The Stand
discussion
King - can he write decent endings?
Yeah, that's true. The blue-eyed way he ended Firestarter still makes me cringe, but on the other hand I absolutely loved how Pet Sematary ended.But I actually think that The Stand had a decent, somewhat fitting end. Not like It, which had some really strong elements and some really shoddy ones, including the end.
King uses *The Stand* as an example of how he doesn't need to use an outline or have an ending in mind at least by the time he is halfway through. It's a particularly unfortunate example because I think it's *the* standout example of why he *needs* to have at least the glimmer of an ending in mind. And I snatch up every one of his books as it comes out because I know I will enjoy *getting* there every bit as much as he does.
But I actually think that The Stand had a decent..."I do like the way he ended the second half of *The Stand*. It was more of a sequel to the first half than an extenuation.
The ending to The Stand totally pissed me off. I mean you read such a lengthy book and then..yeah, wtf? was my thought.
My thoughts exactly Helen! I really think that King can't write decent ends. But he did it good comparatively in his recent novel '11/22/63'.
Nora, I totally get that. Oops, almost did a spoiler. Although I assume everybody on the green earth has read it by now. Yes, that was frustrating. I didn't mind it too much because it was apotheothic (to coin a really dubious word). Not that they became gods or anything, but it was a triumph of sorts. *Totally* understand your feelings though.
As a Christian writer, he can only have one ending for his horror tales...
The Stand - when i was a religiously educated teenager - i didn't mind the religious vibe of the ending. as an adult athiest it rankles me, it is such a good book that having that moment at the end is jarringhis books sometimes stumble at the end, Needfull Things, IT, The Shining (basically any time he just blows shit up) but other times they are superb - Cell, Christine, 'salems Lot, Pet Semetary
then other times they are terrible - The Dark Tower
either way, if he writes it i'll read it sooner or later - all except for The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon which i just can't be bothered with
An excellent thread. Just about sums up every King book I've ever read. I doubt that you will get anyone disagree with you. It's why I stopped reading him.
It is weird how many people have different views of bad endings in SK's works. Sometimes he just takes too long to end. Really Bad endings, IMHO: Cell, Through a Buick 8, Colorado Kid, Black House. Am I in the minority in thinking Dark Tower's ending was fantastic?
When I saw the title of this topic, I was like YES! I've always thought that getting through King's stories are a treat, but that reading the ending can sometimes be a disaster.I love The Stand, it is my favorite King novel, but yes the endings in both the original and uncut versions are sort of...oh.
IT was a great read after I got through the slow beginning and just when everything was picking up speed hurtling toward and end...I felt almost like we switched books and dove into something else entirely.
Dreamcatcher is another book that I really loved until the end and I wonder what it is that makes it so hard to simply stop a few chapters earlier and save us from some of the confusion.
Then I get to my own writing and find myself rambling at the end as if you are afraid there are plot lines left hanging and suddenly you want to try and explain everything to be sure people understand what happened.
"It" bothered me. And I must say that it's one of my favorites. The ending however was terrible. The story was so great that despite the awful ending I just love the story. I was so disappointed in what the monster turned out to be. It really did feel like he was trying to finish it up and did not know how to end it with a bang. All in all though, SK is still one of the best storytellers around. Maybe that is what th problem is. The stories are so great that it is almost a question of how can the ending top such great storytelling.Sandyboy, you should try The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It was a good little story.
Licha wrote: ""It" bothered me. And I must say that it's one of my favorites. The ending however was terrible. The story was so great that despite the awful ending I just love the story. I was so disappointe..."will give it a crack, me local library has it so will see how it goes - though not being american i don't have a scooby who tom gordon is.
Sandyboy wrote: "Licha wrote: ""It" bothered me. And I must say that it's one of my favorites. The ending however was terrible. The story was so great that despite the awful ending I just love the story. I was ..."I read it about 11yrs ago but if I remember correctly Tom Gordon was a baseball player. Since I rarely know one baseball player from another, and I still loved the story, I think you will too. The story is more about a girl who gets lost in the woods. She is trying to find her way out, but is there something evil lurking in the woods with her? Give it a try.
Licha wrote: "Sandyboy wrote: "Licha wrote: ""It" bothered me. And I must say that it's one of my favorites. The ending however was terrible. The story was so great that despite the awful ending I just love t..."will do, 600 pages of Ideas - From Fire to Freud by Peter Watson and then i'll read it.
cheers me'dears
Gary wrote: "As a Christian writer, he can only have one ending for his horror tales..."That doesn't explain why they are so unimaginative and rushed, compared to the rest of his writing!
wally wrote: "...I dunno...I was hoping Roland would rush off to join the Texas Rangers...:)name the character who said that.
