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Books that have "unsatisfactory" endings

54 replies

emkana · 17/06/2006 19:57

I finished "Notes on a scandal" today and really didn't want it to end, wanted to know what would happen to the characters.

I always find "Gone with the wind" really frustrating, too.
And "Pride and Prejudice".
I just get into the characters so much that it seems unbearable to have to leave them, never to find out about the rest of their lives.

It's even worse when there are "sequels" to the books - they never live up to the original and don't satisfy that "craving" at all.

OP posts:
vitomum · 24/06/2006 19:18

wasn't keen on 'the lovely boes' ending. i know it was meant to be climatic and spectacular but i just thought it was a bit daft and not really in keeping with the rest of the book.

vitomum · 24/06/2006 19:18

sorry 'the lovely bones'

Rowlers · 24/06/2006 19:25

Life Of Pi
Loved the book
Not sure about the ending

Tex111 · 24/06/2006 19:30

Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy. Spent a summer getting through it but I think she picked the wrong boy and what happened to all the other characters?

MrsMuddle · 24/06/2006 19:31

Memoirs of a geisha. Not the actual ending, but the bit after the ending. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it.

docket · 24/06/2006 19:43

Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

FlameBoo · 24/06/2006 19:49

His Dark Materials was horrible, but only because it was sooo final, and I didn't want it to finish

Not got round to reading Atonement yet so I'll bear that in mind.

Agree about Memoirs

Abhorsen for me - too much was left unfinished. He did answer a few of the unfinished bits in Creature in the Case though, and I think that there are meant to be some others too.

Pagan · 24/06/2006 19:53

Life of Pi. I don't know why but I felt unsatisfied by the ending and uncomfortable, weird

christie1 · 25/06/2006 05:03

Just finished johnathan franzens, "the corrections". VG book but the ending left me feeling sad for the father and how he ended up and a little frustrated. I wanted to get at why the father was so emotionally unavailable and why the kids were so screwed up and unhappy but then I guess it would have been too obvious wouldn't it.

christie1 · 25/06/2006 05:06

forgot to add, I keep thinking I missed something in the atonement ending. I loved the book but read a big review about "THE ENDING". since then I feel stupid, what didn't I get? I jsut thought she grew old and felt bad about what she had done. WHat did I miss?

sobernow · 25/06/2006 07:51

This reply has been deleted

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sobernow · 25/06/2006 07:54

This reply has been deleted

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Jodee · 25/06/2006 08:03

Sobernow, good post, know exactly what you mean.

Going back to His Dark Materials, I just couldn't finish it, had to put it down a few chapters before the end as it was getting so, so sad and i new what the ending would be.

Jodee · 25/06/2006 08:04

... er, knew ...

Tex111 · 25/06/2006 19:00

Christie1, I read The Corrections recently too. I found the ending quite sad too and I know what you mean about never learning why the father was the way he was. Have you read any other Franzen books? Wondering whether to try him again.

levon · 25/06/2006 19:15

yes vitomum agree totally about 'i know this much is true' and 'the lovely bones'. i think sobernow's theory on 'endings' is pretty accurate but there are notable exceptions like 'the grapes of wrath', one of my all time best books, and i thought the ending was in keeping with the brilliance of the book!

Rowlers · 25/06/2006 19:24

I'm not sure about why endings can be unsatisfactory.
Interesting theory sobernow.
I tend to think of a good complete book as coming to a clear END, not necessarily conclusion but that somehow the ending was planned.
I was engrossed in Life of Pi and really enjoyed it but the ending just sort of arrived and left me unsatisfied.
I suspect Yann Martel was attempting to leave the ending ambiguous but it wasn't the ambiguity that disappointed but the sort of fizzle out.
Does that make sense?

helsi · 25/06/2006 19:30

I didn't reckon much to the ending of Time Travellers Wife...left me with a "oh is that it" kind of feeling.

christie1 · 26/06/2006 01:47

tex111, This was my first franzen book. I had read reviews of it, all glowing. I was struck by his public refusal to appear on Oprah Winfreys book club because he felt it diminished his book. Oprah ended her book club shortly after that. Since I too, hated opprahs book club, I knew I needed to read franzen. I would read another book by him definately. The family was screwed up but oh so accurate too. I kept wondering if he modeled chip on himself.

Tex111 · 26/06/2006 21:11

Christie, I didn't know that about the Oprah book club. Good for him! I read The Corrections because my sister read it and said that the mother WAS our mother. Must admit, there were some scary similarities. I thought it was really well observed and the way the family relationships all worked together was interesting too. Just wish it had gone back into the parents' childhoods a bit. Will have to try another of his books. Sounds like we have similiar tastes. What are you reading now? (Sorry for the thread highjack, emkana.)

joelallie · 27/06/2006 12:46

All books that I really enjoy make me feel flat and empty at the end. Inevitable I suppose. I've read and re-read LOTR but always dread the last few chapters 'cos I always feel so bereft when it's over....I think that the fact it's so long doesn't help.

I've finally convinced myself that I don't need to finish a book that I'm not enjoying after years of feeling that it was somehow immoral So all the books I read I enjoy and I'm always sorry when they end.

Socci · 27/06/2006 12:51

Message withdrawn

singersgirl · 27/06/2006 13:06

I thought "The Little Friend" was disappointing too, and "My Sister's Keeper" (the only JP book I've ever read) completely unbelievable.

I've always wanted an alternative ending to "Mansfield Park" - I really wanted Fanny to marry Henry Crawford and have him reformed, rather than dull old Edmund.

SleepyJess · 27/06/2006 13:33

Is Notes on a Scandal about a school teacher who had an affair with one of her pupils and written from point of view of one of the old teachers, an older, spinsterish one? If so I read while on hol a couple of years ago; it was in book case of house we stayed in. I couldn't put it down but seem to also remember a crap, unsatisfactory ending. I think I have read that it is filmed by TV or a film, can't remember..

And if I'm waffling about wrong book, please ignore me...

christie1 · 29/06/2006 04:19

I started Cider House Rules (was made a movie a few years ago) by John Layton and hated it. I couldn't finish it so I Skipped to the ending and it was too predictable. I found myself rolling my eyes at all the corny coincidences etc. Now I am reading teacher man by Frank McCourt but am searching for some meaty fiction to sink my teeth into.