There is a strange feeling in finishing something you were so invested in. I’ve recently finished two long brilliant novels and it has got me thinking about endings.
I have always flicked to the end of a book to see what number the book ends on, so I can count down to the final page. If I’m reading on my Kindle I am constantly keeping one eye on the percentage as it ticks up to 100. I am not wishing it away but rather wanting to know how long it is before the inevitable end arises.
I do the same with TV shows or films, I check my watch and think well there is only ten minutes left they need to start wrapping things up.
I imagine I am not the only one who does this, that there are many others of you reading this who do the same. Do we live too much in the future, in the hope of something?
I knew someone who used to read the final chapter of a book after he had read the first chapter. A morbid, self involved Italian he did it just so that if he died (the hilarity is that he was 22 at the time) before finishing the book at least he would know how it ended. He’d die with no fiction related regrets. I think my need to know is brought about purely by my own curiosity, nothing quite as deep and meaningful. I only constantly check where I am in a show or novel because I am so curious as to how it ends, if the spy gets the terrorist or the guy gets the girl. If a happily ever after will exist at the final pages or will it all unravel horribly.You cling to those final pages or minutes and hope that what you want to happen, happens.
To me a sense of an ending makes everything, every word on the page, seem more important.
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29 Comments
GREAT POST!! Nevr has a truer word been spoken….
Wow thanks, really kind of you.
I dread the ending because either it will be good,a nd come too quickly, or will be bad and make the whole book a waste of time. But I want to know as little in advance as possible. I don’t read book jackets at all. The blinder, the better.
I really agree with the blinder the better. I am the same with movies I grunt like an elderly man if I see a trailer that basically shows the entire movie within those two minutes. I love to go into something with a sense of anticipation!
Reaching the end of such a book is always such an agonising feeling! Complex! I am always torn between wanting to know the end and not wanting to reach the end. Argh! Although I do not count the number of pages left, I cannot help a quick glimpse at the thickness of the remaining pages followed by an intense bout of ‘no..no..no…yes..yes..yes…’ 😀
Great post!
May I ask the names of the two novels? I am always on the look out for book referrals.
Depending on the ending it can sometimes make you regret even picking up the book in the first place too! The two I read were: I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes a spy thriller and I was recommended it and having never really been into that kind of book I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The second was Us by David Nicholls a beautifully written and very easy read about a family and what can tear you apart or put you together. I would really recommend Us if you are in to the kind of books that make you laugh but also make you really think about the relationships you have with people!
Thank you! I will check it out. 🙂
Really nice post, I’m guilty when it comes to skipping to the Last chapter. Sometimes I just can’t handle the suspense.
Really? I’ve never skipped to the end, although when I was at school I used to skim read the Harry Potter books as I was worried my friends would spoil the ending so read it as fast as I could, more often then not missing out on parts of plot so I could get to the end!
I really liked the feeling that came over me while I was reading this. It made me think about all the crazy things I did to avoid spoilers so I could fully enjoy an ending (be it a book or a movie)
I wrote it as soon as I had closed the last of the two books and just felt like I had to write it. Really agree although I have still never watched the Six Sense because of spoilers! I once interviewed an author about his book and didn’t have the heart to admit I hadn’t read it the whole way. He talked about the big twist ending and I struggled to read the rest of it as I knew how it ended, I think it wasn’t until it was about to come out as a movie that I finished is as I knew that the movie would definitely kill my motivation to ever finish reading it.
Exactly! Spoiling the ending just kills my urge to finish a story. It takes all the tension (the best part) out of it. For some reason I feel the same way about overhyped books/movies. Once everyone’s talking about them I feel like I’ve lost some sort of a personal relation to the story. This might sound silly, but in these cases I usually just wait (even for years) so that I would forget about these impulses.
I always think that if I see a film I can never go back and read the book it was based upon because I know already the twists and turns so there just no suspense or thrill in it. I agree with you on the waiting years bit, I did that with Man of Steel because I already knew the main plot twists so wanted/hoped I would forget them and so enjoy the film with no prior knowledge. Didn’t work though!
Oh yes. I don’t think it has ever worked for me to read the book after watching the film version… and sometimes even the waiting doesn’t save the experience, but I try:) …do you think you’ll ever watch Sixth Sense?
No I really don’t think I’ll will which is a shame as I hear its a great movie. I am also not a massive fan of horror movies I went to see The Village by the same director and spent the whole movie making jokes in the cinema because I was terrified!
Haha, really?:) Shyamalan really lost his touch after the Village though — I don’t think you’d be afraid at all while watching his other films.
I loved Signs though
You’re so right, I forgot about that! So…. after Signs:)
haha I watched The Happening I’ll agree with that
oh that was so bad 😀 I just watched the trailer, so it would maybe make me remember some ok parts …. didn’t do the trick haha
Make this Freshly Pressed WordPress. So beautifully put
Thats very kind Heather, thank you and thanks for reading!
I keep an eye on the percentage on my tablet as I read eBooks too. I like the satisfaction of reaching the end 🙂
I am always surprised by the ending of a book or tv series. I get so lost in them that I never expect the story to end.
I love being surprised by a show or book more often it’s a tv show that has the power to surprise for me as it has a long build up and you get so very invested
I always end up shouting “nooooooooo” incredulously at the computer/tv.. “noooo, it can’t end NOW!!!” Goddamn cliffhangers..
Hahaha me too! If you watch Marvel’s Agent of SHIELD that was the last time I did that
I don’t, but it clearly sounds like I should.
When was the last time you did?