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My first impulse for this week’s prompt was to discuss books with fantastic endings that I’ve talked about here before, but I’m going to try to stretch myself and choose titles I have rarely or maybe even never discussed on my blog instead.
Now let’s see if I can briefly describe why I loved these endings without giving away too many spoilers about them.
I will be jumping around among various genres a lot in this post as that’s what my reading habits have always been like.
My Real Children by Jo Walton
Why the Ending Was Fantastic: It was open-ended. Given how serious Patricia’s memory loss was, a definitive answer would have felt a little odd to me.
Westlake Soul by Rio Youers
Why the Ending Was Fantastic: Westlake performed marvellously in it!
Angelica: A Novel by Arthur Phillips
Why the Ending Was Fantastic: As a heads up for those of you who need it, one of the storylines in this book revolved around whether a child was being abused or if her strange behavior could be explained by paranormal means instead. I thought this book did an excellent job of resolving that question while still remaining true to the time period when it was written and when child abuse was rarely if ever discussed in polite company.
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Why the Ending Was Fantastic: There was a lot of character growth by the final stanza. (This was a story told in the form of poems).
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Why the Ending Was Fantastic: This entire book took place over a few days in a maternity ward in an Irish hospital during an outbreak of the 1918 flu. While there were still things about it that felt rushed to me, the ending went a long way in explaining why everything moved so quickly.
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Why the Ending Was Fantastic: It was happy. Given what happened earlier in the storyline and how often those things turned out tragically back then, that is not at all what I was expecting. It was pleasantly surprising to say goodbye to these characters with the assurance that they were going to be okay.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Why the Ending Was Fantastic: I loved how much room it left for a sequel while still tying up nearly all of the important conflicts in the storyline. The fact that romance was not part of this storyline was also refreshing to me. We need more books that focus on non-romantic relationships in my opinion.
The problem with this week’s subject is that my TBR pile is gonna end up touching the ceiling. These sound great, Lydia!
Heh, I feel the same way.
Thanks, George.
I wonder if everyone else interpreted “fantastic” as “excellent”? I interpreted it as “not realistic”…Most people seem to like “My Antonia.”
Yes, I think they did.
Great list of works!
Thank you.
Endings are often randomly changed by film makers, and this is something I’m bothered about!
‘The Heart of the Matter’ by Graham Greene is the best example of that. It’s one of my favourite books. The screenwriter just decided to put in a random happy ending, showing a total lack of understanding of the book. If someone doesn’t like or respect the end, they should accept that it’s not the book for them.
I hate it when filmmakers do that. Thanks for sharing.