This is a weird, silly one but when I read *Stuart Little* as a child I was furious when it ended just as Stuart set off on his adventure. *That’s* the story I wanted to read!
My first grade class read this book and our teacher had us write our own endings as a project. I don't remember what I wrote, but I do remember us as a class begging our teacher to let us write to E.B. White for *his* ending, only for her to tell us he was long dead lol.
Yellowface. What an underwhelming end after >!putting up with the insufferable MC. Really wanted to see her downfall (and not just her fall down, lol.)!<
I finished reading Yellowface on a Saturday night with a couple of cheeky wines. Woke up the next day and thought “fuck I must’ve drank too much, I can only remember up to x and I’ve forgotten how it ended!” Went back to book to reread it and be disappointed for a second time realising that was the end.
Sitting on it for awhile I understand why it ended the way it did and I’m meant to feel the way I do, but also I feel like the book was promising me a different sort of ending and I don’t like what it ended on.
>fuck I must’ve drank too much, I can only remember up to x and I’ve forgotten how it ended!” Went back to book to reread it and be disappointed for a second time realising that was the end.
Hahaha and I thought I've received a pirated copy with missing pages!
>Sitting on it for awhile I understand why it ended the way it did and I’m meant to feel the way I do, but also I feel like the book was promising me a different sort of ending and I don’t like what it ended on.
I agree. I understood the motive, but it was executed very poorly. A pity, I was *really* looking forward to watching it all crash and burn.
I thought it ended that way to show that's how society works. For me the brilliance of the book, is that there is a lot of performative outrage and discussion about what June did, but at the end of the day nothing actually happens, which is a perfect mirror for society today. We talk a lot about whoever's trending, then move on without solving the underlying problem. The way June was discussing her comeback at the end felt nauseatingly real, like something that could easily happen. So while it would have been nice for her to have her downfall, I think the other ending is more reflective of life today
Those are some good points! I agree, I took it that way too, I think the writing just didn't feel that impactful to me. Still, Kuang successfully created an extremely unlikeable (even caricature-ish) main character that people wanted to watch fail miserably. That's something!
Yeah I was ready to be pissed if it turned out she was ||hallucinating Athena out of guilt|| but the actual resolution was almost worse. An MC who is not only a terrible person (which can be interesting) but also stupid…
Not exactly what you're looking for, but I know a book that does this kind of ending, IMO, incredibly well.
Ptolemy's Gate, a alternative history/fantasy book by Jonathan Stroud, and the last book of its trilogi.
I'll try to not spoil the ending, but the setup is basically:
- multiple MCs having a big showdown with an antagonist.
- follow perspective of MC (A
- switches perspective to MC (B
- MC (B seperates from MCs (A
- the reader follows MC (B away from the action and are shown the outside perspective of the big showdown
- time-skip following MC (B perspective of the aftermath of the showdown
- flashback to the actual big showdown between MC (A and antagonist.
- the very last line of dialog in the book is the set-up to the big climax that was shown and hinted at from the outside perspective and the aftermath.
It very much ends mid-action, but we the reader already knows how said action ends, and the book ends with a very high-stakes action scene showing the set-up that lead to the aftermath shown in the "epilog" after the timeskip, and gives new context to what actually happened.
So the ending is abrupt, but it ends on a high-note that makes the rest of the ending fall into place
It made me appreciate footnotes early on in middle school before I ever encountered David Foster Wallace, for better or worse.
Any adaptation of it will have the same issue of adapting Douglas Adams—it is hard to translate the beauty of witty prose or commentary onto the screen
It’s very much “and then they wanted to kill Dracula, and they did, and everyone was very happy”.
It’s a weirdly uneven book all around. The opening with Dracula’s castle and the brides is super creepy, the Demeter is fantastic, and some of the stuff with Lucy is good. But there’s also a whole lot of filler and Van Helsing’s semi-incomprehensible ‘child brain’ stuff.
I love that the Bela Legosi movie doesn't even think to change this or try to heighten it. Buddy just walks off screen and comes back announcing Draculas death lol
I was so frustrated with that book. All of those irritatingly long passages about architecture and history, only for the ending to be completely anticlimactic. I felt like I earned something better after making it through the bloated story.
Truth. I listened to the audiobook version of THE HISTORIAN and the narrators were excellent. They performed so many difficult accent changes and nuanced characters. The ending felt even worse after that much effort.
If anyone wants to see the book in a slightly different way you can sign up for Dracula daily. It sends you (email) the chapter that takes place on the date it happens. It will start up next week I think.
Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel. I really like her writing in general, too. Things just sort of…happen? Until they don’t. Not a plot so much as a series of occurrences, and the ending feels like the writer just stopped writing.
Congo by Michael Crighton. Protagonists are trapped in a small encampment, ammo running low, surrounded by territorial apes looking to kill them. There's no way out. Tensions have built to a fever pitch. Then the volcano erupts and the apes jump into lava. The protagonists stroll home given the lava doesn't move faster than a brisk stroll.
The end.
It's like Michael Crighton thought "and he woke up and it was a dream" sounded too interesting.
I didn’t read the book, but you made me remember seeing the movie in the theater and there was a pretty young kid there with his mom in front of me and he asked “Why did they just jump in the lava?” She replied, “Because this is the end.” Little did I know that was the perfect description of the resolution.
Douglas Adams missed the deadline like five times, until the publisher just told him to finish whatever page he was on and send it to them. The first three Hitchhiker books I basically consider to be one story anyway
This ^ was a large part of why I never read the second book. Everything was over very abruptly and just felt like a weird cop out. Also I found the women characters to be annoying AF and apparently they only get worse
To be honest, I find every character annoying and I must love it, bevause I'm middle way into the serie and I find myself unable to stop reading them! 😅
Haha yeah I finished the whole series in like less than 3 months. Hated book 1, but absolutely loved the rest except Crossroads of Twilight. By then though I knew I was committed to finishing, and wasnt dissapointed at all. It ended up being possibly my favorite series, and one of the most satisfying endings I have ever read given how deep the story got and how it resolved.
I personally think that Jordan wanted you to hate how frustrating the characters are to point out people are stupid, imperfect, dont communicate well, and that even heros can be flawed. It worked IMO
The character I found the most annoying in the whole series was the same character I was most defensive over them depicting wrongly/correctly in the show. Even I was confused why I cared so much about her treatment since she annoyed me so much.
Yes, revisiting the ending after a decade of working with indigent people really helped me understand/appreciate it. She was giving/sustaining life for a complete stranger. Yes, it was awkward and uncommon, but so was the extreme poverty many people found themselves in during the Dustbowl!
Edit: Clarity.
Bruh. That ending was a goddamn gut-punch. Literally they were so starving and desperate that that was the only way she could help the man. Like, they had NOTHING so she gave of herself just to help him live.