I liked the ending of Roland's saga...
As long as he doesn't throw everyone down ..."
Agrimorfee wrote: "It is weird how many people have different views of bad endings in SK's works. Sometimes he just takes too long to end. Really Bad endings, IMHO: Cell, Through a Buick 8, Colorado Kid, Black House..."
Mike wrote: "An excellent thread. Just about sums up every King book I've ever read.
I doubt that you will get anyone disagree with you. It's why I stopped reading him."
I personally loved the ending of The Dark Tower series - totally unexpected ending, and yet it wasn't an ending, not for Roland anyway!
I've read King since 1982 and have the entire catalog. I have a friend who's known me since birth and her tradition has always been to give me King's latest books for Christmas each year. I revere the man, he's my primary inspiration and it's my stepfather's only wish in this life to see a picture of me shaking hands with Mr. King.That being said, I feel most of his halcyon works are all tidy from start-to-finish. I do understand, however, where people might wonder if he has a quirky button inside him when it's time to conclude, at least books he's done within the past 10-15 years. Even I felt at times like I was on a joy ride that skidded into a barren pasture with no road signs to direct me back where I picked up the route. Cell and Dreamcatcher are a couple instances where I felt like I'd been moving on overdrive, stayed up late to keep reading and then went, "Huh?" once I finished.
However, 11/22/63, Duma Key and Under the Dome, I think, are long-haul rocket rides that don't feel as cumbersome as their lengths and I feel King did a marvelous job wrapping them up. 11/22/63 is perhaps the humanistic ending he's done in ages and is a concession to his readers for the awful thing that transpires to a character we REALLY grow to care about.
The books ive read of his with weak endings are IT, Under the Dome and The Stand.Under the Dome and The Stands were particularly weak after such a great and lengthy read, i thoughts IT's was just odd and didnt like it at all.
Sandyboy wrote: "Licha wrote: "Sandyboy wrote: "Licha wrote: ""It" bothered me. And I must say that it's one of my favorites. The ending however was terrible. The story was so great that despite the awful ending..."I know what you mean. So many books, such little time. I wanna coop myself up somewhere secluded and just read to my heart's content.
I loved the ambiguous, open ended ending of The Mist. The movie ending was very disappointing.
Ann wrote: "I loved the ambiguous, open ended ending of The Mist. The movie ending was very disappointing."
Really? I found it to be utterly devastating, maybe one of the best endings in movie history. Such a sucker punch! When I saw a pre-release screening of the film, the credits came on, the lights came on and nobody moved or said anything. Eventually we all shuffled out of the theater totally exhausted and drained. I love the ending.
I think it's a rather pertinent example of King's inability to end his own stories. Whether that be an organic end to the story within the text, or in a general sense, in that even though the Dark Tower is over, he still can't stop returning to it.
Really? I found it to be utterly devastating, maybe one of the best endings in movie history. Such a sucker punch! When I saw a pre-release screening of the film, the credits came on, the lights came on and nobody moved or said anything. Eventually we all shuffled out of the theater totally exhausted and drained. I love the ending.
I think it's a rather pertinent example of King's inability to end his own stories. Whether that be an organic end to the story within the text, or in a general sense, in that even though the Dark Tower is over, he still can't stop returning to it.
I too thought The Mist film ended in a brilliant--if brutal--way. Sucker punch, indeed. I believe King himself was quoted as saying he wished he'd written it that way.
I think a lot of it is that we simply do not want the books to end. I know I often get wrapped up in his stories. Being originally from Bangor, Maine, he is our hometown author and you couldn't help but read his stuff. Perhaps he leaves the endings open at times to allow for our own imagination, or to come back to it at a later time in another twisted tale or continuation.
I have to agree too even though I'm a HUGE King fan... I think the exception to this is the Dark Tower Series and I think that ending was spot on!It was my pet peeve. Course I still have a few to go. I'm reading Under the Dome now.
Gary wrote: "As a Christian writer, he can only have one ending for his horror tales..."That is a cop out--total cop out. Just because someone is a "Christian writer" does not give them the excuse to write an ending like the one in The Stand. It is a horrible ending & one he gave because he couldn't think of a brilliant one. His ending is like the cliche: "& when he awoke, he realized it was all a dream." Even saying he's a "Christian writer" is a weak defense of the novel's ending.
