On Wednesday, Debbie asked, "How important is it to know the ending of a story before putting it on paper?" But I wonder, as readers, once you've gotten a few pages or a chapter into a novel, do you formulate an idea of what you think the ending will be? If so, how important is it that your expectations are met? If the ending is not what you envisioned, does that negatively affect your opinion of the story?~
We often hear about "surprise endings" in movies and books. For me, in order for a surprise ending to work, it can't come out of nowhere. The possibility has to exist, even if it's so subtle I miss the signs. But I need to be able to go back and say, "Ah, it was there; I just didn't see it."
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The quintessential model for that in the movie world is M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense. I remember how stunned I was with the ending the first time I saw it, how I sat unable to move or speak for the longest time as I took it all in. Yet I didn't feel sucker punched, just utterly surprised. After I caught my breath I watched the "Special Features" part of the DVD, which I rarely do, so Mr. Shyamalan could take me by the hand and lead me through the minefield of clues I had failed to trip along the way. My fault, not his. Entirely. Then I watched the movie over again, losing track of all the aha! moments as they came and went, and loving the movie even more for its incredible inventiveness.
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I can't think of very many novels that have left me with that kind of speechless amazement. But one that gave me a surprise ending I thoroughly enjoyed was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. It's by far my favorite Bronte book. I can, however, think of lots of novels that have left me disappointed with the ending. I'm a John Grisham fan, but honestly, when I read the last page of The Brethren I said out loud, "What?! Did you run out of paper?!" It was a terrible ending. And if that had been the first Grisham book I'd ever read, it probably would have been the last. But he'd already proven to me in his other novels he could do a much better job. So I've stayed with him.
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Just this week I received a hand-written letter from a woman who recently read Lying on Sunday. She began the letter by saying, "What a joy it has been to 'discover' you!" (Believe me, I'm just as enthused about being discovered!) "I was deeply involved from the first page," she wrote. And as nice as the letter was, I really loved that she closed it with these words: "(P.S.) The ending was perfect!"
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What a compliment. There's nothing like being satisfied at the end of a movie or book, even if the ending is completely unexpected. What books have you read lately that gave you that kind of satisfied -- but unexpected -- ending?