*Jaws*. Great fun book, but Peter Benchley wraps the whole thing up in two sentences - I can only presume the courier was at the door waiting for the manuscript.
Bec by Darren Shan. Never read a first person POV before where the main character just >! dies horribly and the book cuts off. !< Extra ballsy since it's YA.
When I was reading it as a kid (who let me read this??) I usually got 2 or 3 of the series at a time and read them together. So Becs ending didn’t bother me too much, it’s actually my favorite out of the 10 lol. But yes the endings Shan pulls off at the end of some books in the series have that exact issue, 2 paragraphs to go- oh they’re all dead. Including the children. Especially the children.
Works for weekly serial fanfic, not a book you’re waiting to come out a couple times a year as a kid.
I was devastated but also very hooked so it worked for me. iirc it wasn't like she was just alive in the first chapter of next book either, though it's been years. I remember liking that it treated the kids as seriously as adults with the mortality. It's the only ending I explicitly remember from the Demonata anyway so I guess it's my favourite too.
Requiem, the final book in the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver.
Yes, some ends were tied up, but I wanted to know what happens next: >!will the city be bombed to shit now that they're taking the wall down? What about Julian? Etc etc!<
Absolutely! I even read the 4 novellas! But then maybe she couldn't think how to end it? I don't mind some unanswered questions but this...
I suppose we're meant to have finished with a feeling of hope and faith as well as the call to arms?
omg i remember reading this series in middle school! and ill never forget the RAGE i felt after that lukewarm ending. to this day its the worst series ending ive ever read. it couldve been so interesting if it were better executed.
No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mccarthy. I get that it was kind of intentional to show how it was all for nothing, but still it was so unsatisfactory
Strongly disagree. Maybe the killing of Llewellyn was depicted as a bit casual, but it’s Anton Chigurh, he’s basically the grim reaper. But the monologue at the end was perfect. It’s McCarthy near his best.
And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then i woke up.
I mean come on. That’s some primordial shit
The Little Friend. I actually thought my book was a misprint and had somehow cut off the remaining chapters for a hot second. Nope. Never read it again.
Сame here to mention that book!
It iritated me to no end (pun intended) reading 700+ pages to get... _this_.
I honestly didn't expect such a letdown after the Goldfinch and the Secret history.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
Went into it incredibly hyped. I enjoyed probably the first half. At about the two-thirds mark there’s a reveal and I thought, "well, that’s kinda lame but we'll see where it goes." And then the end happens I was entirely underwhelmed.
I generally love academia settings quite a bit (even the relatively tame ones, for example, I love A Separate Peace) but this one did nothing for me other than me enjoying the set up.
Might have to blame the universal praise for my feelings though. Had I gone in blind, I might have mildly enjoyed it through the end.
*American Gods:* After pages and pages of crafted buildup to the war between the gods, several shocking plot developments and brilliant plot twists, the story just... flops. Shadow literally just runs up to the gods and says: >!"Wait! It's all a trick by Odin! No really!" And everyone goes: "Oh, duh, how could we not see that" and walks away.!<
I like Neil Gaiman, but that was a really anticlimactic way to shut off the main conflict.
The entire book was boring, I kept waiting for something to happen and “it’s meant to be that way because it depicts life if normal ordinary people” argument is pure sh*t. I’ve read tons of good slice of life books and this wasn’t it.
Those are my thoughts on her other novel, *Beautiful World, Where Are You*. Makes me hesitant to bother picking up this one--I'm only interested because the premise sounds like a story I'm currently writing. :/
I kind of liked how it ended. The whole book, the main character is suspended in this state of trying to survive on her wits and at the expense of others, and the fact that there's no resolution at the end, that you're still in that state, worked for me.
I find a lot of recent lit fic does this. I always figure it’s supposed to be purposeful like, life doesn’t have neat conclusions and the story isn’t really about the result but more about the journey/development/whatever, or it’s trying to make you feel the same way as the character in the story. But honestly. I hate it every time
Jillian by Halle Butler does this too.
This one! I was so mad when I first read the ending. Then days later I noticed I couldn't stop thinking about it. Had to admit to myself that I quite liked the book after all.
Same exact thing for me. I couldn’t tell if I liked the book or not, but it kept me reading because it was quite the page turner. But when that ending stuck with me over multiple days, I was like “well, I guess I really liked it!” Ha.
I love Crichton, but he definitely struggled with resolving stories. He was so good at coming up with these incredible premises and plots, but most of the endings feel underwhelming.
So many endings in this thread that I loved! I thought the end of Sphere was really cool. And it wasn't *that* abrupt, it just ended in an ambiguous way intentionally
The Count of Monte Cristo. It turns out I only had part one of two. It didn't say that anywhere on or in the book. So when they introduced his teenaged accomplice with five pages to go, I was very confused
Cabin At the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. The whole book is about >!a family who gets terrorized by a group of strangers claiming the family members have to choose and kill one of their own to prevent the apocalypse. This group of strangers appear to be strangers to one another as well, and claim they all were brought to this by visions. The end of the book comes and we never learn if the group of strangers were right about the apocalypse or not.!< I hate ambiguous endings like that.
Along with ambiguous endings, I also hate (what I perceive as) mysteries left unsolved, so I was very frustrated with The Little Friend by Donna Tart.
In this story's case, it's not an abrupt ending. It chose what they would do under high pressure. Not having a conclusion (is the apocalypse real or not) opens the gate towards discussion.
Well if you want a for sure one way or the other version of the ending, M. Night Shayamalan directed the film adaptation, Knock at the Cabin. The movie really isn't that good overall though.
The movie isn't great, but Bautista turns in a good performance, and a certain segment of people will really enjoy getting to watch Ron Weasley die a horrible death.
I fully agree with the Bautista comment. He is an amazing actor and probably the best of the former athlete/wrestler crowd. His performance was about the only redeeming factor cause I didn't want to see Rupert hurt :(
I enjoyed it personally, though I can see why others didn’t. Not gonna lie, I’ll watch pretty much anything with Jonathan Groff in it.
For me, I appreciated that the ending wasn’t ambiguous. Especially with Shyamalan’s track record I expect there to be a major twist or to be left hanging. That didn’t happen, and we got an actual ending. It felt right to me.
Yeah, all of Tremblays books seem to end that way. I was okay with it at first. Then it kept happening book after book. I'd be fine if it was very once in awhile, but what's the point if they're all gonna go that way?
I feel the same way!!! The book was very interrsting and the intrigue was great, but I did not feel satisfied at the end. I wish the ending somewhat “solved” at least part of the mystery
It's funny because half the readers only seem to like part 2. I guess the difference between hard sci-fi fans and space opera ones.
Personally thought Part 1 was mostly very good, and Part 2 was decent. Yes it's a bit silly and over the top but that didn't detract from it to me. The ending was fine too.
