Endings can be hard to pull off satisfactorily, in all kinds of fiction. The famous "twist" is a popular device in short stories especially, but whatever the ending, it must satisfy the reader. It doesn't have to be happy (ah...poor Anna Karenina), but it must complete the novel or story. And as short story writers are constantly reminded, the reader must be given enough information for him/her not to feel cheated, while maintaining the surprise.
I have just finished a novel where the entire book turns out to be fantasy. The final part begins with the statement that "none of this really happened", and I felt really furious. How dare the author pull a stunt like that? It's like the famous dream twist ("I woke up, and it had all been a dream"). You just can't get away with it.
The author of this novel is very well-known, and has written at least one masterpiece (which I found utterly compelling), so I won't name him/her and spoil this book for anyone yet to read it. But when I finished it, I was so mad I would have hurled it across the room, if it hadn't been on my Kindle (another disadvantage of Kindles!).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'd feel cheated too.
ReplyDeleteGlad you agree, Patsy.
DeleteI hope it's not the one I'm reading at the moment as I can just imagine it ending that way.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it, Wendy. This was totally unexpected.
DeleteI read that one, and felt equally cheated. I gave up on Dallas after the 'Pam's dream' series. (What took you so long, I hear everyone ask...)
ReplyDeleteNow I HAVE to know whether you're right, Tim! What's, say, the third letter of the author's surname (see. I'm in detective mode now)?
DeleteARRRGH! What a total rip-off. That would have ticked me off, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan!
DeleteMany years ago I read an Agatha Christie ( no idea which one!) and it turned out to be the narrator who had done the crime, and had been lying to the reader all along. It was the last Agatha that I read! ( I do like watching Poirot though)
ReplyDeleteI think I know the one you mean, Frances, but the title includes a word that is no longer acceptable! (Interestingly, I risked it, and the computer censored me!)
DeleteLike Tim, I am reminded of Pam's dream while Bobby was in the shower. I gave up Dallas at that point. Credulity had been stretched too thin and too far. My patience, never my strongest suit, snapped.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dreadful, lazy, deceitful way to end a book, as if the author had just given up trying.
That's exactly how it felt, Joanna. A total cop-out.
DeleteSo, why did it get published? All you need is one best seller, and you can get away with murder, literally.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the famous author, Maggie! Why else?
DeleteDo you know, I can't remember! I was so appalled by the book that I took it down the Oxfam and forgot it. It ends in Australia, I think.
ReplyDeleteI know, I read too much ...!
No. Not Australia, Tim. Wrong book!
ReplyDeleteTruly sounds like a combination of laziness and lack of idea(s) on the author's side.
ReplyDeleteEndings that leave me not satisfied are also when they appear to be hastened, even sloppy, as if the author had either lost interest in his or her own work, or suddenly realized that the deadline with the publisher was getting VERY close.
I quite agree
DeleteThat's just how I felt about 'Atonement'! As if the author had just been cynically laughing at me all along. Luring me in with exquisitely drawn characters and an utterly involving story, then giving me a slap in the face. Grrrr. Shan't be reading any of HIS terribly clever post-modernism again!
ReplyDeleteI loved Atonement, but can't remember the ending. Oh dear...
ReplyDeleteI can recall that Atonement had an unexpected ending but I don't recall much about it except that there was an injustice and that one of my nieces has the same name as the 'villain'. I couldn't have disliked it though. I'm sure I'd have remembered that.
Delete