Does A Bad Ending Always Equal A Bad Book?

Let’s talk about endings because I’m curious. How much weight does an ending carry for you? For me? Eh, it depends. A bad ending doesn’t always kill the book for me. For example: In the Woods (2007) by Tana French. The ending completely and thoroughly fell apart to me. Just made no sense whatsoever but I loved the book overall. It helped that the characters were interesting. The pacing wasn’t all that great from what I remember but still, I really enjoyed reading the book. So the bad ending didn’t subtract much of anything in my total enjoyment. Just like some novels can transcend spelling errors and bad grammar, the same can be said for a bad ending don’t you think?

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21 thoughts on “Does A Bad Ending Always Equal A Bad Book?”

Maxine August 30, 2011 at 3:26 am

One of my daughters just finished the ubiquitous “One Day” by David Nicholls, and was so annoyed at the end – she said it made the book pointless! (Other people think the ending is good.) Another book I’ve just read that clearly divides reviewers totally on this specific question is Why Don’t You Come For Me by Diane Janes (US title: Why Didn’t You Come For Me). It is a great little suspense novel I thought, and it would be interesting to know what you think of the end if you read it (it is v cheap in e-format in the UK but not sure if the same is true of the US). It reminded me of Karin Alvtegen, whose endings often pack a horrible punch, probably most so in Betrayal. Another ending of note is The Sinner by Petra Hammesfahr. (these books are all reviewed at Euro Crime if you want to check them out.)
1. Keishon Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 11:35 am
  
  Will look it up Maxine. Thanks. I am not a big Karin Alvtegen fan. I’ve yet to get into her books. I do have the Sinner in my tbr and after reading your comments I think I will go find it and will check out the reviews as well.
Kailana August 30, 2011 at 5:28 am

I have to admit that sometimes an ending will entirely destroy a book for me. It will disappoint me and then that’s all I will think of when I think of the book…
1. Keishon Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 11:33 am
  
  Interesting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You are not alone.
Jorrie Spencer August 30, 2011 at 6:59 am

I think it depends on the book. If it’s just the tying up of loose ends and the meat of the story in the middle of the book is what made the book for me, then I can handle a bad ending. But if the bad ending affects how I view the entire book, it can ruin a book for me.

It can depend on genre too, at least for me. In Romance the bulk of the relationship is developed in the middle (usually); in Mystery the big reveal is at the end (usually). So Romance endings tend to be less important to me than Mystery endings, but there are always exceptions!
1. Keishon Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 11:32 am
  
  Agree completely. In different genres the expectations for endings is different. But as someone has said in a previous comment, a bad ending = a bad book in their opinion with exceptions. My sister said as much to me the other night which made me ask this question in the first place. Her response was: if the book ends badly then that’s the last thing you remember so in essence the book is ruined. Interesting.
bernadetteinoz August 30, 2011 at 7:54 am

Hmmmm….not always but it can do. One of my very favourite books of all time is Geraldine Brooks’ YEAR OF WONDER (no it’s not crime fiction – it’s historical fiction based on some factual events). I loved it to bits except for the last short chapter which I found absurd and silly and it made me cross. So I re-read the book and didn’t read the final chapter and I was happy Then I saw Brooks interviewed and she said that the thing that happened in the end that me (and lots of others) didn’t like was actually taken from her research and was one of the most ‘close to life’ bits of the entire book. But I still prefer the book without the last chapter

As for crime fiction…The only one I can think of off the top of my head late on a Tuesday night is the last Karin Slaughter book I read in which she killed off one of her two main characters in a very perfunctory way in the last page or so of the book. I thought it was a bit of a cop out…like she was bored with the character herself and just knocked him off in a hurry one morning. I never read another of her books but have to say it wasn’t that good a book to start with so maybe that’s not a good example

These days I am getting a little sick of books having to have Hollywood/thriller style endings that are out of keeping with the rest of the book.

