Endless Love [Paperback]

Scott Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

The classic novel that has been translated into over twenty languages and has sold more than two million copies worldwide

One of the most celebrated novels of its time, Endless Love remains perhaps the most powerful book ever written about young love. Riveting, compulsively readable, and ferociously sexual, Endless Love tells the story of David Axelrod and his overwhelming love for Jade Butterfield.

David and Jade are consumed with each other: their rapport, their desire, their sexuality, take them further than they understand. And when Jade's father banishes David from the home, he fantasizes the forgiveness his rescue of the family will bring, and he sets a "perfectly safe" fire to their house. What unfolds is a nightmare, a dark world in which David's love is a crime and a disease, a world of anonymous phone calls, crazy letters, and new fears—and the inevitable and punishing pursuit of the one thing that remains most real to him: his endless love for Jade and her family.

Published in 1979 and hailed as "one of the best books of the year" by the New York Times, Endless Love is the novel that first established Scott Spencer as "the contemporary American master of the love story" (Publishers Weekly).

Editorial Reviews

Review

A moving story of first love when it's so intense you feel it might break. It's everything a novel should be. -- Bob Greene, Chicago Tribune

He finds perfect pitch on the first page and never lets go. -- The Atlantic

About the Author

Scott Spencer is the author of nine previous novels, including A Ship Made of Paper, Waking the Dead, and the international bestseller Endless Love. He has written for Rolling Stone, the New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ, and Harper’s, and has taught writing at Columbia University, the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Williams College, and for the Bard Prison Initiative. He lives in Rhinebeck, New York.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 4th edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880016280
• ISBN-13: 978-0880016285
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Spencer was born in Washington, D.C., raised in Chicago, and now lives in upstate New York. He is the author of nine novels, including Endless Love, Waking the Dead, A Ship Made of Paper, and Willing. He has taught at the University of Iowa, Williams College, and Columbia University. His nonfiction has appeared in Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, O, Harper's, and The New York Times.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding, breathtaking, truly unique experience...., July 29, 1999

By 

Shannon Lupin (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Endless Love (Paperback)

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!!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep, Emotional & Intense!, June 17, 2005

By 

Sadie (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endless Love (Paperback)

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. There are many poetic lines and verses in the story. 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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars heartbreaking and unforgettable......., January 4, 2002

By 

a reader (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endless Love (Paperback)

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.