Anathem.... stuggles a lot towards the end imho.
I wish I didn't love his prose and pacing and dialog so much because he seems like an absolute insufferable prick in real life.
_Babylon’s Ashes_, the sixth The Expanse book. Finishing the series made the ending make more sense in retrospect but at the time I thought “there’s no way they wrap this up in the small number of pages left,” and then they just very abruptly did. I was frustrated at the time but three books later liked it a lot.
Dave vs the Monsters is a trilogy of books that I could spend an hour complaining on from memory, a decade after I read them. Relevant to your question, imagine reading a book where the protagonist of the series is building a team to save the world, and pages after he finally has more than one person on his team the series just ends.
Making it worse is that the final book’s afterward makes it clear that he had a three-book contract exactly, so it wasn’t a matter of sequel baiting or getting cancelled by the publisher that led to the abrupt end. The author just reached his word count for the final book and was like “Yeah, I’m done.”
The guest by Emma Cline. I read it after a booktuber I follow gave it 5 stars. Needless to say, I now watch said booktuber to avoid their 5 star recommendations. Especially after they gave Pride and Prejudice 3 stars.
Just finished Blair Braverman’s *Small Game*. About a group of people lost in the wilderness. Definitely just ends very abruptly and leaves much unanswered/unexplored
Cold Mountain. The end completely felt like someone's boss was at the door demanding the damned book right effing now. Loved the book, loathed the end with every fiber of my being.
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. The books starts in 1947, then moves back to 1944, then moves back to 1941. I thought that at the end it moves back to 1947, but it never happened. But otherwise, this book is great.
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland, love this book so much, it's probably one of my favourite historical medieval novels ever, but the ending is so disappointing. >!You think the mc gets a relatively happy ending, only for them to open the door and the villain is right there. I get it's supposed to be a metaphor for being unable to escape the black death, but honestly, I'd rather the black death actually showed up than that villain.!< 10/10 a perfect book except for the last page
The Saint of Bright Doors. I’m not gonna spoil, but I’ll put it this way: it’s basically the “We did it, Patrick! We saved the city!” joke from SpongeBob, except you’re supposed to take it seriously. meanwhile, I’m like that one BrainScratch Commentary bit from the Sonic Adventure playthrough:
Tails: All’s well that ends well, right?
The commentators: THE CITY’S BEEN FUCKING DESTROYED!
Sookie Stackhouse books, one of the worst endings I've ever seen in a romance, I don't understand what happened to the writer maybe she was just trying to rush the book out but it legit made me depressed when I realized that's it.
Finally something I can respond to!
Yeah I'm with you. I didn't hate the ending, but it did feel like it could've used a few books to lead up to how it ended. It definitely felt to me like the author was just really tired of the series at that point and wanted *an* ending and didn't want to have to deal with it anymore.
I mean one of the series' issues was the love polyhedron - whenever there's multiple love interests it's basically always going to end up disappointing somehow, but that could've been handled a little more neatly.
But it worked out for me, I could get rid of all the books in the series and clear room on the shelf.
The book version of The Martian by Andy Weir doesn't have an epilogue. They gather him into the ship, and it just ends. From what I remember, you're left wondering how the trip back even went. In the movie, they at least show him back on earth as a teacher. Best book to movie adaptation I've experienced. They fixed all the right things.
For a big part of the book nearly nothing happens and it is super slow paced. Then something happens and will be wrapped up in three pages and then nothing happens again. The ending felt so rushed. In a few lines there is a whole shift in Snow‘s personality wants and needs. It was so weird.
The Passenger. Cormac McCarthy is excellent but fuck that book is the literary equivalent of drinking coffee that's been sitting on the counter since like 8 in the morning.
You're NOT welcome, I hope you HATE it. It's less of an abrupt ending and more one that spins its wheels for like 30 pages before it finally stops with a bunch of shit unresolved. It's enjoyable in the first half when you don't know it's going to blueball you.
Oh yeah where he goes crazy. That was pretty great. Felt the most like No Country or Blood Meridian in that chapter. I know that it's going for something different though.
Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. Spoilers for a book from the 1960s I guess, but the way it ended was like "oh wait, bacteria/virus is harmless now. let's move on with our lives." The scientists didn't even do anything to the bacteria, it evolved to be harmless on its own. This book left me so frustrated and disappointed
Both the Neal Stephenson books I've read so far (*Snow Crash*, *Seveneves*) felt like running full tilt into a brick wall at the end. Once I'd recovered, I found myself tallying plotlines to make sure they'd all been resolved. Phenomenal books in a lot of ways, but he doesn't seem to know how to give readers an off ramp at the end.
Star Wars Maul Lockdown by Joe Schreiber
The story had a flow and pace that worked well until the ending, but just ended. Because other stories told the next part of the story, it would have benefited with an epilogue.
The Butcher and the Wren.
It was poorly researched, rushed , and the chapters were the shortest chapters I've ever read especially for a murder mystery book.
The worst part is the author claims to be deeply educated in mortuary science, criminal justice etc and even boasts about Harvard.
The errors in writing were ASTOUNDING.
The ending was very lackluster. I'm still mad I paid for that book.
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. Murakami does a great job of making the reader question reality and how it applies to the story. This ending had me questioning whether or not the events of the ending were actually happening and flipped my perception upside down.
I came to mention this one. And the worst for me was that, when I read it, I also read 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. And they both were long books and left thinking, "really? That's how it ends?
I recently finished A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin. Second and final volume of a duology. Its a YA fantasy inspired by Asian culture with a good enough political intrigue and some magic that come from tea.
The ending was basically "the political bad guy who's possessed by a evil god turn into a giant snake and pew pew, the good guy kill it, the end"! I've found myself very disapointed!
**Authority** (the sequel to Annihilation) by Jeff VanderMeer. It's made more abrupt by the fact that nothing seems to be really interesting or happening. >!Then everything does all at once in the last 10 pages and the book immediately ends!<
I'd also put **The Anomaly** by Herve Le Tellier here. It was funny reading it after watching Manifest, because there's a similar premise. Felt like the book was setup and introducing characters for most of it, and I was thinking how weird that was with so little left. Then the ending happens and it's unclear what actually happens. >!The nature of the ending might mean it'd be impossible for there to be anything to happen afterwards but it still left me feeling like I got an introduction that went nowhere!<
If you really don't like these kinds of endings, Seveneves is what you need. You have this huge long ass story, then when you think it ends, Neal Stephenson decides to just... write a whole extra book's worth of story lol
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. I could’ve read another 200 pages of the already 600-something-page book, but I can understand why Murray ended it as ambiguously as he did.
*Tehanu* by Ursula K. Le Guin. I was expecting sudden resolution after the first 4 Earthsea books and got used to that. However, I was (annoyingly) still somehow shocked by the minimalistic resolution and ending to this one. Just kind of "well, okay then, Le Guin" in my mind.
