AN OCEAN WITHOUT A SHORE - USA novel by Scott Spencer (2020)

INTRODUCTION
Scott Spencer (born in 1945) is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of 13 novels,
including Endless Love and A Ship Made of Paper, both of which have been nominated for the
National Book Award. Two of his books, Endless Love and Waking the Dead, have been adapted into
films. This is the most recent novel written by him.
Silvana de Siati had highly recommended it to me, and as my literary tastes are very similar to hers, I
wanted to read it. As I couldn't find any versions in Spanish or French, I decided to read it in English. I
had to make a great effort because of my difficulties with English, but my two weeks of reading were
more than worth it. Thank you, Silvana.

STORYLINE
Since university, Kip Woods has fallen madly in love with his best friend, Thaddeus Kaufman. With the
exception of a stolen blow job on a drunken evening, Kip has always refused to confess his love to
Thaddeus. Notwithstanding, Kip’s life and destiny are defined by that love that Thaddeus does not
notice or refuses to acknowledge.
Thaddeus wanted more than anything to be a screenwriter, to become rich and famous: he had a sick
need to feel loved and adored. But, either through lack of talent or the misfortune of fate, he never
managed to make his dream a reality. In the meantime, he married Grace, a beautiful woman who also
dreamed of becoming a painter. They had two children, David and Emma, although the latter appears
to be the daughter of Jennings a friend of the couple. Always striving to maintain a standard of living
that didn't match their actual income, Thaddeus and Emma suffered major economic problems and
always turned to Kip to try and get them out of the difficulties that plagued them.
Kip, whose life, from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep, is filled with thoughts
of Thaddeus and the hope that one day his friend will realize his love and return it to him, through the
weakness born of this unmatched love, becomes a kind of puppet subject to Thaddeus's demands,
Kip's deepest desire being that Thaddeus be happy, even if he never matches his hidden love.
How far will Kip be able to step aside as a human being, to live according to his friend's needs? (Mainly
monetary). Will he go so far as to lose his job and his freedom for a love that (will he ever realize it?),
in the end, isn't worth it?

STYLE
Narrated in the first person by Kip, Scott’s prose is brilliant, colorful, resourceful. The way in which the
protagonist puts his life at the service of that of Thaddeus, is imbued with a nostalgia, a melancholy
that leaves a feeling of darkness and bitterness to the readers. Fortunately, at the same time, the
ironic, even cynical tone of sentences and ideas counterbalances all that, and offers readers wonderful
moments of literature. His use of synonyms and repeated ideas with different words to emphasize Kip’s
emotional state, are remarkable and I greatly appreciated them.
Sometimes Kip imagines the unfolding of a possible event (as André Aciman abuses it in "CMBYN"),
only to slap the reader in the face when he realizes it was just an elucubration of Kip’s mind.
The only downside is that, like all passionate writers who let themselves be led by their own stories, he
makes a few small mistakes, notably describing situations in which Kip, the main character, was not
present.
MY REVIEW
The writer advances very slowly in the story, presenting to us in each chapter a new character, related
to Thaddeus therefore, to him. As the story progresses, the reader wonders if Kip will finally have the
strength to confess everything to his friend or to cut off, once and for all, the obsessive and sickly ties
that submit him to his friend.
With the exception of Thaddeus's children and Kip's boss, all the other characters in the novel are
unpleasant. Thaddeus, of course, but also his wife, his parents, Jennings and, admittedly, Kip himself,
for less terrible reasons.
The reader can believe and understand the intensity of a love for another person. But Kip's obsession
with Thaddeus goes beyond what a man can accept without feeling diminished as a human being. I
often felt like slapping and even kicking Kip's ass for his naivety and submission.
The last 35 pages, recounting the unexpected final denouement at breakneck speed, are passionately
powerful and leave the reader completely exhausted with pure emotional catharsis.
The letter that Kip writes to Thaddeus ends the novel on a high note, with a delightful blossoming.

CONCLUSION
No living writer more successfully captures the nature of sexual obsession.
This is a novel to be discovered urgently
making and decide how much he is willing to sacrifice for a love that may never be shared.

