the idea of Stephen King (a writer who writes everything well, except for endings) watching a lecture by Brandon Sanderson (a writer who can only write endings well) is funny to me.
the ending only really matters in two genres for me: science fiction and mystery. The ending seems more integral to what those genres are usually trying to achieve, and a bad ending can unravel the whole story and its meaning for me. With other types of stories, I can easily shrug and still like a novel with a weak or even bad ending as long as I enjoyed reading most of it.
Yes, High Lonesome is great and I did indeed want it to continue, so great point! Watching your videos is like watching a professor giving us laughs, great examples, historical references and fascination perspectives. Thanks again for the response, great stuff!
I always look at a story like the Vault event in Gymnastics. A Gymnast is not getting a perfect score if they end up in a mangled heap on the floor instead of sticking the landing, and neither should a book.
I blew a gasket about an Australian book called The Bus on Thrusday If I’d had the psychical book I’d have thrown it and then burned it. The author just ends mid sentence… No resolution. No questions answered. Utterly frustrating and left me want to punch a wall.
I’ve occasionally come very close to throwing a book across the room, saying BS! loudly. So very annoying. Too easy a wrap-up, no wrap-up, characters turning on a dime into someone completely different.
I read Lonesome Dove last year. It was a good book, but it was not a great one. That ending could have left me with a good taste in my mouth if only that character had made a different decision. But instead I was frustrated.
I love when authors manage to give us a killer of an ending sentence. Marquand’s criminally underrated The Late George Apley is a great example. It’s a real sucker punch to the gut, for sure, but yet so right. You realize Marquand could not possibly have ended the book any other way.
The Louis L'Amour books I've read don't seem to have had rushed endings, but they do tend to end swiftly - L'Amour liked to wrap things up and not linger, which can seem sudden in comparison to the endings of a lot of novels. The ending of Lord of the Rings is one of my favorites and I'm glad Tolkien ended it the way he did. When I used to write fiction, endings were always, always the hardest part for me, without exception. My mind would just go blank, and I had no idea what to do. I hadn't read enough to have an idea of what a good ending was, nor did I really have enough life experience to understand what made for a good ending, so my endings always tended to maunder about and end on a weak note. It was so disheartening that I quit writing fiction altogether.
Any good novel that can deliver an excellent ending is an excellent book. But a great novel with a bad ending can still be a great book (you have consistently ranked Lonesome Dove as the best Western ever written, and I love it despite its ending). I grow tired of books with good/promising beginnings that sputter out - e.g. the first ten pages of My Year of Rest and Relaxation were very good, I thought, and then it's basically the same thing for the rest of the book, with an ending that felt cheap, though some people love it. Re. films, Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is interesting. Anthony Burgess was annoyed that the version of his book that Kubrick adapted missed out the last chapter, but Burgess also complained that the book was too didactic, which is especially apparent... in the last chapter.
I thought War and Peace, Anna Karenina, AND The Brothers Karamazov had extremely meh endings. So that's 3/4 of the Russian biggies right there.. Atleast Crime and Punishment had a decent ending.
Really? The speech at the stone in Brothers Karamazov is one of my favorite endings in all of literature. Although I guess Ivans and Dimitris storylines are kind of unsolved, so maybe. What did you dislike about it? I agree about war and peace though.
I remember a recent read where the ending was a big letdown. H.G. Wells’s _When the Sleeper Wakes_ leaves everything unresolved. The character dies, but the factions of the society remain in endless conflict.
Sherlock Holmes always seems to wrap things up in a brisk, tidy fashion. But that's his bag. I can handle a loose, ambiguous ending too now and then as long as it carries me beyond the end of the final sentence.
I was wondering about the ending of Gone With The Wind. When Rhett Butler left he was my only favorite part of the book. I was left wondering where did Rhett go ???? Where did he end up ???? What was his life like after leaving Scarlett O’Hara ?????
Good endings are a must. Tana French is terrible at them, also most of Stephen King, although Pet Semetary was a bolt of lightning. Lonesome Dove's ending was pathetic. Hansen's Mariette in Ecstasy was sublime.
Eh, I like the ending of Salem's Lot. Nd th ending of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. But those are probably the two best endings King ever wrote. I fully agree that the ending of Lord of the Rings is great. It might even be my pick for the greatest ending of all time. Yes, bad endings ruin good books.
Omg. I completely forgot the actual ending of Lonesome Dove and instead remembered the end as Gus’s decision. So then I commented on the live. D’oh! Gus’s decision would have been a perfect ending, full stop. I don’t know why McMurtry did that other nonsense. It was indeed stupid.
