Margaret asked:

Was anyone else bummed or confused by the ending?

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10 likes · like
2 years ago
21 answers

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Linda I hated the end. The author should have had a resolution! It ruined the book for me.

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Mike Jonze Not sure why so many people feel the need to have everything spelled out for them. I thought the ending was brilliantly put together and lends itself to further introspection about several of the themes the story touched on. To me, that’s way more fulfilling than just having whatever event you feel would tie it all up serve as the conclusion.

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Sarah Fitzgerald

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Sarah

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Erika Smith Ugh. Over 600 pages and you can’t write an ending? Lots of enjoyable reading but such a disappointing end. Plus I really thought the decision to exclude punctuation made many pages very annoying to read. I guess it was to reflect a female voice and stream of conscious but that just made it feel sexist. Lots of potential but this book fell flat for me. Save your time and read something else.

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Tim Regan Yes, the ending ruined the book for me. Such a well written book with a daft unbelievable ending.

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Kirtana Cheeyanna

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M I thought the ending was brilliant! He doesn’t need to spell out what happens—he already let us know on the first line of the first chapter: “In the next town over, a man had killed his family.” And throughout the book, with all the omens, foreshadowing, and ripple effects of the past.

Therein lies Paul Murray’s superpower: to make the reader feel so strongly, as to enmesh with the characters and, like them, fall into denial. Just like in his second book, Skippy Dies. It says so, right there on the cover. In fact, it’s the only thing you know about the book. And yet, when Skippy does indeed die, you’re left agape.

I feel we’ve been poorly conditioned by Hollywood movies, where everything is wrapped neatly in a bow, no matter how contradictory to everything the characters may have showed us about themselves, no matter how contrived: must have happy ending. Now THAT is disrespect.

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Bella (Kiki) I assumed that Dickie killed both PJ and Cass and then himself. In interviews, Murray has said that both children are killed. I'm not sure about Imelda. She was the survivor in the family in many ways. Rose predicted Cass and PJ's death and she said that Dickie died in the woods. The author has also mentioned that the ending ties into the very beginning as well. I don't mind ambiguous endings, but I would have liked a little more than what we got. I did like the last line, however.

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Kimberly Wahlberg

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J Asche Just finished the ebook today on my phone while at my hair stylist and I felt like throwing my phone across the room. Really? Not even a hint of a resolution? Until the end I admired the skill of the author and intricate character development. But then, wham! I felt betrayed. 646 pages for nothing.

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lisa rose lasson shedd I was both bummed and confused. I will admit that I often miss things that are too "subtle", and I was experiencing book fatigue by the time I got to the end. There was certainly a strong sense of doom and dread but as to what happened, it was not clear to me. I think Dickie shot his kids by accident, thinking they were the blackmailer-but not at all sure.

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Ginger Vela I had a terrible feeling of foreboding in the suspense leading up to the ending that maybe there would be shots fired accidently, and maybe there were, but in the end I interpret the actions as a metaphor for the chaos and confusion of the characters' lives. Thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Ginger Vela

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