When you read, what kind of endings do you prefer? Happy? Ironic? Thrilling? Unexpected? I’m a happy endings girl, although I also appreciate just a touch of melancholy. The way I look at it, it’s hard enough to get a happy ending in real life, why would I want to read a book that ends badly?
Examples of books that have annoyed me mightily (without spoiling too much for anyone who hasn’t read them) include:
Cold Mountain – Honestly! I loved that book until the end, then I could have strangled Charles Frasier.
Marley & Me – Really, these people probably shouldn’t have had a dog in the first place.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle – Okay, I didn’t actually finish this one. It was too not-happy all the way through. I held out zero hope of it ending well.
Endings I loved:
Water for Elephants – In my opinion this was PERFECT. Of course that’s how it was meant to come out.
Minding Frankie – Trust Maeve Binchy to work it all out in the end. As the last page approached I was hoping for just the ending I got.
Anything by Jane Austen – She’s so tidy in tying up loose ends and making sure that everyone is comfortable. It’s a big part of why I love her.
Q4U- Have you ever been blindsided by an unexpected/undesired ending? What kind of ending do you prefer?
Meet Sarah
Oh yes. The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Love the book. Loved it. Got to the end and was so blindsided by what happened that I literally lay in bed and sobbed. It had been decades since a book made me cry. For this reason, I still recommend it highly, because I was SO moved by it.
I hope sometime you will go back and finish Edgar Sawtelle. I liked the ending. I like Maeve Binchey because of the way she ties everything up at the end. The Lilac Bus was a good example. I loved The Help, but did not like the ending. There have been many books that after the ending, I regreted that I read them and it turns me off of reading that author again. I really like surprising twists that I didn’t see coming, especially in “mysteries” and legal thrillers. I also like epilogues.