To start a thread where we can warn each other about books with crap endings?

[SinisterBumFacedCat]

Her by Harriet Lane

I feel like I've wasted time reading this book because it had a truly shit ending.

Also The Deep End by Emily Barr

Please share yours....

"it was all a dream" was the same way Alice in Wonderland ends

I wondered if anyone would mention Alice in Wonderland? I don't think it's a fair comparison. Alice is a unique book. The others mentioned seem lazy in comparison. That is particularly the case given when Alice was written fantasy literature wasn't a significant literary genre. Now it is. The cop out endings of the others just seem lazy as if the writers can't maintain the structure of the fantasy world.

The widespread use of opium at the time Alice was written also raises the question of whether it is Alice's dream or Lewis Carroll's.

I'm another one who cannot cope with factual inaccuracies. I'm normally very careful with books but I threw somebody else's copy of 'Tapestry' across the room for being ignorant about birds. Skylarks singing in the woods, indeed. Bolleaux. One error amongst several.

Similar issues put me right off 'The Song of Achilles', a seriously over-hyped piece of tosh.

Perhaps we need another thread to warn the unwary away from books with crap 'facts'.

The Crying of Lot 49.

I'd heard so much about what an incredible writer Pynchon is, how it's a major milestone in American literature, etc. etc.

Got to the end and thought my copy was missing a few chapters.

I've read plenty of rubbish . I'll agree that the dome was awful. Gone girl I liked until the ending . Fifty shades of grey was a car crash of books , utterly awful but I read them just to keep up with the "in" crowd. I have regretted it ever since. However I think we should also give a shout out to our favourites ! There is nothing like a good book and my personal favourite is "crime and punishment" not to everyone's taste but I loved it!

I can understand the dissatisfaction with Lionel Shriver's 'Big brother' but I liked the book and didn't personally find the ending off putting

Gone Girl
The Miniaturist

Here's one I finished yesterday - Sister by Rosamund Lupton. Awful weak, cop out ending. The book wasn't great throughout but I could have forgiven if there was a decent twist!

Noeuf I read The State We're In months ago and I'm still annoyed. SPOILER the ending doesn't even make sense, that just wouldn't happen, no being able to get in touch... grrrr. So annoyed. Still.

Alice clearly starts as possible dream so the ending is fine.

All the books I get annoyed at are here 'The Sense of an Ending' completely pissed me off, I just kept thinking there's a possibly interesting story here but instead we're stuck listening to this stupid man.

The Chemistry of Tears really annoyed me, not because of the ending but because of the beginning. Firstly we are expected to believe in a woman who describes herself as tall and elegant and secondly we are expected to feel sympathy for this same woman who was a long term mistress. And it's all so tragic and even the man's sons feel sorry for her so she'll just take drugs a lot. Felt like a man imagining how his mistress would feel when he died rather than any kind of reality. Bah. If it wasn't for all the carefully researched stuff about the silver swan I'd have not bothered finishing it.

Atonement annoyed me but I assume it was suppose to. The war sections were so powerful and you were so invested in the characters and then you discover that some of it had been made up. Argh! And then I got annoyed because frankly why was I worried about a made up character making up something about another made up character.

Hated the Wasp Factory ending, it felt very rushed. I also didn't like The Unconsoled because it was so dream like and unsettling but that was obviously the point. Generally I love Kazuo Ishiguro's novels.

That's a very accurate summing up of Atonement. I burst into tears when I found out Robbie and Cecilia had died. Sobbed at the film too.

Longbourn by Jo Baker - starts really well, and a great read up until the point (about 4/5ths through) the original author appears to be removed and replaced with a Mills and Boon writer

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey - loved it, couldn't put it down - but the ending was too contrived and over clever which was a shame.

Kazuo Ishiguro's A Pale View of Hills - it's a novel I really like, but he even says himself that he was resting too much on the reader's grasp of a pronoun wobble at the end. In fairness, I think most people will have figured out what is going on long before, though.

Lionel Shriver the Post Birthday World. Just a waste of my life.

MissingSheep - thanks for that.

This is a really useful thread, I have a TBR list that's huge and I don't want more disappointments like Gone Girl!

I was fine with Big Brother but as I was reading that ending I realised it would infuriate a lot of readers.

thegiddylimit: "And then I got annoyed because frankly why was I worried about a made up character making up something about another made up character."

Ha - that is exactly how I felt.

With Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, the stories start as dreams - Alice falls asleep and Dorothy is knocked out. They don't switch abruptly like Kay does. It's like having the book snatched away from under your nose.

Witch Week also starts as reality and gets more and more chaotic as only Diana Wynne-Jones can do. They end by deciding they must become a dream to right the world in which they live - it's a clever and believable ending.

I found the end of More Than This very satisfying. Witch Week's ending is interesting and quite bittersweet too as some of the characters have to make some significant sacrifices / give up quite justified anger in order to reconcile with the dream concept. Works well I think.

I think that probably shows my bias against happy endings - anything too saccharine and I'm really irritated!

the miniaturist. I really enjoyed it and looked forward to a good strong ending. It just bloody stopped! I was furious for weeks about that one.

JustKeep and ALass I agree.

Bought The Orphan Choir over the summer, fell for the blurb on the back thinking it sounded good, despite being in Poundland

Book wasn't great in general, but the ending was stupid. To be honest, I would be tempted to request a refund

thegiddylimit - I thought the Wasp Factory was horrible from the beginning and got more horrible as you went through it. Didn't care about the end, was just relieved when it stopped.

There's been loads of mentions of The Miniaturist. Kept thinking "have I read that?" Just realized I have - agree with all of you - it was awful!

I have read some of these but now really want to read the others just to see the endings. Most books end awfully IMO. The only book I read recently which I think ended well and had a surprising twist was One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis. Not a great book, but a good ending.

Totally agree with The Little Friend. I've just finished it and I was so disappointed!

Agree about the husbands secret. She is a good writer but tends to tie things up too neatly at the end. Almost as if she loved that character too much and really didnt want him to be the bad one ( if that makes sense)
big little lies ( same author) was good, but again all too neat at the end. Reminded me of another Irish author who tended to do the same, Maeve Binchy. Not everyone is 'good' - maybe i should stick to the murders and thrillers i usually read!

hackmum that was so great- the more she did that, the more ANGRY I got

Barnes is a clever bastard

I wish he'd do a version for dimwits like me from the ex's pov- the pooterish main character drove me NUTS

I am now rereading, as a pp advised