A little Bookish Banter to get us through. Bookish Banter is a little bit of banter about our bookish thoughts as we have a friendly discussion over a nice cup of tea.
This bookish banter is all about endings. What is your perfect ending?
Jenn-
I feel this is a loaded question. At least for me. I will say that I do like my endings to be happy, resolved and complete. What that means is different for every story. I really don't like to say how a book should end because it's not my story. So I am happy with having an ending because then I had a story.
I do prefer my endings to be happy... preferably everyone survives, the romances are together, the main characters are in their bliss. Now I do know that this doesn't work for every story. Some stories are not meant to be happy. I also know that this isn't realistic in the real world... but I don't read for the real world. I read to escape so I like to live in a world that things are good. Happy endings make all the hardships in the book worth it. All the tears I shed, curses I shouted, and moments of throwing the book across the room... I need something to make me not regret those moments. I want to end a book smiling from ear to ear.
With that said... Here is not my happy endings. These endings make me just mad!
Cliffhangers... I don't like these. I don't care if there are more books coming out. I don't want to wait a year or more to find out what happens. At least end it with the scene complete.
No real resolution... These stories are not complete. I need resolution, I need to know how what when why where and who. I need these answered by story end.
Leave it to my own interpretation .... No, This was not my story, I did not write this book. Don't make it up to my own brain to figure out what the ending meant. I need it ended, complete, understood, no questions left at the end. That just leaves me very very upset.
I don't know that I have a preferred ending. I know there are some books that I've read that I've been like oh that ending sucked so bad. But I can't really tell you how the books should have ended. They just feel either incomplete, or just not at all what you expected or wanted.
I think I like twisty endings. Things you don't see coming. I think that's why I like horror, thriller, or mystery type books. Because you have absolutely no idea how it's going to end, who's going to live, or even sometimes the whodunnit.
Jenn said she likes happy endings. I do not. I mean I guess for some books I do. But I don't read too many happy books. Usually my books are full of mental illness or murder, or zombies.
With that being said I like books with endings that have me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, with no idea what's happening or going to happen.
I pick the type of books, for the most part, that should have happy endings. If the endings can't be happy, per se, I need them to be hopeful. I also like loose ends tied up. I have docked half and whole stars for leaving me hanging. If it's a series, I am ok with a cliffhanger, because it comes with the territory, but standalones should have a finite ending in my opinion. Nothing bugs me more than an open ending.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of cliffhangers but sometimes I guess it's hard to avoid them in some series'. It's the ones that leave little to no resolutions to the story that really bother me. I want some type of closure when I reach the end.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Ash, mostly. I don't really have a favorite type of ending. It really depends on my mood, I think! Sometimes I like an open ending where I can imagine for myself where the characters go next, and sometimes I like things to be completely settled. I also love a twist ending!
ReplyDeleteI hate an ending being open to interpretation. For me it is lazy writing not to give it a proper ending. To be honest I'm not bothered by cliffhangers or HEA, as long as the book has a decent conclusion of some kind. I mostly read horror and apocalypse so my only HEA is if the dog survives!
ReplyDeleteThis question is hard. I don’t need endings to be happy, but I need them to make sense and answer my questions. I hate being left with questions!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
i hate cliffhangers. i do like a warm feeling at the end of the book, but sometimes the shocking one that leaves me with my jaw hanging open fits the bill
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
I am not too fussed about happy or sad endings. I like them both pretty equally and I think they both have their very good uses. However, I do like my endings to be entirely closed. I like when I know what has happened to the characters, what situations they are in and state they are in when we leave them. Cliffhangers are okay for during series but not the end of the series please! I only have one or two open endings that I actually like.
ReplyDelete