Oh and I actually did LOL at the post picture
1. Maxine August 30, 2011 at 9:25 am
  
  I read that K S and I agree totally, Bernadette, I thought it was a cynical way to “refresh” the series and now sure enough the “person left behind” looks due to start a relationship with the “lead character in the author’s other series” ( I dunno as this novel was so disgusting in describing what a pervert had done to a kidnappee that I parted company with the author – also because her books are so s–l–o–w now, almost E George=worthy!).
2. Keishon Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 11:29 am
  
  Oh yeah the KS book is a good one. Literally it was the last two pages. Like Maxine said she’s since went on to pair Sarah with Will Trent and that was a deal breaker for me so I discontinued reading the series. Thought it was a bad move and she should have kept them a separate series.
Jose Ignacio August 30, 2011 at 9:01 am

I hate being too strict, it can always be exceptions, but a bad ending ruins a book in my opinion.
1. Keishon Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 11:36 am
  
  Thanks for sharing your thoughts Jose.
Tori August 30, 2011 at 9:20 am

For me, a bad ending (or an ending I don’t agree with) can ruin the book for me depending on what happens and how I feel about what happens. If the author uses it to further the arc and usher us into the next installment, I’m more apt to be forgiving then if they kill off main character(s) or deny me an HEA when the entire book was used to “trick” us into thinking they would be an HEA. If that makes sense. I have a love/hate relationship with Adrian Phoenix’s Maker’s Song series . It it we spend an entire book watching our h/h struggle against some pretty insurmountable odds to be together and yet at the end, they are always parted in a dramatic fashion. I find myself so mad at the end of each one yet I will always purchase the next one in hopes they will finally get their HEA. *sigh*
1. Keishon Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 11:41 am
  
  Thanks Tori for sharing your thoughts and yes that makes sense: I would hate that kind of ending. Must concur with you in that I don’t care for trick endings, or denouements that cheat. Also, the Adrian Phoenix series sounds intriguing. I’m not averse to that surprisingly. Gabaldon fan over here.
rhapsodyinbooks August 30, 2011 at 9:22 am

Endings definitely affect me. Usually it is more the case that a good ending makes the whole book seem better to me than a bad ending ruining it. I didn’t like the ending of In the Woods but I respected it.
1. Keishon Post authorAugust 30, 2011 at 11:49 am
  
  Thanks for the feedback. Good point about a good ending make the whole book better. That’s happened to me as well.
2. bernadetteinoz August 30, 2011 at 5:22 pm
  
  I do very much agree with the notion that a good ending can make a book great…I always use Ken Bruen’s THE DRAMATIST as my example of that…a very good book with a horrid but totally perfect ending for the book…literally took my breath away. Most authors would be too scared to take the leap that Bruen took there.
  1. Donna August 31, 2011 at 3:55 am
    
    I agree with Bernadette on the Bruen. It was a horrifically brilliant ending.I was sitting at Prestwick airport when I was reading it and burst out sobbing. Very embarrassing ) I guess an unsatisfactory ending disappoints me in an otherwise great book but doesn’t bother me so much in a not so good one – if that makes any sense! And I don’t like ‘happy ever after’ endings. I particularly love noir endings.
    1. Keishon Post authorAugust 31, 2011 at 5:18 pm
      
      I’ve read all of the Ken Bruen books in the Jack Taylor series and can say that The Dramatist is the most compelling. That ending was truly shocking. You don’t like happy ever after endings? I hear you. I don’t like sappy endings myself but don’t care for an ending that is too sad either. Thanks for dropping by. Appreciate it.
Maxine August 30, 2011 at 9:22 am

PS Another book with a controversial shock ending that caused much comment, discussion, was it a cheat, was it anti-feminist, etc, is In the Cut by Susanne (Susanna?) Moore. I even read it but did not like it at all, too much sex. Also in the movie, with Meg Ryan (which was changed quite a bit from the book to make the main character, Meg, more sympathetic than she was in the book – and I think they changed the ending in the film so it was not so shocking, but can’t remember to be honest).
VacuousMinx August 31, 2011 at 7:36 am

Late to the party as usual! Great question. I have to differentiate between a bad ending and an unexpected ending. A bad ending will be the last thing I read so I’ll remember it more than the good stuff, at least at first. An unexpected ending, especially in mysteries, can be exciting even when it shocks. But it’s a knife-edge for an author. Don’t do something that really annoys me just for shock value.
1. Keishon Post authorAugust 31, 2011 at 5:16 pm
  
  Agree completely. For a book with unexpected endings, check out my post tomorrow. It’s an oldie but goodie.