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.

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.

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking about. It only requires perfect execution of your themes, and structural integrity to pull this off.

Oh, yeah, Gatsby. The language makes me shake.

Joyce's "The Dead" also achieves a terrible/beautiful lyrical quality in the final passage.

Use of Weapons. Completely messes with your head.

How is this achieved? Did the author cleverly lead you astray or hide something very artfully?

Hmm. Both those phrases make it sound like the author doesn't play fair. He does. All the evidence is there. It's just the single best unreliable narrator I've ever seen outside of Pale Fire.

It only requires perfect execution of your themes, and structural integrity to pull this off.

Didn't I say I was a mass-market avoiding snob? I demand no less.

I can see how that would work.

Conversely, I'm willing to take examples of works which are great despite a bad ending. Also, opinions on why they went wrong.

It's funny, I am generally bad at remembering anything more than whether I liked a story or not, and I have read only a couple of books more than once, so I have forgotten most storylines and structure points altogether.

I can't recall one single book ending that I remember loving. That said, I do know that I liked Geek Love a lot and did not like the ending. That I couldn't deal with The Cider House Rules even having an ending (it should have gone on forever). And that I liked the ending of Mystic River, because it speaks to the story continuing without leaving you saying "But what happens?", like many books do.

It's an interesting thing to think about.

Didn't I say I was a mass-market avoiding snob? I demand no less.

Did I mention my theory on why you find Viggo somewhat disturbing?

Did I mention my theory on why you find Viggo somewhat disturbing?

No, no you've neglected to.

I can't remember other endings. There are books I liked or loved, but Owen Meany was the one where I looked at the ending, and thought about the whole again, without there being any sort of twist.

I loved the end of Map of Love. (I loved the way it was so much a weaving, which was also an element of the story.) It brought everything into this mythic structure and felt so completely right. I guess, I like the ending if it seems to fit the rest, so a lot of stuff. But I lovelovelove when I get to the end with a major WHOA and I feel compelled to reread with the new subtext I get in the last section.

Joyce's "The Dead" also achieves a terrible/beautiful lyrical quality in the final passage.

Joyce makes me shake for a whole different reason.