Mr. Donoghue I feel that as a romance reader endings are important. I don’t like when a romance book has a third act breakup or something tragic happening and then the book is wrapped up with a bow too quickly. I don’t like when a book has a cliffhanger and you weren’t expecting it. I get mad at certain harlequin love inspired books where the two people in the story haven’t held hands, kissed or even gone on a date and at the end they get married. With books written by writers like Elsie Silver or Liz Tomforde they write wonderful endings in their books. A writer like Sara Cate leaves you wanting more when she ends one of her books which I love. Tillie Cole writes dark books but her endings in her books are quite wonderful.
Cliffhanger endings are a turn off for me, I am only coming back to fantasy after a long absence, the problem with many fantasy books is they are part of a series and can't be satisfactorily read as stand alone books. I like to read a variety of authors and don't like being committed to a series. I have just finished 'A Little Hatred' by Joe Abercrombie, many of the plot threads in the story aren't tied together as it is clear the author wants you to read the next book in the Age of Madness trilogy.
I know Stephen King isn't considered commonly considered literature but the first 900-950 pages of IT are amazing, six bildungsroman/great backstories in one, then comes a disappointing ending and a scene that could've been omitted easily, highly questionable. The epilogue is also great after. Instead of having the young characters have sex in the sewers to remember the way out, they could've just rested for a few minutes. Only one of them knew the way out, no need to have all of them involved. Just have the one guy rest and think for a minute, it takes just as much time as the sex would've, but would've been even more anticlimactic. King's comments about the scene are interesting though, chuckling about how people are overreacting to the horror of this scene instead of the Pennywise, blood, racism and killing scenes. Maybe people feel like this is the most horrific scene in the horror book, even though it's supposed to be a sort of coming of age or epiphany for the characters, and the intersection point for the two time narratives. The Pennywise climax/resolution is the disappointing part, separate from that scene. I liked how Frodo was changed from the ring, how the trauma affected him and he was never the same, it seems realistic of people who've been through war.
You never dissapoint!!! Love all daily content that you make. Have a great day Mr. Donoghue.
the idea of Stephen King (a writer who writes everything well, except for endings) watching a lecture by Brandon Sanderson (a writer who can only write endings well) is funny to me.
A writer who writes everything well? So, some other guy named Stephen King?
the ending only really matters in two genres for me: science fiction and mystery. The ending seems more integral to what those genres are usually trying to achieve, and a bad ending can unravel the whole story and its meaning for me. With other types of stories, I can easily shrug and still like a novel with a weak or even bad ending as long as I enjoyed reading most of it.
My goodness, you’re up to 18.6k subscribers!
Congratulations. Couldn’t happen to a more interesting guy.
😺✌️
Yes, High Lonesome is great and I did indeed want it to continue, so great point! Watching your videos is like watching a professor giving us laughs, great examples, historical references and fascination perspectives. Thanks again for the response, great stuff!
I love an ending that completes the story, even if that ending is sad or perhaps tragic.
Huckleberry Finn. A great novel that slowly dissolves into an ending so bad that you want to throw the book across the room. Maybe not the kindle.
I always look at a story like the Vault event in Gymnastics. A Gymnast is not getting a perfect score if they end up in a mangled heap on the floor instead of sticking the landing, and neither should a book.
I blew a gasket about an Australian book called
The Bus on Thrusday
If I’d had the psychical book I’d have thrown it and then burned it. The author just ends mid sentence… No resolution. No questions answered. Utterly frustrating and left me want to punch a wall.
I’ve occasionally come very close to throwing a book across the room, saying BS! loudly. So very annoying. Too easy a wrap-up, no wrap-up, characters turning on a dime into someone completely different.
An author has to stick the landing for me
I read Lonesome Dove last year. It was a good book, but it was not a great one. That ending could have left me with a good taste in my mouth if only that character had made a different decision. But instead I was frustrated.
@@amyschmelzer6445I thought the ending was heartbreaking but very realistic.
I love when authors manage to give us a killer of an ending sentence. Marquand’s criminally underrated The Late George Apley is a great example. It’s a real sucker punch to the gut, for sure, but yet so right. You realize Marquand could not possibly have ended the book any other way.
The Louis L'Amour books I've read don't seem to have had rushed endings, but they do tend to end swiftly - L'Amour liked to wrap things up and not linger, which can seem sudden in comparison to the endings of a lot of novels. The ending of Lord of the Rings is one of my favorites and I'm glad Tolkien ended it the way he did.
When I used to write fiction, endings were always, always the hardest part for me, without exception. My mind would just go blank, and I had no idea what to do. I hadn't read enough to have an idea of what a good ending was, nor did I really have enough life experience to understand what made for a good ending, so my endings always tended to maunder about and end on a weak note. It was so disheartening that I quit writing fiction altogether.
