Happily Ever Afters

I do like a book to tie up all of the loose ends, but yep, preferably all living happily ever after.

 

I'm with you: "happily ever after" isn't always what's best for the plot/characters/etc, so I get annoyed when a book (or film) tries to wrap everything up with a nice bow.

This is a film example, but the movie "Once" doesn't have the typical "happily ever after" ending and I appreciated that. It made sense and it was a little heart-breaking but that's okay. (I'm afraid to list a book here in the reading pad. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone!)

 

I don't necessarily need a "happily ever after" ending... but I do like the ending to make sense and I do like to see a bit of a path that the characters are on (not like needing a sequel type of thing, but an acknowledgement that they have lives that continue beyond the "the end").

I think this is why I have always liked the musical and now movie Into the Woods... it's beyond the "happily ever after".

 

I don't need a happily ever after as long as the ending makes sense and verifies everything I've read. One of my latest reads was about a very sad event, but the author handled it so well and I didn't really put all the pieces together until the very end of the book.

 

I'm not sure. I don't think I've only liked books with happy endings. I do want everything to make sense though. And most importantly, the way the story is told -- the journey, perhaps I should say -- is more important to me than whether it's a happy ending or not.

And yes, I have recommended tear jerkers. I think a book is awesome when it provokes emotion.

 

Yes, the ending must make sense and loose ends tied up. Unless it is a series. However, in a series if a nugget is dropped in the last couple of pages of the book, I would prefer it be addressed in the next book... not 2 or 3 books later!

I tend to read a lot of series books and love the interaction from one book to the next when it is done right. I read a book I got for free on my Kindle several years ago. It was the 2nd book in the series but I enjoyed it so got the 1st one and read it as well. Ended up reading all 12 available at that time but got frustrated because of nuggets dropped in one book wouldn't be addressed in the next book at all. There is now book #13 but I'm not sure I'm even going to get it. Later reviews have not been kind to the author either.

There is another author that I just quit in the middle of the series because continuity was not there. In one book, the main character was said to not be able to have children at all. 4 books later she ends up pregnant but no explanation as to why. It was like the author just wanted people to forget what they read before. I read many reviews that have blasted the author about this as well. There were more things but that was the one that stuck out the most.

 

Ohh, if you don't need a fairytale ending, y'all could try The Rules Do Not Apply, an autobiography by Ariel Levy. You know basically from the start what happens to her, but reading her story is heartbreaking all the same while also incredibly well written and insightful.

 

I don't need a happy ending either, but I do agree that I need a satisfying ending if that makes sense. And I will definitely recommend a tear jerker. If I a book leaves me feeling anything then it's a win for me!

 

I think I prefer "happy ever after" type of ending.
My husband had read the book " Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" so I bought the DVD for his Birthday ( last year or the one before ). I sat with him to watch this nice movie which I knew was about the concentration camps but was not expecting the ending ! I walked away saying... "I hate this story !!! Why didn't you warn me?"

 

I've never thought about it before. Books don't have to have a happy ending for me, but movies do. As I'm thinking about it, I think it's because I imagine the character when I'm reading. I can make it right for that person/situation. A movie is presented, there isn't always a whole lot of interpretation involved. I cried for days with Ladder 51 & will never put myself through that again.

 

If you want to read a NOT happily ever after - I loved ;

I hated this story too.

 

"What Remains True" by Janis Thomas is a great book. You know, from the beginning, that it's a sad ending, but the author did a remarkable job with the content.

 

I do not need a happy ending, I don't even need a tightly wrapped up story but it does need to make sense.
However, the ending has to pair with the genre - If I am reading a light rom com/chic lit then for me, it does need a happy ending. I read a very trendy chic lit book last year, billed as black comedy with modern themes (exposed and stalking on the internet etc) and none of it made sense - the main scandal was so unrealistic, put in for shock value and then right at the end, a very sudden death that made no sense. I hated that book so much...

Fredrik Backman has the best endings - he can write a sad but satisfying endings, also more realistic endings where the future is hinted at but could go in any direction. Again his genre matches his endings.

And I have read Boy in the Striped pajamas, could not watch the movie, although that could be because it just didn't ring true to me rather than the ending.

 

Also When Breath becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, the ending is known from the start, I cried at the end but it was so well written that even knowing the ending I held out hope that it was somehow not true...

 

I don't need a happy ever after...in fact I prefer them to be more realistic, and we all know life isn't perfect; but they do need a make sense ending.

What book did you read?

 

I have that on my Holds list with the digital library!

 

It really depends on where I am at...sometimes I need the happy endings, and sometimes I need the tears. I do remember about 8 or 9 years ago when the "Hunger Games" novels were super popular (before the movies came out) when I witnessed a teenage girl about 13 experience the unhappiness in the final book. I was at a basketball game and she was sitting behind me, totally engrossed in the book. All of the sudden she gasped and just starting bawling. I knew exactly where she was in the book. Her dad was concerned at first and then found out she was crying about a character in the book and started teasing her about it. I turned to her and told her I had also cried a lot at that part. I think she had read the series (which has very little happiness to it) hoping that in the end justice would prevail and they would get their happily ever afters.

 

I don't have to have a happily ever after.
In fact, sometimes it bothers me! (Harry Potter Spoiler) Like, I pretend : the last chapter 19 years later of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows doesn't exist. Because I hate that it feels like fan fantasies.← hightlight to read.
I like when an author takes the hard road, like Veronica Roth in the Divergent series, and kills off a character that the story has been building to.← hightlight to read.
I'm totally with you on logical! I read a book that was really pretty good until the ending. My Amazon review said: And then, the ending came and there was no payoff for reading the whole book. I gave the author a second book because I did enjoy so much of the first. And that Amazon review says: The book dragged on, until the last 20% of the book. Then it got interesting...all the way up to - oh, sorry. You have to read the next book for closure. Authors like that I walk away from. I hate it when they aren't confident enough to let you finish one story, and then come back for the next one.

 

No happy endings needed.

Re books that leave you hanging until the next one, I usually try to find out if the next one (book B) is written and published before reading book A - that is if I know the author has that habit or writes a lot of series. I only avoid it because if the follow up book isn't out, I may very well forget the original one! c.f. Old Age.