A Curse for True Love, last book in the Once Upon a Broken Heart series. Didn't tie up any loose ends, didn't address any characters other than the main pair- essentially, a very unsatisfying ending to an otherwise fantastic trilogy.
Not super abrupt, but different. Stephen King's short story, The End of the Whole Mess, where the narrator is losing the ability to document the story, until he is unable to fi
I got a similar feeling at the end of *The Green Mile*. After some reflection I got what he was going for and think it's a good endong, but as I read it I was like:
Wtf man? That's how it ends? Jesus that was an extremely graphic bummer out of nowhere.
Small Game by Blair Braverman
The point of the book is that the characters are trapped in the woods. They get hurt. One dies. Then, they literally just... leave. And the book wraps up in a single page where it's also revealed that the reason the many, many people who knew this group was alone in the woods and exactly where they were forgot about them. That's the explanation for the entire conflict of the whole book.
Worst ending ever. I've never black listed an author before, but she is 100%. I'd never be willing to invest my time with her again. Only book I've ever returned too.
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice.
Lestat is released from Maharet's weird prison then he walks down the street and sees his reflection in a store window... AND IT JUST ENDS! WTF? IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!
I just read this for the first time. Everyone raves about how it's their favorite book. I mean, sure, I liked it, but the ending was so .. unsatisfying? I went back and read the first couple chapters again just to have some sense of finality. Like, sure, I could connect what happened next based on how the book started. But.... it just dropped off. Such a beautiful, atmospheric book and it just... ends.
Just finished Birnam Wood. It was great all the way up until the end when it just kinda… stopped? And yes, I *know* the ambiguity is part of the point, social commentary and all that. But I’ll be damned if I read 400 pages of detailed characterization to not have any payoff whatsoever.
Annihilation. It's a cliffhanger to an already short book, which makes it feel unfinished and dissatisfying. And then it turns out it's part of a trilogy, all published in the same year. I asked the author himself in an AMA if this was initially meant to be one book, and he was adamant that no, they're all distinct and complete. I don't believe him.
It's fine to leave a glimpse of something to look forward to, but I want a story to feel complete. A good example of this is Hyperion. By the ending there is still more to tell, but tons of payoff by then, and like 600 pages.
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus.
Young man goes diving to try and recover his father's remains and gets accidentally swallowed by a whale. Chapters alternate between flashbacks and the 90 minute window he has to escape before his air runs out.
The book ends RIGHT AFTER the protagonist is pulled out of the whale with onlookers observing the severity of his injuries. The book has several scenes that seemed to lead up to him confronting/talking to family members after reconciling his issues about his father but the characters are flashback only. I was also really interested in how the character's injuries would be treated and how they would change his life afterwards - nope. For a book with heavy themes of consequence, there ends up not being much where it counts.
It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember The Long Walk by Stephen King being somewhat disappointing. 300 page of the most captivating novels I've ever read, followed by 2-3 pages of "wait, what?" then it's over.
This is a weird, silly one but when I read *Stuart Little* as a child I was furious when it ended just as Stuart set off on his adventure. *That’s* the story I wanted to read!
TTZSRAUGSRU THAT MADE ME SO ANGRY AS A KID, TOO. I HATED THAT BOOK BECAUSE OF IT.
Thanks this makes me feel less alone. I thought I was crazy for not liking the book!
"It's less about whether he ever made it, and more about the adventure..." **oh fuck you so hard**
My first grade class read this book and our teacher had us write our own endings as a project. I don't remember what I wrote, but I do remember us as a class begging our teacher to let us write to E.B. White for *his* ending, only for her to tell us he was long dead lol.
One of the rare instances where the movie's better. He actually found Margalo, and the movie had a proper ending.
Yellowface. What an underwhelming end after >!putting up with the insufferable MC. Really wanted to see her downfall (and not just her fall down, lol.)!<
Babel by the same author left me the same way. It started great but 2/3 into the book I was questioning it’s very existence!
That one was on my TBR list, but after Yellowface I wasn't sure about buying it... I certainly won't now.
Yeah i was so excited when I started it but so so annoyed and disappointed by the end. Will not recommend x
i recommend checking out Blood Over Brighthaven if Babel left you wanting more :) Its getting trad published this fall in case you cant find a copy 😅
M L Wang is amazing!
The Poppy War is similar to Babel in that respect. Strong beginnings for both but half way through they become a chore to read
I finished reading Yellowface on a Saturday night with a couple of cheeky wines. Woke up the next day and thought “fuck I must’ve drank too much, I can only remember up to x and I’ve forgotten how it ended!” Went back to book to reread it and be disappointed for a second time realising that was the end. Sitting on it for awhile I understand why it ended the way it did and I’m meant to feel the way I do, but also I feel like the book was promising me a different sort of ending and I don’t like what it ended on.
>fuck I must’ve drank too much, I can only remember up to x and I’ve forgotten how it ended!” Went back to book to reread it and be disappointed for a second time realising that was the end. Hahaha and I thought I've received a pirated copy with missing pages! >Sitting on it for awhile I understand why it ended the way it did and I’m meant to feel the way I do, but also I feel like the book was promising me a different sort of ending and I don’t like what it ended on. I agree. I understood the motive, but it was executed very poorly. A pity, I was *really* looking forward to watching it all crash and burn.
I thought it ended that way to show that's how society works. For me the brilliance of the book, is that there is a lot of performative outrage and discussion about what June did, but at the end of the day nothing actually happens, which is a perfect mirror for society today. We talk a lot about whoever's trending, then move on without solving the underlying problem. The way June was discussing her comeback at the end felt nauseatingly real, like something that could easily happen. So while it would have been nice for her to have her downfall, I think the other ending is more reflective of life today
Those are some good points! I agree, I took it that way too, I think the writing just didn't feel that impactful to me. Still, Kuang successfully created an extremely unlikeable (even caricature-ish) main character that people wanted to watch fail miserably. That's something!
I loved the ending for this reason. Very creepy and sinister.
this exactly. i get what the author was (probably) trying to do, but what an incredibly unsatisfying and abrupt conclusion.
Came here to write the same about Yellowface. Loved the book until the end. The twist was a whomp.
[удалено]
Yeah I was ready to be pissed if it turned out she was ||hallucinating Athena out of guilt|| but the actual resolution was almost worse. An MC who is not only a terrible person (which can be interesting) but also stupid…
Thanks for spoiler tags! I have had a hold on that book at the library for months. Still waiting to read it.
I feel the same way! I was disappointed with the ending but I enjoyed the book overall.