Any good novel that can deliver an excellent ending is an excellent book. But a great novel with a bad ending can still be a great book (you have consistently ranked Lonesome Dove as the best Western ever written, and I love it despite its ending). I grow tired of books with good/promising beginnings that sputter out - e.g. the first ten pages of My Year of Rest and Relaxation were very good, I thought, and then it's basically the same thing for the rest of the book, with an ending that felt cheap, though some people love it.
Re. films, Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is interesting. Anthony Burgess was annoyed that the version of his book that Kubrick adapted missed out the last chapter, but Burgess also complained that the book was too didactic, which is especially apparent... in the last chapter.
Many of Mieville's short stories have endings that really made me feel betrayed. They are often very sudden and disappointing.
I thought War and Peace, Anna Karenina, AND The Brothers Karamazov had extremely meh endings. So that's 3/4 of the Russian biggies right there.. Atleast Crime and Punishment had a decent ending.
So I'm not the only one who hates the War and Peace ending. What is done to Natasha's character is insufferable.
Really? The speech at the stone in Brothers Karamazov is one of my favorite endings in all of literature. Although I guess Ivans and Dimitris storylines are kind of unsolved, so maybe. What did you dislike about it? I agree about war and peace though.
I remember a recent read where the ending was a big letdown. H.G. Wells’s _When the Sleeper Wakes_ leaves everything unresolved. The character dies, but the factions of the society remain in endless conflict.
So what are your thoughts on Italo Calvino's "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler"? 😉
Sherlock Holmes always seems to wrap things up in a brisk, tidy fashion. But that's his bag. I can handle a loose, ambiguous ending too now and then as long as it carries me beyond the end of the final sentence.
I was wondering about the ending of Gone With The Wind. When Rhett Butler left he was my only favorite part of the book. I was left wondering where did Rhett go ???? Where did he end up ???? What was his life like after leaving Scarlett O’Hara ?????
Good endings are a must. Tana French is terrible at them, also most of Stephen King, although Pet Semetary was a bolt of lightning. Lonesome Dove's ending was pathetic. Hansen's Mariette in Ecstasy was sublime.
The City & the City sounds intriguing.
Eh, I like the ending of Salem's Lot. Nd th ending of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. But those are probably the two best endings King ever wrote.
I fully agree that the ending of Lord of the Rings is great. It might even be my pick for the greatest ending of all time.
Yes, bad endings ruin good books.
Omg. I completely forgot the actual ending of Lonesome Dove and instead remembered the end as Gus’s decision. So then I commented on the live. D’oh! Gus’s decision would have been a perfect ending, full stop.
I don’t know why McMurtry did that other nonsense. It was indeed stupid.
Mr. Donoghue I feel that as a romance reader endings are important. I don’t like when a romance book has a third act breakup or something tragic happening and then the book is wrapped up with a bow too quickly. I don’t like when a book has a cliffhanger and you weren’t expecting it. I get mad at certain harlequin love inspired books where the two people in the story haven’t held hands, kissed or even gone on a date and at the end they get married. With books written by writers like Elsie Silver or Liz Tomforde they write wonderful endings in their books. A writer like Sara Cate leaves you wanting more when she ends one of her books which I love. Tillie Cole writes dark books but her endings in her books are quite wonderful.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the ending of The Bee Sting.
Cliffhanger endings are a turn off for me, I am only coming back to fantasy after a long absence, the problem with many fantasy books is they are part of a series and can't be satisfactorily read as stand alone books. I like to read a variety of authors and don't like being committed to a series. I have just finished 'A Little Hatred' by Joe Abercrombie, many of the plot threads in the story aren't tied together as it is clear the author wants you to read the next book in the Age of Madness trilogy.
Are there any good Star Wars novels?
I know Stephen King isn't considered commonly considered literature but the first 900-950 pages of IT are amazing, six bildungsroman/great backstories in one, then comes a disappointing ending and a scene that could've been omitted easily, highly questionable. The epilogue is also great after. Instead of having the young characters have sex in the sewers to remember the way out, they could've just rested for a few minutes. Only one of them knew the way out, no need to have all of them involved. Just have the one guy rest and think for a minute, it takes just as much time as the sex would've, but would've been even more anticlimactic. King's comments about the scene are interesting though, chuckling about how people are overreacting to the horror of this scene instead of the Pennywise, blood, racism and killing scenes. Maybe people feel like this is the most horrific scene in the horror book, even though it's supposed to be a sort of coming of age or epiphany for the characters, and the intersection point for the two time narratives. The Pennywise climax/resolution is the disappointing part, separate from that scene.
I liked how Frodo was changed from the ring, how the trauma affected him and he was never the same, it seems realistic of people who've been through war.
Stephen King is indeed not great with endings.
Nothing jellies The Spaminator’s broth more than a garbage ending.
My vote for the worst ending of all time: The Stand.