Confessions: All's Well That Ends Well (With Gifs)

Confessions of an Insomniac Book Devourer #6

I must confess: if I read a book I think I really like, and the ending is not good, it can poison the entire book for me. And vice versa: if I read a book I think I hate, but it ends well, it may merit three stars (or even more) from me.

To explain this phenomena, let's take a moment to discuss how long an average reader might spend on a 200 page novel. I estimate it would take one to three hours of distraction-free commitment, maybe even more for readers whose imaginations wander. Many books are more than 200 pages, but with this exercise I chose to use a little book, with only a little bit of wasted time.

Now imagine, after reading for approximately two hours on a small book, you come to the ending pages of the novel, and discover the author has chosen to resolve NOTHING. Or, as in the case of some books I've rated poorly, the author destroys the entire story and plot-line by proving the story never happened.

All gifs from http://www.reactiongifs.com/

Let me say this: I forgive many things in books including generic characters, uninteresting plots, and blah writing; I have even been known to forgive spelling and grammar mistakes (on occasion). But if I spend two hours reading a book, and instead of ending it, an author just stops writing without notice, you may see me transform into a veritable Hulk me transform Conan O'Brien into a veritable Hulk.

I don't need a happily ever after ending- I don't need the characters to be even happy in the end. What I need in exchange for two or more hours of my precious time is for the ending to have closure. Maybe the protagonist goes to jail- maybe the antagonist gets killed- maybe all the characters end up being aliens and take off in an UFO to Mars. As long as I have a sense of what has transpired in the pages actually was resolved, you can count on me to rate it much better than if it didn't.

So when I look for books on Goodreads, I scan reviews for the possibility of a bad ending. If I'm particularly worried about a book I'm about to invest in, I even click the "show spoiler" button. And if I read one line about someone complaining about a terrible ending, this is my reaction:

Have you ever read a book that you thought you liked until you read the ending? Are there books you've read that were made infinitely better because of their endings? Am I alone with my raging reactions to books that end badly?