Picking up where his most recent novel, River Under the Road, left off, but writing squarely in the vein
of Endless Love, his classic novel of passion and obsession, Scott Spencer gives us an intimate, immersive, and
unsettling portrait of the devastation we will wreak in the name of love, and the bitterness of a friendship ravaged
by fathomless yearning.

This is a brilliant read.

Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believeable.
Great suspense and drama with wonderful world building.
Gripping story of unrequieted love and how far you can be pushed to your limits.
Recommend reading.

Much to my surprise I really like this book. The writing is beautiful and the story is believable and disturbing.

An Ocean doesn't feel too dark and the reason is that Spencer's brilliant, party balloon metaphors keep it
buoyant & brightly lit.

No living writer more successfully captures the nature of sexual obsession

I loved the authenticity- the empathy - the gray areas of friendships and love explored.
Spencer created not only three dimensional characters but three dimensional relationships.
The emotional entanglement and complexities were real.

This is not a big action book...rather a quiet introspective look at ways love can rip us
apart...and how life long love and devotion isn’t insulated from difficulties.

El central se refiere a la dificultad de declarar el amor a otra persona. A Kip le gustaría confesarle sus
sentimientos a su amigo, pero, por temor a un rechazo oa perder la amistad con Thaddeus, solo
pospone el momento. De este modo se condena a sí mismo a una vida de grandes sufrimientos, una
vida de expectativas y falsas esperanzas.
Conectado a este tema está el de la homosexualidad y la dificultad de hablar de ella públicamente, un
problema muy extendido en la época en la que se desarrolla la historia, a finales de los años noventa.
Kip no solo teme el juicio de su amigo, sino el de casi todas las personas que lo rodean y por eso
siempre usa una máscara: se presenta en compañía de mujeres, miente a conocidos y padres y vive
con el temor constante de ser descubierto.
Muy importante, entonces, es el tema del idealismo y la incapacidad de renunciar a los sueños cuando
está claro que nunca se harán realidad. Thaddeus está convencido de que puede triunfar como
guionista y se niega a ver la evidencia: que a nadie le gustan sus borradores. Ni siquiera el riesgo de
perder su casa -la inmensa mansión en la que vive atrincherado desde hace años y a la que siente un
gran cariño- lo empuja a buscar otro trabajo. Thaddeus es, de hecho, un Gatsby moderno: un eterno
soñador, ávido de redención e incapaz de aceptar la realidad.
Por último, está el tema del dinero. Thaddeus no tiene ninguno y es infeliz, Kip tiene demasiado, pero
es igualmente infeliz.
Cuando Kip decide ayudar a Thaddeus, la situación debería mejorar para ambos: Thaddeus tendría el
dinero para sobrevivir y Kip la alegría de haber salvado a su amigo. En cambio, la situación empeora
aún más. Esto abre la puerta a muchas reflexiones. La primera, la más obvia, trata sobre cómo el
dinero puede cambiar la naturaleza del hombre y arruinar los lazos con otras personas.

Agregaría que me encantó la escritura de Scott Spencer, así como las muchas referencias literarias
que se encuentran a lo largo de la novela.
¿Leeré más de él? ¡Seguramente!

COMMENTO PIÙ APPROFONDITO

Kip y Thaddeus se nos aparecen, al principio, como dos personajes casi en las antípodas.

