This leads to a literary subject I've been thinking about.
Endings are hard. What are your favorite endings in books?
Welcome to the Hellmouth petting zoo.
Buffy ,'Beneath You'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
DavidS - Mar 10, 2004 5:20:57 pm PST #1208 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Susan W. - Mar 10, 2004 5:22:52 pm PST #1209 of 10002
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
Specific endings or types?
Steph L. - Mar 10, 2004 5:23:55 pm PST #1210 of 10002
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
Off the top of my head, Gatsby. The Glass Menagerie, if we're counting plays.
The Prince of Tides.
Oh, oh, oh -- Kavalier and Clay might have the most perfect ending ever.
§ ita § - Mar 10, 2004 5:24:34 pm PST #1211 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Prayer For Owen Meany.
DavidS - Mar 10, 2004 5:25:07 pm PST #1212 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Specific endings or types?
Specific endings. I just want to reverse engineer them a little bit and get a sense why they work.
DavidS - Mar 10, 2004 5:25:37 pm PST #1213 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Did I mention I'd like a little commentary on why the ending worked so well? I don't think I did.
§ ita § - Mar 10, 2004 5:26:46 pm PST #1214 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
God, some guys are so needy.
I liked the Owen Meany ending because it double-purposed so many things. It was a huge callback/tying up. So many things that functioned perfectly well on their own were revealed to also be foreshadowing the climax.
Dana - Mar 10, 2004 5:26:57 pm PST #1215 of 10002
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Oh, yeah, Gatsby. The language makes me shake.
Betsy HP - Mar 10, 2004 5:27:27 pm PST #1216 of 10002
If I only had a brain...
Use of Weapons. Completely messes with your head.
Steph L. - Mar 10, 2004 5:28:35 pm PST #1217 of 10002
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
I am way too tired tonight to even think about explicating why the endings work.
Hmm -- quick thought -- Kavalier and Clay brings everything full circle, without regressing; rather, the characters have matured, and yet come full circle.
t edit And what Dana said about the language in Gatsby -- it's astonishingly beautiful. And heartbreaking.