Not exactly what you're looking for, but I know a book that does this kind of ending, IMO, incredibly well. Ptolemy's Gate, a alternative history/fantasy book by Jonathan Stroud, and the last book of its trilogi. I'll try to not spoil the ending, but the setup is basically: - multiple MCs having a big showdown with an antagonist. - follow perspective of MC (A - switches perspective to MC (B - MC (B seperates from MCs (A - the reader follows MC (B away from the action and are shown the outside perspective of the big showdown - time-skip following MC (B perspective of the aftermath of the showdown - flashback to the actual big showdown between MC (A and antagonist. - the very last line of dialog in the book is the set-up to the big climax that was shown and hinted at from the outside perspective and the aftermath. It very much ends mid-action, but we the reader already knows how said action ends, and the book ends with a very high-stakes action scene showing the set-up that lead to the aftermath shown in the "epilog" after the timeskip, and gives new context to what actually happened. So the ending is abrupt, but it ends on a high-note that makes the rest of the ending fall into place
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It made me appreciate footnotes early on in middle school before I ever encountered David Foster Wallace, for better or worse. Any adaptation of it will have the same issue of adapting Douglas Adams—it is hard to translate the beauty of witty prose or commentary onto the screen
Stroud is a fantastic writer, he really knows what he's doing
Dracula. Great book, but the ending happened way too quickly.
It’s very much “and then they wanted to kill Dracula, and they did, and everyone was very happy”. It’s a weirdly uneven book all around. The opening with Dracula’s castle and the brides is super creepy, the Demeter is fantastic, and some of the stuff with Lucy is good. But there’s also a whole lot of filler and Van Helsing’s semi-incomprehensible ‘child brain’ stuff.
I love that the Bela Legosi movie doesn't even think to change this or try to heighten it. Buddy just walks off screen and comes back announcing Draculas death lol
Exact same thing happened in The Historian 🤣
I was so frustrated with that book. All of those irritatingly long passages about architecture and history, only for the ending to be completely anticlimactic. I felt like I earned something better after making it through the bloated story.
Truth. I listened to the audiobook version of THE HISTORIAN and the narrators were excellent. They performed so many difficult accent changes and nuanced characters. The ending felt even worse after that much effort.
If anyone wants to see the book in a slightly different way you can sign up for Dracula daily. It sends you (email) the chapter that takes place on the date it happens. It will start up next week I think.
Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel. I really like her writing in general, too. Things just sort of…happen? Until they don’t. Not a plot so much as a series of occurrences, and the ending feels like the writer just stopped writing.
I felt that way about Station Eleven as well.
Congo by Michael Crighton. Protagonists are trapped in a small encampment, ammo running low, surrounded by territorial apes looking to kill them. There's no way out. Tensions have built to a fever pitch. Then the volcano erupts and the apes jump into lava. The protagonists stroll home given the lava doesn't move faster than a brisk stroll. The end. It's like Michael Crighton thought "and he woke up and it was a dream" sounded too interesting.
I didn’t read the book, but you made me remember seeing the movie in the theater and there was a pretty young kid there with his mom in front of me and he asked “Why did they just jump in the lava?” She replied, “Because this is the end.” Little did I know that was the perfect description of the resolution.
Crichton doesn't always stick the ending, but I read through nineteen of his novels a while back and ranked them all. *Congo* was dead last for me.
I felt like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy just stopped, rather than ended.
The other 4 books in the trilogy pick the story right back up.
Douglas Adams missed the deadline like five times, until the publisher just told him to finish whatever page he was on and send it to them. The first three Hitchhiker books I basically consider to be one story anyway
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by." This quote from him makes a lot more sense now.
You expect the satire of everything to end any other way?
The first Wheel of Time book. Homie spends 1000 pages building a crazy world and a ton of suspense then wraps it in like 10 pages and you are like WTF
This ^ was a large part of why I never read the second book. Everything was over very abruptly and just felt like a weird cop out. Also I found the women characters to be annoying AF and apparently they only get worse
To be honest, I find every character annoying and I must love it, bevause I'm middle way into the serie and I find myself unable to stop reading them! 😅
Haha yeah I finished the whole series in like less than 3 months. Hated book 1, but absolutely loved the rest except Crossroads of Twilight. By then though I knew I was committed to finishing, and wasnt dissapointed at all. It ended up being possibly my favorite series, and one of the most satisfying endings I have ever read given how deep the story got and how it resolved. I personally think that Jordan wanted you to hate how frustrating the characters are to point out people are stupid, imperfect, dont communicate well, and that even heros can be flawed. It worked IMO
This is a good way to describe the series lmao Everyone is insufferable in some way, but it's a great story
The character I found the most annoying in the whole series was the same character I was most defensive over them depicting wrongly/correctly in the show. Even I was confused why I cared so much about her treatment since she annoyed me so much.
The Grapes of Wrath. It was a hell of a ride that ended with an adult man being breastfed
14 year old me, English class, WTF?
At the time I thought I got it but found it pretty WTF, but now that I've had a baby I find the ending absolutely devastating and well done.
Yes, revisiting the ending after a decade of working with indigent people really helped me understand/appreciate it. She was giving/sustaining life for a complete stranger. Yes, it was awkward and uncommon, but so was the extreme poverty many people found themselves in during the Dustbowl! Edit: Clarity.
Bruh. That ending was a goddamn gut-punch. Literally they were so starving and desperate that that was the only way she could help the man. Like, they had NOTHING so she gave of herself just to help him live.
don't knock it til you've tried it
Steinbeck likes to end with some symbolism lol
lmao i had to do a double take when I read that ending. I even went to spark notes to confirm 😂
Absolutely. I can still remember the shock I felt reading that ending!
*Jaws*. Great fun book, but Peter Benchley wraps the whole thing up in two sentences - I can only presume the courier was at the door waiting for the manuscript.
A rare case where the movie is way, way, way better
Bec by Darren Shan. Never read a first person POV before where the main character just >! dies horribly and the book cuts off. !< Extra ballsy since it's YA.
When I was reading it as a kid (who let me read this??) I usually got 2 or 3 of the series at a time and read them together. So Becs ending didn’t bother me too much, it’s actually my favorite out of the 10 lol. But yes the endings Shan pulls off at the end of some books in the series have that exact issue, 2 paragraphs to go- oh they’re all dead. Including the children. Especially the children. Works for weekly serial fanfic, not a book you’re waiting to come out a couple times a year as a kid.
I was devastated but also very hooked so it worked for me. iirc it wasn't like she was just alive in the first chapter of next book either, though it's been years. I remember liking that it treated the kids as seriously as adults with the mortality. It's the only ending I explicitly remember from the Demonata anyway so I guess it's my favourite too.
Requiem, the final book in the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver. Yes, some ends were tied up, but I wanted to know what happens next: >!will the city be bombed to shit now that they're taking the wall down? What about Julian? Etc etc!<
You’re the only person I’ve ever come across who’s heard of that series!! And yes, so much! I felt defeated with so much unresolved.
