well, Oliver, of the ill-fated brief marriage of Love Story, apparently had plenty of time to feel sorry, and to do a little guilt-wallowing in the two years after the untimely death of his wife, Jenny. Segal picks his story up at that point, showing us [in Oliver's Story] a faithful, work-driven, dedicated-only-to-his-law-practice, Oliver….

Segal has found the formula. Having created Love #1 as poor as a church-mouse, he elects to make Love #2 as rich as Croesus. The adorable Marcie matches Ollie, cashmere for cashmere, auto for auto, mansion for mansion. It all comes out, finally, in the Boston wash, and Oliver ends up with a real purpose in life, at last.

This critic must admit that Segal...