Endless Love

This book is wonderful. It touches you on so many levels. This dark love story really tinkers on an obsession rather than a true love story. The story is very deep, emotional, consuming, at times depressing & desparate, intense & complex.There are pages & pages of a detailed and explicit love making session. You feel David's love, obsession, passion & eventual loss. David never gets over Jade - he cannot let go. Never. He simply can't. The book is written from David's point of view - only. We never know what Jade is thinking or feeling about David. There is not alot of character development for Jade & she makes her appearance half way through the book. We never hear her side of this story. How does Jade feel about David? Is she in love with him & as obsessed as he is with her? What is it about her that makes him act so crazy & desparate? We never really know. Which is a shame. I wish more was written about David & Jade's earliest days together, when the meet and start the passionate relationship. Parts of the story seem missing, alot of time lapses, too. These are teenagers, not adults, who are too young to deal with a love & sexual relationship this intense & overwhelming. This is a very sad story. Don't read it if you are feeling depressed or getting over a break up yourself. The last few lines of this book are heartbreaking, it leaves you feeling empty, sad & yet at the same time, not wanting the book to end. I would really recommend you reading this book.

This book is much more complex than simply a love story--it's a novel swimming in social, political and literary themes that are brilliantly all tied to the very real emotions of a love affair. The way that David and Jade's respective parents represent the polarity of post-war rebellion--Jade's are emotional rebels while Davids are social--make the meaning of the character's love more than insular. In fact, whether Spencer did it subconsciously or not, I think that the primary purpose of the book is to show how obsessiveness is simply THE way that humans live now. David's constant rubbing against institution masquerading as his friend-- the hippie parole officer, the "progressive" psychiatrist--shows how we are simultaneously bound by the same systems that we like the think we broke free from, but at the same time given a taste of something much more satisfying. A great emotional reality that we find ourselves obsessively pursuing.This book is much more than a romance novel. The 30-page sex scene in the middle is proof of this. What Harlequin novel would portray the insecurities of the characters as they make love so vividly, would be so frank about their physical limitations and roughness.This is horrible, beautiful novel, which should be far more revered than it is.

I am so pleased and surprised to see how many other readers have experienced, and been moved by, reading this book. I can honestly say that no other book I've ever read has had the same impact on me as "Endless Love'-and its been many years since my first reading. The beauty of this novel is that it can be enjoyed on so many levels-emotionally, intellectually, and, on the very surface, for entertainment. It covers a wide array of emotional ground, and you'd be hardpressed to find a reader who can't find something in it that they identify with. Certain sentences and passages literally took my breath away. The novel is truly original in that it chronoicles a love story and it's long reaching and dark aftermath without ever delving into sentimentality or cliches, it's definalty a far cry from the typical boy-meets-girl color by numbers plot. In fact, the origins of the relationship it focuses on happen off-camera, before the novel even begins, so we're left with the perceptions and memories of the characters (which may or may not be reliable) in order to construe the real facts. But, as the main character notes, what is factual is not always what is true, and the contradiction between reality and perception that runs throughout the novel only adds to its overall impact. The novel also suceeds in creating David, a protagaonist whose sanity and morality are at times highly debatable, however, he is written with such honesty and detailed insight that it is impossible not to get swept up in his journey and care about what happens to him. Despite all his recklessness and its abyssmal results, I could not honestly blame David for his decisions. While he broke the rules of society, law,and logic, he remained truthful to his heart, to point of insanity and despair, and any reader whose ever given, received, or yearned for the idealistic and maybe impossible endless love he strives to keep will find this book both heartbreaking and unforgettable.

My experience reading 'Endless Love' transcended the normal like/dislike/enjoy categorizations - I not only enter the world of the hero, he entered me. I found myself taking on the protagonists cause as though it were my own, and regardless of his extreme behavior, I still can't let go of the notion that everyone else (but for Jade and Ann) was less sane than David, that it was he who possessed the purest insight. Perhaps that is why I felt grief stricken when I put the book down. Spencer writes with such descriptive power and emotional truth (the' Jade and David' reunion scene is truly stunning - encapsulating the furious extremes of these characters' experiences). I suspect David and all the people close to him will live on in me. And perhaps, (thinking of the title), that is like the heroes ultimate achievement - in all the euphoric heights and shattering lows, David was never more alive than when he was with Jade. And isn't that the point? To be truly alive, just once? PS If anyone would like to discuss this novel, or has links to other articles feel free to contact the above email address (I feel I will need this, having just finished the book).

I too thought this book was "my little secret!" How wonderful to hear from others who feel the same way. One of the few books that have truly broken my heart - I felt changed after I read it. My ideas on love, obsession, living, family, and madness - all were altered by Scott Spencers' suberb, unduplicable writing stye. The intensity of his emotional and physical descriptions, coming from the viewpoint of David, leave you breathless and yearing for more. A masterpiece novel - one of my all time favorites, 15 years after first reading it!!