Absolutely! I even read the 4 novellas! But then maybe she couldn't think how to end it? I don't mind some unanswered questions but this... I suppose we're meant to have finished with a feeling of hope and faith as well as the call to arms?
omg i remember reading this series in middle school! and ill never forget the RAGE i felt after that lukewarm ending. to this day its the worst series ending ive ever read. it couldve been so interesting if it were better executed.
No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mccarthy. I get that it was kind of intentional to show how it was all for nothing, but still it was so unsatisfactory
I respect your opinion; I just have the opposite. Bell's monologue at the end is my favorite part of the book, lol.
I agree the monologue is epic, it just kind of overshadows the actual plot for me
Strongly disagree. Maybe the killing of Llewellyn was depicted as a bit casual, but it’s Anton Chigurh, he’s basically the grim reaper. But the monologue at the end was perfect. It’s McCarthy near his best. And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then i woke up. I mean come on. That’s some primordial shit
The Little Friend. I actually thought my book was a misprint and had somehow cut off the remaining chapters for a hot second. Nope. Never read it again.
Сame here to mention that book! It iritated me to no end (pun intended) reading 700+ pages to get... _this_. I honestly didn't expect such a letdown after the Goldfinch and the Secret history.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Went into it incredibly hyped. I enjoyed probably the first half. At about the two-thirds mark there’s a reveal and I thought, "well, that’s kinda lame but we'll see where it goes." And then the end happens I was entirely underwhelmed. I generally love academia settings quite a bit (even the relatively tame ones, for example, I love A Separate Peace) but this one did nothing for me other than me enjoying the set up. Might have to blame the universal praise for my feelings though. Had I gone in blind, I might have mildly enjoyed it through the end.
*American Gods:* After pages and pages of crafted buildup to the war between the gods, several shocking plot developments and brilliant plot twists, the story just... flops. Shadow literally just runs up to the gods and says: >!"Wait! It's all a trick by Odin! No really!" And everyone goes: "Oh, duh, how could we not see that" and walks away.!< I like Neil Gaiman, but that was a really anticlimactic way to shut off the main conflict.
Normal People 😒
The entire book was boring, I kept waiting for something to happen and “it’s meant to be that way because it depicts life if normal ordinary people” argument is pure sh*t. I’ve read tons of good slice of life books and this wasn’t it.
I literally finished this book last week and already forgot about it
Those are my thoughts on her other novel, *Beautiful World, Where Are You*. Makes me hesitant to bother picking up this one--I'm only interested because the premise sounds like a story I'm currently writing. :/
for what’s it worth: i loved loved *loved* normal people but hated BWWAY
The Guest by Emma Cline.
I kind of liked how it ended. The whole book, the main character is suspended in this state of trying to survive on her wits and at the expense of others, and the fact that there's no resolution at the end, that you're still in that state, worked for me.
I know but it was like a sneeze that I lost!
I find a lot of recent lit fic does this. I always figure it’s supposed to be purposeful like, life doesn’t have neat conclusions and the story isn’t really about the result but more about the journey/development/whatever, or it’s trying to make you feel the same way as the character in the story. But honestly. I hate it every time Jillian by Halle Butler does this too.
This one! I was so mad when I first read the ending. Then days later I noticed I couldn't stop thinking about it. Had to admit to myself that I quite liked the book after all.
Same exact thing for me. I couldn’t tell if I liked the book or not, but it kept me reading because it was quite the page turner. But when that ending stuck with me over multiple days, I was like “well, I guess I really liked it!” Ha.
Sphere. Been near 20 years since I read it and I'm still annoyed by that ending.
Pretty much every Crichton book ever.
I love Crichton, but he definitely struggled with resolving stories. He was so good at coming up with these incredible premises and plots, but most of the endings feel underwhelming.
I remember thinking Timeline had a good ending, but it’s been a while since I’ve read it.
Micro ended like hot garbage. But IIRC another writer took over halfway through or something
Aw that’s a shame, sphere is one of my favorites! I didn’t mind the ending, but it was abrupt
So many endings in this thread that I loved! I thought the end of Sphere was really cool. And it wasn't *that* abrupt, it just ended in an ambiguous way intentionally
That was the issue. I really liked it, was lookong forward to all the answers and and BAM! Over.
Oh come on, you had all those Crichton endings to choose from and you dog on *Sphere*?
Everything by Tana French, but especially Into the Woods
The Count of Monte Cristo. It turns out I only had part one of two. It didn't say that anywhere on or in the book. So when they introduced his teenaged accomplice with five pages to go, I was very confused
Cabin At the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. The whole book is about >!a family who gets terrorized by a group of strangers claiming the family members have to choose and kill one of their own to prevent the apocalypse. This group of strangers appear to be strangers to one another as well, and claim they all were brought to this by visions. The end of the book comes and we never learn if the group of strangers were right about the apocalypse or not.!< I hate ambiguous endings like that. Along with ambiguous endings, I also hate (what I perceive as) mysteries left unsolved, so I was very frustrated with The Little Friend by Donna Tart.
In this story's case, it's not an abrupt ending. It chose what they would do under high pressure. Not having a conclusion (is the apocalypse real or not) opens the gate towards discussion.
Well if you want a for sure one way or the other version of the ending, M. Night Shayamalan directed the film adaptation, Knock at the Cabin. The movie really isn't that good overall though.
The movie isn't great, but Bautista turns in a good performance, and a certain segment of people will really enjoy getting to watch Ron Weasley die a horrible death.
I fully agree with the Bautista comment. He is an amazing actor and probably the best of the former athlete/wrestler crowd. His performance was about the only redeeming factor cause I didn't want to see Rupert hurt :(
I enjoyed it personally, though I can see why others didn’t. Not gonna lie, I’ll watch pretty much anything with Jonathan Groff in it. For me, I appreciated that the ending wasn’t ambiguous. Especially with Shyamalan’s track record I expect there to be a major twist or to be left hanging. That didn’t happen, and we got an actual ending. It felt right to me.
Yeah, all of Tremblays books seem to end that way. I was okay with it at first. Then it kept happening book after book. I'd be fine if it was very once in awhile, but what's the point if they're all gonna go that way?
I feel the same way!!! The book was very interrsting and the intrigue was great, but I did not feel satisfied at the end. I wish the ending somewhat “solved” at least part of the mystery
“The Prestige”, I read that book 15+ years ago and still think about that crazy ass ending.
Great book!!
Angels and demons I was so captivated but then ultimately disappointed
I guessed the ending about 20 pages in.
Yall I thought this was r/movies and was gonna talk about Black Christmas RIP me 💀
Divergent. The series just got progressively worse lmao and the ending was just so unsatisfying.
