when bad things happen to good books

[Eva]

Hello, I just finished a book that I loved right up to the last thirty pages or so. I felt terribly let down by the cheesey O'Henry-like twist at the end. The book is one I've praised here previously -- The Sacred Scripture. I was actually angry at the author for cheapening his beautiful book with a contrived and unlikely coincidence at the end. (The book is still worth reading, though, for the beautiful writing that precedes this narrative downfall.) I wondered how important the ending of a book is to other readers? Do you ever find yourself disliking a book because the ending is crass or forced? Can a bad ending ruin a good book?

[Jennifer]

yes, a bad ending can definately ruin a good book! i liked Of Mice and Men until the end, and i will maintain until my dying day, that it is bad because of the ending.

[Dan]

I don't think an ending where bad things happen to the characters is necessarily a bad ending. If the bad things are part of the culture the author has created or are essential to the storyline, then ending the book otherwise would make for a bad ending. To me a bad ending is one that is inconsistent with the rest of the book. My most recent experience with this was Obedience by Will Lavender. Most of the book was a compelling mystery, drawing the reader along step by step, but the end was contrived and flat. It's as if the author had no idea how to conclude what he'd created and consequently just picked the easiest way to do so.

[Petra X]

Jodi Picoult's ending are often dire. I heard the ending in the film My Sister's Keeper was changed from the book - it can only be an improvement.

However, I've just read Anonymous Lawyer A Novel by Jeremy Blachman. Its a thoroughly enjoyable book right from the beginning, but the ending is so brilliantly worked out you just smile and cheer when you reach it.

[Shona]

I agree with you Petra about Jodi Picoult's endings. When I finished My Sister's Keeper, I couldn't even speak. I was so devastated and shocked, I didn't know what to do. But it's a story that has stayed with me and it one of my all-time favorite books. But I think she now uses that kind of shock automatically at the end of her books and when I read her latest one, Handle with Care, I was just fed up- seemed the ending was just predictable and really unnecessary.

[Teresa]

I hate endings when you feel like the author is telling the story and then the phone rings and the book MUST be done in the next 5 minutes. Grisham makes me feel like this a lot with his last few books.

And the other problem is when you think the book is done and there is still 75 pages to go. Patterson does this.

[Eva]

Dan wrote: "I don't think an ending where bad things happen to the characters is necessarily a bad ending. If the bad things are part of the culture the author has created or are essential to the storyline, t..."


Oh no, I didn't mean that bad things happened to the characters at the end. No. I don't want to spoil the plot, but it more of an absurd coincidence being introduced.

[Eva]

Petra X wrote: "Jodi Picoult's ending are often dire. I heard the ending in the film My Sister's Keeper was changed from the book - it can only be an improvement.

Guess I wasn't clear! I don't mind bad things happening. The book that disappointed me was full of trauma all the way through. The ending just seemed contrived to wrap things up too neatly, and it was so likely! Eva

[Eva]

Teresa wrote: "I hate endings when you feel like the author is telling the story and then the phone rings and the book MUST be done in the next 5 minutes. Grisham makes me feel like this a lot with his last few ..."

Yes, I agree. Some books don't know when to quit. And sometimes the author tries to wrap up all the stray plot questions with too much exposition at the end.

[Eva]

Eva wrote: "Petra X wrote: "Jodi Picoult's ending are often dire. I heard the ending in the film My Sister's Keeper was changed from the book - it can only be an improvement.

Guess I wasn't clear! I don't mi..."

I mean UNLIKELY. I"m typing too fast. Lots of mistakes. Sorry. Eva

[Mosca]

My feelings about a book aren't really set until the ending. It's pretty important to me how an author completes a book.

Characters, contexts, situations, and sometimes problems are introduced by an author throughout a book. How those realities are woven together is very important. It's also essential, to me, how they are resolved (or not resolved) at the end. A lack of resolution is as important as a resolution, if it is done skillfully.

But a poorly done, contrived, or rushed ending can ruin a book for me.

[Anita]

I have to agree that Jodi Picoult's ending to her books are a disappointing.

[Eva]

Mosca wrote: "My feelings about a book aren't really set until the ending. It's pretty important to me how an author completes a book.

Characters, contexts, situations, and sometimes problems are introduced b..."


Well said! I agree. The ending colors my feeling about everything that came before, unfair as that seems. Eva

[Vicki]

Oh I definitely agree about what was said about My Sister's Keeper. I have only read three of her books, but that one threw me the worst. The ending was changed in the movie and I can't say for sure I liked it better, but it rested easier with me.

[Petra X]

Eva wrote: "Petra X wrote: "Jodi Picoult's ending are often dire. I heard the ending in the film My Sister's Keeper was changed from the book - it can only be an improvement.

Guess I wasn't clear! I don't mi..."

I understood what you meant. I didn't think the ending of My Sister's Keeper was disappointing because a bad thing happened. I thought it was disappointing because it was like Picoult had a story to tell, told it, and to move on would essentially mean another story, so she just did a cop out (the phone probably rang, Teresa). Its not her only book where I've thought the ending was disappointing either. Mostly they are contrived which I dislike. In fact the only ending of a Picoult book I like is Plain Truth.

(On the other hand there are the authors who finish well but its hard to get into them to start. Elizabeth Royte is like that with every single book)

[Suzanne]

I believe books can and do get inside of us the way no other medium of communication does.
We are deeply affected by the emotions, thoughts, feelings that the author is manipulating. When the author is good or great, they can stay with us for a lifetime.
When I was younger I used to follow Sidney Sheldon when he was first starting out. Then he wrote 'Rage of Angels'. I never read another one of his books.
A long time after that I saw him interviewed and he said that if he had one thing to re-do in his life, he would change the ending of that book.
Words are really powerful.

[Teresa]

Eva wrote: "Dan wrote: "I don't think an ending where bad things happen to the characters is necessarily a bad ending. If the bad things are part of the culture the author has created or are essential to the ..."

I think I know what you mean I just read and it was ripped from the headlines, really good plot, kept me reading to uncover the secrets, but at the end it just rang false, The ending doesn't support the story?

[Teresa]

Mosca wrote: "My feelings about a book aren't really set until the ending. It's pretty important to me how an author completes a book.

Characters, contexts, situations, and sometimes problems are introduced


Many times my ratings are based on the ending.

[Teresa]

on would essentially mean another story, so she just did a cop out (the phone probably rang, Teresa).

LOL : )

[GracieKat]

I hate endings that don't feel finished. Like the author couldn't think of what to do so they just end. I noticed that quite a few of Dean Koontz's books seem to do this. I'm also not a big fan of John Saul who kills off the children in his story just (it seems to me) for the shock and horror value of it rather than for the good story-telling of it.

[Manday]

I felt like [i:]Hunger Games[/i:] was incomplete. Not incomplete in the "oh, I am writing a sequal" sort of way, but incomplete in the "really, that is where you decided to stop writing???" sort of way.

A poorly designed or poorly written ending can totally ruin a book!

[Marci]

With a good book, I feel invested in the characters. If the author doesn't follow through in the ending whether good or bad, I feel cheated. But I have also been mad at an author for a bad ending... Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier comes to mind. The tone of the book gave me the impression(maybe wishful thinking?)that the book would have a happy ending. I fely like the rug was pulled out from under me... my mom and sister felt the same way.