Swan Song tackled the ending through Christianity in a manner that was brilliant--something King could never do. Why? Because he's a hack!
I don't necessarily agree that the ending to The Stand is "horrible". It's a deus ex machina but this sort of makes sense. The Trashcan Man is set up as a Chekhov's gun from the outset. He arrives and then the Hand of God reaches out and obliterates everything. And then the baby is born and it fights off the flu, implying that there is a possible future for the human race.
The Hand of God might seem a little anticlimactic, it's been thoroughly set up by Mother Abigail's religiosity.
It's not the greatest ending ever, but it's not the worst. Not all writers have the ability to pull of an ending like Philip K Dick.
The Hand of God might seem a little anticlimactic, it's been thoroughly set up by Mother Abigail's religiosity.
It's not the greatest ending ever, but it's not the worst. Not all writers have the ability to pull of an ending like Philip K Dick.
i picked this book up in the bathroom when Joey (now 21) was 8 months old. my then hubby was an avid fan of King and we (he) belonged to a club; i was in college, still a freshman and well, had other things to do. although an avid reader, i had no interest in his books, i found his movies gory. my husband had just left for his job at a convenience store 10pm-6am. needless to say, he found me on the couch when he returned home from work, way into "The Stand". I retained the dog-eared hard back copy in the divorce and handed down to my son, who was uninterested in it. But its still on the bookshelf at my mom's safely tucked away as my bookshelf was aquired from her basement just a few weeks ago and needs work.
the book is one of my FAVORITES. the movie sucked. and i could read it time and again if i had the time. survival in a post-apoclytic world would be a daunting task. good vs evil is always the struggle. a person's character is what makes you. i didn't really find it all that religious; at the time i was agnostic.
Tracey wrote: "i picked this book up in the bathroom when Joey (now 21) was 8 months old. my then hubby was an avid fan of King and we (he) belonged to a club; i was in college, still a freshman and well, had ot..."you didn't find it all that religious? SPOILERS - even with the hand of god appearing at the end? the one thing i could never get my head around is if god steps in at the end to detonate trashcans mans bomb then had he also triggered the release of the superflu at the begining?
Sandyboy wrote: "Tracey wrote: "i picked this book up in the bathroom when Joey (now 21) was 8 months old. my then hubby was an avid fan of King and we (he) belonged to a club; i was in college, still a freshman a..."
Ah the problem of evil. Better philosophers than us have been struggling with that problem since time immemorial. I wouldn't stress out about it
Ah the problem of evil. Better philosophers than us have been struggling with that problem since time immemorial. I wouldn't stress out about it
He really struggles with endings, I think. I liked It, but the ending sucked. I really enjoyed Dreamcatcher, but the ending sucked. Some aren't too bad, though. Gerald's Game had a cool ending with that weirdo in the courtroom. That gave me nightmares.(sorry, I didn't read many of the above posts because I'm currently reading Dark Tower 7 and I'm worried that someone will talk about the end, which my friend says is amazing!)
He may struggle with endings to his novels, but he can end a short story like nobody's business.lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers
Ryan wrote: "He may struggle with endings to his novels, but he can end a short story like nobody's business.lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers"
his last line in The Long Walk always stuck with me - "and as the hand fell on his shoulder again he somehow found the strength to run"
I was hoping someone would bring up The Long Walk. Brilliant final line.
Ahhh yes of course The Long Walk! I had forgotten all about that one!
A great writer loves to write and looking at the depth, detail and scope of King's writing book to book, page to page, through it all, this is a person who really loves, hell..lives to write. The truly great writer also tends to become a successful writer, (Meaning; One who actually does write good books and who's books SELL by the millions, well enough to support himself, a family and any of his future writings.) not a 'hack' as suggested in an earlier opinion that had me chuckling and wondering if there wasn't just a little flicker of frustration involved there, that might have jogged just a few steps beyond that 'unhappily ever after' ending gripe...King is a man, men like gigantic, crescendo style endings...With all the cannons blasting, soundtrack blaring and guns a'blazing...And if you can throw in a few space creatures, some 3-D, CGI'd style special effects...Hey, as they say, 'The more the merrier." As King's works became an interest of both the television and movie industries...the further we/he got along/away from endings like those in his earliest works and novellas and more pushed toward the "Hollywood Stylized Big Boys Generic Blowout" his book endings became.
I think some of them (what others have declared here as 'bad endings' would work on screen, but some of the better ones that work so well on the page...might just seem a little pale perhaps (nowadays, maybe even to the point of anemic)... if you consider what we have become accustomed and or immune to seeing while holding onto our six dollar tanker truck size containers of soda and ten dollar 3 gallon drums of popcorn...