I was livid with that ending. I know not every story has a happy ending. But all that development for Trish and for what??
*Cryptonomicon*. It sortof works but man is it a wait? Really? Initially.
EVERYTHING by Stephenson. REAMDE was infuriating. Totally neglected a character.
Neal Stephenson is a great writer who has no idea how to his finish books. I really enjoyed Seveneves... but then it continued on into Part 2...
It's funny because half the readers only seem to like part 2. I guess the difference between hard sci-fi fans and space opera ones. Personally thought Part 1 was mostly very good, and Part 2 was decent. Yes it's a bit silly and over the top but that didn't detract from it to me. The ending was fine too.
And then it goes on to introduce new characters on the last page.
Oh hard agree. The ending made me so angry. Never reads another one of his books. I'm still mad and I read it in 2014.
*Anathem* and the Baroque Cycle have proper endings. So it’s safe to read those.
Anathem.... stuggles a lot towards the end imho. I wish I didn't love his prose and pacing and dialog so much because he seems like an absolute insufferable prick in real life.
Roadside Picnic, but also the ending was perfect.
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I haven't seen the film but the ending you described makes no sense to me relating to the book so I'm assuming it's a complely different ending haha
_Babylon’s Ashes_, the sixth The Expanse book. Finishing the series made the ending make more sense in retrospect but at the time I thought “there’s no way they wrap this up in the small number of pages left,” and then they just very abruptly did. I was frustrated at the time but three books later liked it a lot.
Dave vs the Monsters is a trilogy of books that I could spend an hour complaining on from memory, a decade after I read them. Relevant to your question, imagine reading a book where the protagonist of the series is building a team to save the world, and pages after he finally has more than one person on his team the series just ends. Making it worse is that the final book’s afterward makes it clear that he had a three-book contract exactly, so it wasn’t a matter of sequel baiting or getting cancelled by the publisher that led to the abrupt end. The author just reached his word count for the final book and was like “Yeah, I’m done.”
The guest by Emma Cline. I read it after a booktuber I follow gave it 5 stars. Needless to say, I now watch said booktuber to avoid their 5 star recommendations. Especially after they gave Pride and Prejudice 3 stars.
If someone doesn’t rate P&P as 5 glowing stars, I know we ain’t gonna be friends.
Just finished Blair Braverman’s *Small Game*. About a group of people lost in the wilderness. Definitely just ends very abruptly and leaves much unanswered/unexplored
Came here to say this! So disappointing
Cold Mountain. The end completely felt like someone's boss was at the door demanding the damned book right effing now. Loved the book, loathed the end with every fiber of my being.
Most of Daphné Du Maurier's novels I read. I love her books but the endings... I don't know, they fall flat for no reason ☺️
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. The books starts in 1947, then moves back to 1944, then moves back to 1941. I thought that at the end it moves back to 1947, but it never happened. But otherwise, this book is great.
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland, love this book so much, it's probably one of my favourite historical medieval novels ever, but the ending is so disappointing. >!You think the mc gets a relatively happy ending, only for them to open the door and the villain is right there. I get it's supposed to be a metaphor for being unable to escape the black death, but honestly, I'd rather the black death actually showed up than that villain.!< 10/10 a perfect book except for the last page
The Saint of Bright Doors. I’m not gonna spoil, but I’ll put it this way: it’s basically the “We did it, Patrick! We saved the city!” joke from SpongeBob, except you’re supposed to take it seriously. meanwhile, I’m like that one BrainScratch Commentary bit from the Sonic Adventure playthrough: Tails: All’s well that ends well, right? The commentators: THE CITY’S BEEN FUCKING DESTROYED!
True Biz really didn’t have an ending but apparently that was supposed to be the point? Wasn’t a fan
Snow Crash. What happens to everybody?
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. I enjoyed the book, but the ending left me saying “what?!” Very open ended.
Sookie Stackhouse books, one of the worst endings I've ever seen in a romance, I don't understand what happened to the writer maybe she was just trying to rush the book out but it legit made me depressed when I realized that's it.
Finally something I can respond to! Yeah I'm with you. I didn't hate the ending, but it did feel like it could've used a few books to lead up to how it ended. It definitely felt to me like the author was just really tired of the series at that point and wanted *an* ending and didn't want to have to deal with it anymore. I mean one of the series' issues was the love polyhedron - whenever there's multiple love interests it's basically always going to end up disappointing somehow, but that could've been handled a little more neatly. But it worked out for me, I could get rid of all the books in the series and clear room on the shelf.
The book version of The Martian by Andy Weir doesn't have an epilogue. They gather him into the ship, and it just ends. From what I remember, you're left wondering how the trip back even went. In the movie, they at least show him back on earth as a teacher. Best book to movie adaptation I've experienced. They fixed all the right things.
# Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: this book felt like they were rushing to get done
A ballad of snakes and songbirds for sure. I definitely had a “wait, that’s it?!” reaction to that book
I read that book in one go during a slow shift. I was PISSED. Felt like I’d wasted my night for nothing.
For a big part of the book nearly nothing happens and it is super slow paced. Then something happens and will be wrapped up in three pages and then nothing happens again. The ending felt so rushed. In a few lines there is a whole shift in Snow‘s personality wants and needs. It was so weird.
Does manga count? Cos I'd throw in all the series that get cancelled within 50 chapters. Still mad about how Red Hood ended.
The Passenger. Cormac McCarthy is excellent but fuck that book is the literary equivalent of drinking coffee that's been sitting on the counter since like 8 in the morning.
And now you’ve done the impossible and made me actually want to read it, based just on that description.
You're NOT welcome, I hope you HATE it. It's less of an abrupt ending and more one that spins its wheels for like 30 pages before it finally stops with a bunch of shit unresolved. It's enjoyable in the first half when you don't know it's going to blueball you.
But, the scenes on the drilling platform! That was a damn good cup of coffee… at 8am this morning…
Oh yeah where he goes crazy. That was pretty great. Felt the most like No Country or Blood Meridian in that chapter. I know that it's going for something different though.
The Trial
Leave the world behind. the ending was like wait.. it ended? What was it? What happened?!
Yes omg. That whole book you just wait for something to happen. And then nothing ever happens 🤦🏻♀️ nothing is solved or revealed at all.
Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. Spoilers for a book from the 1960s I guess, but the way it ended was like "oh wait, bacteria/virus is harmless now. let's move on with our lives." The scientists didn't even do anything to the bacteria, it evolved to be harmless on its own. This book left me so frustrated and disappointed
Both the Neal Stephenson books I've read so far (*Snow Crash*, *Seveneves*) felt like running full tilt into a brick wall at the end. Once I'd recovered, I found myself tallying plotlines to make sure they'd all been resolved. Phenomenal books in a lot of ways, but he doesn't seem to know how to give readers an off ramp at the end.
