Best book ending?

[Kyriakos]

Surely this has been discussed before, but maybe it is time for a new thread about it :)

A few memorable ones in my view are Kafka's The Trial ("it was as if the shame would go on to live after him"), Lovecraft's "The shadow over Inssmouth", and of course the ending to Animal Farm :)

Which are your own favorites?

[Raven Falcon.]

Surely this has been discussed before, but maybe it is time for a new thread about it :)

A few memorable ones in my view are Kafka's The Trial ("it was as if the shame would go on to live after him"), Lovecraft's "The shadow over Inssmouth", and of course the ending to Animal Farm :)

Which are your own favorites?

All the endings you posted above flounder in the presence of these endings: The Great Gatsby's and La Divina Comedia's.

[kev67]

Tricky one, I can think of books with weak endings; happy-ever-after endings, overly miserable endings, contrived neither-one-thing-nor-the-other endings, and postscripts that take the edge off a sad ending. I cannot think of many great books with great endings. I think Anthony Powell tied up the end of his Dance to the Music of Time series pretty well. The end of Watership Down was pretty good, both happy and sad at the same time. I liked the ending of The Jungle Book. I generally prefer a happy if weaker ending over a stronger but miserable ending.

[Charles Darnay]

Hemingway is quite good when it comes to endings: A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls are great.

Victor Hugo as well is a masterful finisher: the entire last part of Toilers of the Sea is wonderfully tragic.

[bIGwIRE]

Hemingway is quite good when it comes to endings: A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls are great.

Victor Hugo as well is a masterful finisher: the entire last part of Toilers of the Sea is wonderfully tragic.


I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, but Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises has one of the best closing lines of all time.

[prendrelemick]

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Absolutely Joyous.

[Emil Miller]

I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, but Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises has one of the best closing lines of all time.

It has often been quoted on this forum and one member actually used it for his signature.

[Summer M]

The Shadow Over Innsmouth? That was a horrible ending!
It was basically [SPOILER ALERT], "so I left that town and found out that I just happen to be a fish myself, so I joined them." Awful.

Lovecraft always gave the the feeling that he had a deadline to beat, so he rushed the ending and made everything fit together deus ex machina.
The Whisperer in Darkness had the same problem. Too bad, because the man had a lot of talent.

[Scheherazade]

"She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously."

Grapes of Wrath

[Snowqueen]

Adam looked up with sick weariness. His lips parted and failed and tried again. Then his lungs filled. He expelled the air and his lips combed the rushing sigh. His whispered word seemed to hang in the air:
"Timshel!"
His eyes closed and he slept.

East of Eden