For those who think they've missed out a good 'King' ending, I urge you to check out a few of those multi story novellas, you might just be surprised.
Tracy wrote: "Ahhh yes of course The Long Walk! I had forgotten all about that one!"Ryan wrote: "I was hoping someone would bring up The Long Walk. Brilliant final line."
I read a beat up copy of The Bachman Books that belonged to a college roommate back in '87. The Long Walk was one of King's better novels & yes, I agree, that book possesses one of his good endings.
4030lisa wrote: "A great writer loves to write and looking at the depth, detail and scope of King's writing book to book, page to page, through it all, this is a person who really loves, hell..lives to write. The t..."
So many generalizations!
1. To say that men in general like "crescendo" endings is facetious and logically fallacious. One cannot possibly conclude based on cultural stereotypes that "men" like a particular ending.
2. And then to ascribe blame to King based on his gender is exceedingly illogical and borders on ignorant.
3. To correlate "successful" with "quality" is one thing. But correlation does not mean causation. There is no link between an author's success and the quality of their prose. I absolutely dare you to come up with one particular answer that provides a definitive axiomatic example.
4. I find it unlikely that one could graph out the size of King's endings based on his apparent increasing success. IT, a novel from the early 80s and therefore not a late stage King, has multiple climaxes on a large scale. Again, I find no correlation between King's endings and his success in visual adaptations.
5. I understand the attempt at jocularity, but I wouldn't assume jealousy when one person finds fault with another person's writing, as you so heavily imply.
In general, I find King's success with endings to be patchy. Pet Semetary ranks as one of the best endings ever, not just one of King's best endings.
So many generalizations!
1. To say that men in general like "crescendo" endings is facetious and logically fallacious. One cannot possibly conclude based on cultural stereotypes that "men" like a particular ending.
2. And then to ascribe blame to King based on his gender is exceedingly illogical and borders on ignorant.
3. To correlate "successful" with "quality" is one thing. But correlation does not mean causation. There is no link between an author's success and the quality of their prose. I absolutely dare you to come up with one particular answer that provides a definitive axiomatic example.
4. I find it unlikely that one could graph out the size of King's endings based on his apparent increasing success. IT, a novel from the early 80s and therefore not a late stage King, has multiple climaxes on a large scale. Again, I find no correlation between King's endings and his success in visual adaptations.
5. I understand the attempt at jocularity, but I wouldn't assume jealousy when one person finds fault with another person's writing, as you so heavily imply.
In general, I find King's success with endings to be patchy. Pet Semetary ranks as one of the best endings ever, not just one of King's best endings.
well i believe that King has this class habit of leaving the story at some unexpected point, so that it remains a mystery to the reader. you see this way one keeps on questioning and pondering over the possible way it could have ended.if you have the right flair and imagination for deciding what could have happened next, i doubt you wont like the King novels..some might disagree, but that's what i think..
Mile 81 was by far the worst ending so far....
Serge wrote: "Mile 81 was by far the worst ending so far...."now that just makes me fascinated to read it, it can't be worse than The Dark Tower surely?
Sandyboy wrote: "Serge wrote: "Mile 81 was by far the worst ending so far...."now that just makes me fascinated to read it, it can't be worse than The Dark Tower surely?"
Sorry never got to them...
Sandyboy wrote: "Serge wrote: "Mile 81 was by far the worst ending so far...."now that just makes me fascinated to read it, it can't be worse than The Dark Tower surely?"
Thank God! Somebody understands how bad The Dark Tower is!
I think it would be easier to list his books with decent endings; Bag of Bones and Duma Key are a few.The Stand is one of my favorite books but the ending just kind of fizzles out.
well...i don't know which version of stand you've read. I've read the uncut version and its ending is pretty much satisfying to me.
Can Stephen King write a decent ending? Most of the time, no.
This is a preposterous question.
Helen wrote: "Now let me say that for the most part, I LOVE every Stephen King book I've read...until I get towards the end. Then I always feel as if he wasn't sure how to wrap everything up and his endings cons..."I totally preferred the book over the movie. I thought the movie sucked in terms of thestory. So much character background was left out.
I loved the ending to the dark tower. I thought it was probably one of the best endings he has written.
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I'm thinking of The Stand, It, and The Shining in particular...no wonder they changed the ending in the movie of The Shining (though I still preferred the book!)
Anyone else agree?