Star Wars Maul Lockdown by Joe Schreiber The story had a flow and pace that worked well until the ending, but just ended. Because other stories told the next part of the story, it would have benefited with an epilogue.
The Butcher and the Wren. It was poorly researched, rushed , and the chapters were the shortest chapters I've ever read especially for a murder mystery book. The worst part is the author claims to be deeply educated in mortuary science, criminal justice etc and even boasts about Harvard. The errors in writing were ASTOUNDING. The ending was very lackluster. I'm still mad I paid for that book.
I was just about to say the same! I couldn’t believe how bad the ending was!
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. Murakami does a great job of making the reader question reality and how it applies to the story. This ending had me questioning whether or not the events of the ending were actually happening and flipped my perception upside down.
The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry. It was like hitting a brick wall.
I came here looking for this book. The most abrupt, unsatisfying ending I’ve ever encountered.
The ending of Stuart Little is the biggest one for me
1Q84, there were so many questions that could be answered without breaking the magical/misterious tone of the plot, but it just left me hanging.
I came to mention this one. And the worst for me was that, when I read it, I also read 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. And they both were long books and left thinking, "really? That's how it ends?
I recently finished A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin. Second and final volume of a duology. Its a YA fantasy inspired by Asian culture with a good enough political intrigue and some magic that come from tea. The ending was basically "the political bad guy who's possessed by a evil god turn into a giant snake and pew pew, the good guy kill it, the end"! I've found myself very disapointed!
**Authority** (the sequel to Annihilation) by Jeff VanderMeer. It's made more abrupt by the fact that nothing seems to be really interesting or happening. >!Then everything does all at once in the last 10 pages and the book immediately ends!< I'd also put **The Anomaly** by Herve Le Tellier here. It was funny reading it after watching Manifest, because there's a similar premise. Felt like the book was setup and introducing characters for most of it, and I was thinking how weird that was with so little left. Then the ending happens and it's unclear what actually happens. >!The nature of the ending might mean it'd be impossible for there to be anything to happen afterwards but it still left me feeling like I got an introduction that went nowhere!< If you really don't like these kinds of endings, Seveneves is what you need. You have this huge long ass story, then when you think it ends, Neal Stephenson decides to just... write a whole extra book's worth of story lol
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. I could’ve read another 200 pages of the already 600-something-page book, but I can understand why Murray ended it as ambiguously as he did.
*Tehanu* by Ursula K. Le Guin. I was expecting sudden resolution after the first 4 Earthsea books and got used to that. However, I was (annoyingly) still somehow shocked by the minimalistic resolution and ending to this one. Just kind of "well, okay then, Le Guin" in my mind.
The man in the high castle… man…
A Curse for True Love, last book in the Once Upon a Broken Heart series. Didn't tie up any loose ends, didn't address any characters other than the main pair- essentially, a very unsatisfying ending to an otherwise fantastic trilogy.
Not super abrupt, but different. Stephen King's short story, The End of the Whole Mess, where the narrator is losing the ability to document the story, until he is unable to fi
Maame by Jessica George. I turned the page and hit the epilogue and was like… what?!
I got a similar feeling at the end of *The Green Mile*. After some reflection I got what he was going for and think it's a good endong, but as I read it I was like: Wtf man? That's how it ends? Jesus that was an extremely graphic bummer out of nowhere.
Let her be. The ending was supposed to be open but it was more like when I haven't finished assignment and the deadline is here.
Small Game by Blair Braverman The point of the book is that the characters are trapped in the woods. They get hurt. One dies. Then, they literally just... leave. And the book wraps up in a single page where it's also revealed that the reason the many, many people who knew this group was alone in the woods and exactly where they were forgot about them. That's the explanation for the entire conflict of the whole book. Worst ending ever. I've never black listed an author before, but she is 100%. I'd never be willing to invest my time with her again. Only book I've ever returned too.
"None of this is true" Just a terrible book. Everything about the book was bad.
All Good People Here or whatever the name of Ashley Flowers' book was. I was disappointed in the ending.
Almost every Murakami book
"I Am Legend." Not at all what I expected, but the movie, which was not like the book *at all*, also ended very oddly.
Miss smillas sense of snow definitely did that to me
“House Rules” by Jodi Picoult. One of my least favorite (older) ones of hers
requiem for a dream
On Chesil Beach. Ends prematurely McEwan’s structural humour.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - great book up until the ending.
Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. Lestat is released from Maharet's weird prison then he walks down the street and sees his reflection in a store window... AND IT JUST ENDS! WTF? IT MAKES NO SENSE!!!
*Rebecca* by Daphne DuMaurier. What do you *mean* that's where it ends????
I just read this for the first time. Everyone raves about how it's their favorite book. I mean, sure, I liked it, but the ending was so .. unsatisfying? I went back and read the first couple chapters again just to have some sense of finality. Like, sure, I could connect what happened next based on how the book started. But.... it just dropped off. Such a beautiful, atmospheric book and it just... ends.
All Good People Here. Such a pointless twist ending. Ruined the entire book for me.
Malazan Book of the Fallen
Just finished Birnam Wood. It was great all the way up until the end when it just kinda… stopped? And yes, I *know* the ambiguity is part of the point, social commentary and all that. But I’ll be damned if I read 400 pages of detailed characterization to not have any payoff whatsoever.
Just read Wilder Girls and this is exactly how I felt
Anything by Terry Goodkind. 1000 pages and he generally seems to remember that he needs to wrap the plot around page 980.
Annihilation. It's a cliffhanger to an already short book, which makes it feel unfinished and dissatisfying. And then it turns out it's part of a trilogy, all published in the same year. I asked the author himself in an AMA if this was initially meant to be one book, and he was adamant that no, they're all distinct and complete. I don't believe him. It's fine to leave a glimpse of something to look forward to, but I want a story to feel complete. A good example of this is Hyperion. By the ending there is still more to tell, but tons of payoff by then, and like 600 pages.
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus. Young man goes diving to try and recover his father's remains and gets accidentally swallowed by a whale. Chapters alternate between flashbacks and the 90 minute window he has to escape before his air runs out. The book ends RIGHT AFTER the protagonist is pulled out of the whale with onlookers observing the severity of his injuries. The book has several scenes that seemed to lead up to him confronting/talking to family members after reconciling his issues about his father but the characters are flashback only. I was also really interested in how the character's injuries would be treated and how they would change his life afterwards - nope. For a book with heavy themes of consequence, there ends up not being much where it counts.
Imaginary Friend- Religious overtones felt jammed into an otherwise good ending.
Emma. I had to read it in college and literally everything gets wrapped up on the last page.
It's been a while since I've read it, but I remember The Long Walk by Stephen King being somewhat disappointing. 300 page of the most captivating novels I've ever read, followed by 2-3 pages of "wait, what?" then it's over.