A Story Without an End

by Mark Twain, Joe McDermott (Illustrator)

While on his way to propose to the girl of his choice, a young man finds himself without an essential piece of clothing at a crucial moment

Genres: Short Stories

32 pages, Library Binding

First published May 1, 1986

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Reviews

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clever tale, that, as expected, leaves you to ponder your own ending. I came up with mine fairly quickly, which was for him to make an excuse regarding his horse and ride into the woods a little for privacy. Problem solved!

[Tamoghna Biswas · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3.5 stars**

"Sometimes the new endings turned out to be better than the old one."

It is a really short work, but still, made me think a bit, and that’s what this review’s for. However, do me a favour and don’t read the blurb given in the synopsis section, it will tell you nothing about the work.

“Any ordinary man will find that the story’s strength is in its middle, and that there is apparently no way to transfer it to the close, where of course it ought to be.”

Tell me, do you agree?

Most of the times, the most important role is played for a book by the blurb, or the synopsis at the back cover, or the table of contents (occasionally, only if it’s a longer work)… you will see most of the people don’t bother to read a book now even to its middle, if the beginning isn’t promising enough. Basically, that’s the reason most of the classical works go unread, and James Patterson is becoming a household name.(I don’t hold anything against him, I love his ‘Private’ series) And if you can make it to the ending, to a general reader who reads just for the sake of entertainment, the ending will definitely play the most important role…mostly one prefers a clear, happy ending.

I once heard a conversation between two authors in reel, where one said that his book was being rejected by the publisher for not having a happy ending, his point of argument was that in reality, hardly anything ends on a happy note for everyone. To this, his brother, a best-selling author said that that’s why people read stories now, to escape from the reality for a while.(Does that sound a bit like oversimplifying the objective of most for reading fantasy?)

The story is about a game in the ship which was a good timepasser in which a story was being told to the point of raising anticipation, and the listeners have to put forth an ending from their parts, after which the new endings will be compared with the old ones. In the midst of these a story was told about a certain John Brown, and the original ending wasn’t even known to the corresponding narrator. So, the jury appointed had to decide the best ending to the story, which, of course has to be a happy ending; and to which no one could fit the components of the story.

All in all, a story that doesn’t demand anything from anyone; but questions the most convenient art of story-telling. Also, most probably not in an effectively unique way, but still worth the 15 minutes it will take.

You can read the story here.

[William Lozano-Rivas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una de las mejores historias que he leído en toda mi vida.