El primero, a pesar de ser muy intelectual, ha elegido un trabajo en Wall Street, un trabajo que gira en
torno al dinero. Continuó leyendo, asistiendo a teatros y exposiciones, pero lo hizo en sus ratos libres,
concibiendo la cultura como algo "extra", que va más allá del trabajo, que para él sólo sirve para
garantizar la estabilidad. Kip, por tanto, supo superar los sueños e ideales que uno tiene en su
juventud, comprendiendo la importancia de otros aspectos más prácticos.
Sin embargo, lo que le falta a Kip es una vida amorosa. El -secreto- amor que siente por Thaddeus,
además de desgastarlo, le impide crecer, crear una relación estable. Hay situaciones en la novela en
las que Kip está en contacto con otras parejas homosexuales y les envidia, dándose cuenta de lo
felices y despreocupados que son mientras él, de hecho, está como "congelado", esperando el
"momento adecuado", el momento en el que podrá revelarle todo a su amigo. Y, mientras tanto, se
refugia en aventuras de una noche, a menudo con prostitutas y con el temor constante de ser
descubierto.
Thaddeus inicialmente nos parece exactamente lo contrario.
Desde el punto de vista sentimental parece satisfecho: tiene una mujer a la que adora, dos hijos,
muchos animales y una casa inmensa de la que está orgulloso (obviamente así se ve desde fuera, la
realidad es muy diferente).
Sin embargo, desde un punto de vista comercial, es un completo fracaso. Después de tratar de seguir
una carrera como guionista cuando era joven, recibió cada vez menos tareas, hasta que se quedó sin
trabajo. Muchos, en su lugar, habrían tratado de reaccionar, de buscar otro tipo de trabajo, cualquiera
para ganar el dinero para salir adelante.
Pero no lo hace.
Persevera en su sueño, convenciéndose de que tarde o temprano alguien aceptará sus propuestas y
se hará famoso. El problema de Thaddeus no es la falta de ganas de trabajar -trabaja frenéticamente
escribiendo guiones- sino la incapacidad de conciliar sueño y realidad. Vive atrincherado en su villa, lo
que le recuerda muchas novelas que amaba (principalmente "El gran Gatsby") y no entiende que la
vida está mal
Es muy importante señalar que ambos protagonistas, al comienzo de la novela, están "atascados".
Kip está atascado románticamente y, por lo tanto, se retira cada vez más al trabajo, mientras que
Thaddeus está atascado profesionalmente y cada vez más retraído en su villa fuera de este mundo.

¿Qué le permite desbloquear una situación que lleva años estancada?

Dinero.

Cuando Thaddeus se da cuenta de que ya no puede mantener su amada mansión, llama a Kip y le
pide ayuda. Y Kip ciertamente no puede negarse.
Entonces entra en juego el tema del dinero, un tema que se retomará una y otra vez en la novela (no
en vano, Kip es un intelectual que ha elegido un trabajo basado únicamente en el dinero y esto lo lleva
a hacer muchas reflexiones interesantes sobre su significado).
Esta transferencia de dinero de Kip a Thaddeus interrumpe la inmovilidad que había durado años y
permite dos tipos de cambios: la evolución de los personajes y la evolución de la relación que los une.

Ambos cambios son muy complejos, ya que tienen implicaciones tanto negativas como positivas. Por
un lado, el dinero permite acercar aún más a los dos amigos e, hipotéticamente, transformar la
amistad en amor, como le gustaría a Kip. Por otro lado, sin embargo, el dinero, o más bien la
necesidad de dinero, revela cuál es la verdadera naturaleza del hombre y cuáles son realmente sus
prioridades.

Habría muchas reflexiones que hacer aquí, pero para evitar spoilers solo diré que tanto Kip como
Thaddeus podrán encontrar el camino que habían perdido, algunos para bien y otros para mal,
algunos con mayor autoconciencia. y algunos con menos.

"Un océano sin orillas" no es, pues, sólo la historia de un amor secreto y agotador, como no es sólo la
historia de un gay incapaz de admitir su homosexualidad: es también una maduración muy profunda y
reflexiva. historia.

A silent explosion of life.

Love and pain in all its forms and intensities.
This book reminded me so much of Hanya Hanagihara's Little Life.
At times it was difficult to continue reading because like life, I knew it would not be easy.
It is so human, so full of the mistakes that we all make in one way or another, so overflowing
with dreams and expectations, and at times so cruel and unfair that it makes you want to
escape from this fiction and also from reality.
The ending made me infuriated by the need for a little justice for Kip. Fuck that made me
want to go into the history to get him at least a little of what he wants and needs.
Still, a declaration of love that will always be.
Excellent.

