Our Favorite Writers Recount the Most Romantic Things They’ve Ever Read
Sari Botton, editor of Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York
Endless Love Scott Spencer
Recently, Scott Spencer wrote on the Paris Review site about the pitfalls of having your book made into a bad movie – not once, but twice. He was referring to Endless Love, his 1979 novel of teenage love and obsession, told from the perspective of the now adult David, reflecting on the crime of passion committed two decades before that still defines his life. First, in 1981, Franco Zeffirelli adapted if for the screen, with Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt and Tom Cruise; and now, in 2014, Shana Feste’s version appears in time for Valentine’s Day. Reading Spencer’s piece reminded me of how much of an effect the novel had on me as a teen. David and his girlfriend Rachel have the kind of naive, tortured love and passion I longed for at fifteen, but that’s not all that affected me. Spencer’s writing is so beautiful and evocative, his storytelling so compelling, that when I picked the book up again a couple of years ago to see if it still held up for me, I found that it did. It didn’t matter that I knew what happened. I was hooked at every turn. Skip the awful movies and pick up the book. It’s a classic by a great writer.