Spencer writes a compelling enough novel; I read it pretty quickly, wanting to find out what
would happen next. His prose is florid and overwrought, as one might expect from this kind
of romance, but well structured and intelligent. The problem for me is it's fairly joyless, and
the two main characters are rather pitiful (Kip) or detestable (Thaddeus). It's an interesting
choice to make Thaddeus, the object of Kips ardor, be so unlikeable, but that's something of
the point, even Kip recognizes the depths to which Thaddeus sinks, but he loves him all the
same. Kip meanwhile is just as single-minded in his love as he is in his determination to
remain in the closet. I'm not saying there aren't many people like this in the world (although
at one point, Kip wonders that very thing, or if he is the only one) but it's rather difficult to
read about someone in that situation.

An Ocean Without a Shore charts the downfall of two men, but the ending isn't a bummer.
Kip definitely hits a low point, but it's one that looks to finally be turning around. And
Thaddeus? Well, I don't much care what happens to Thaddeus, so there's that. As a romantic
melodrama, it definitely works, but I can't say that I really enjoyed it.

Il dolore di una vita trascorsa nello struggimento.

Quando la sola colpa di un uomo è stata quella di lasciarsi invadere da un sentimento distorto
e radicato.
Amare qualcuno che non ti ha mai visto, e non accorgersi di quanto questo prosciughi e
laceri l’esistenza
Ma la passione è un oceano senza sponde, dove gli abissi ti accolgono e sembrano il più
dolce dei giacigli, eppure non respiri.
Questo è il mio resoconto, che si è evoluto inizialmente con estrema lentezza, per poi
sgorgare come, per l’appunto, un oceano senza sponde, negli ultimi capitoli, che per quanto
mi concerne valgono l’intero libro.
Meravigliosi sono i pensieri del protagonista, voce narrante, esprimono pienamente tutta la
sua essenza tormentata e tormentante (il lettore arriva ad ossessionarsi con lui, a fare proprio
il suo tormento e a trattenere il respiro ogni qualvolta si manifesti l’opportunità di una svolta,
di una rivelazione tanto attesa, di una presa di coraggio).
Cercate di giungere al termine di questa lettura, vi sazierà, vi renderà centellinando tutto
quello che man mano strappa.

the romantic obsession hidden beneath the surface of his closest male friendship warps the
life of a seemingly straight, supersuccessful financier.

Spencer continues to mine the dramatic possibilities of his fictional Hudson Valley town of
Leyden; the current book is a sequel to River Under the Road (2017), including most of the
characters. Back in the 1970s, Kip Woods was Thaddeus Kaufman and Grace Cornell’s
druggie New York friend with a job at EF Hutton. He’s still in finance, making really big bucks
at a high-end investment firm; his persona is now more The Man in the Gray Flannel
Suit than Bright Lights, Big City. However, Grace’s suspicion, never officially confirmed, that he
was “queer” turns out to be on the money. Kip has been secretly in love with Thaddeus since
their college days in Ann Arbor, so when Thaddeus calls for help early one morning in 1997,
Kip is there in a heartbeat. Back when Thaddeus’ screenwriting career was flying high in the
early '80s, he bought an estate in Leyden called Orkney. But “houses like that are like dope
habits—they only get more and more expensive,” and meanwhile, Thaddeus’ career has
tanked completely. How can Kip help his friend? The first suggestion is that he buy a little
piece of Orkney and hold it until Thaddeus can raise the scratch to buy it back. After that fails
to fix everything, a much more problematic idea is vaunted. A character who understands
the true dynamic of the friendship tells Kip flat-out in Chapter 3, “He will destroy you.” Dum-
dum-dum. While it’s not hard to imagine Kip hiding his crush on Thaddeus for decades, it’s a
struggle to accept his completely closeted, self-hating persona—he seems to be from a
slightly earlier era. But you’ll stick around for gems like these: “The spurned lover has only
been rejected by one, maybe two people. The spurned artist has been rejected by the world.”
“Infidelity is an avenue to adventure available to all, rich and poor…anyone who feels
crushed by the dailiness of settled life, anyone who needs a window in a life that suddenly
seems all walls.” “I can only tell you what you already know: ego is the sworn enemy of
happiness.”