Top Ten Book Endings That Left Me With My Mouth Hanging Open
There are SPOILERS in this week's Top Ten! If you haven't read the book I'm listing and you don't want to know how it ends, don't read on!
10. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
This left my mouth hanging open because I was saying: "That's it? Three books of build up about how awesomely powerful the Volturi are and...they just give up and go home?"
9. Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews
In V. C. Andrew's books, you can often tell what's coming - it's safe to say she has a formula. But this was the first book of hers I ever read and when the kids finally escape the attic and find out the grandfather died weeks before? I was really shocked, man. I felt it for them.
8. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
You read this book knowing it's not going to end well. However, while reading, Anne's personality is so real and vibrant and she seems so alive, that when the book abruptly ends and you read the afterword, it's like a punch in the gut. You can't believe that a girl who has felt like a friend to you over the pages, meets such a horrible end.
7. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
"Katniss, there is no District Twelve." 'Nuff said.
6. Across the Universe by Beth Revis
I found the reveal about what Elder had done to be pretty darn shocking. It was awful and yet, I understood it, because I'm the kind of person who would mess with something without realising the consequences. I was torn between being disgusted with him and feeling so sorry for him.
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I suppose it's not technically the ending, but I love the part where Voldemort asks the wizards gathered for the Battle of Hogwarts, whether there is anyone brave enough to face him...and Neville steps up. My mouth was open because I was yelling "Hell, yeah!" I think that's the best moment of the series, because it showed that it didn't matter if the prophecy or even the series was about Harry or Neville - the end result would still have been the same, because both boys were the kind who would sacrifice their lives to save others.
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I think my mouth was hanging open with this one because I couldn't believe the author ended it there. The whole book we are threatened with what awful things will befall the main characters if it's discovered they wrote the book about their town. Then everybody does find out and...it ends there. OK, so it's not quite that sudden, but we definitely don't get to see what the repercussions were.
3. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
I really didn't expect that ending of Hex Hall. I thought I was reading a cute, funny, light book. But with the ending, with murders and demons and family secrets, this book totally raised its game.
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
I just finished reading this book so the ending is fresh in my mind. And that ending obliterated me. To be introduced to a beautiful, high fantasy world, full of amazing-sounding creatures and a deep, true love and then to have it all destroyed. I wept like a baby.
1. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
No book ending has ever had a stronger effect on me than this one. It makes me furious, it makes me heartbroken; I want to scream, I want to cry. There is a great sense of injustice running through the novel and Tess is the ultimate victim of circumstances. The ending piles even more onto her until she's finally broken.
First of all, I love your choices this week. All books I would have chosen as well. Tess of the D'urberville's takes me back. I read that in high school and I'm still at a loss about the ending. I kinda had an inkling that bad things may happen at the end of Hex Hall but I seriously didn't think a certain person would end up dead dead. That really threw me bigtime!
ReplyDeleteOoh, we have several overlapping books on our list, but I've yet to read "Across the Universe" or "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" -- everyone keeps raving about the latter. Great list!
ReplyDeleteTess! I know, right? Most of Hardy's books are like this. They make me want to scream.
ReplyDeleteThe Hunger games made my list too! Glad you enjoyed it. Awesome choices.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my first Top Ten Tuesday:
http://seeitorreadit.blogspot.com/2011/10/top-ten-tuesday-1.html#more
I have never read Tess of the D'Urbervilles ... hmmmm not sure if I should.
ReplyDeleteYour comments on Diary of a Young Girl are so on mark!
Oh gosh, Tess of the D'Urbervilles killed me so much - I read it when I was 9 or 10 because I thought the name Tess was pretty and then I criiiiied. That's the last Hardy I've read too.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I've seen Anne Frank on stage, there's that same gut punch moment - even more so because you hear the knock. When I reread the diary, that's all I can think of, and it's so awful.
I debated putting Deathly Hallows on my list, but I went with Half-Blood Prince instead. Now that ending was shocking! Order of the Phoenix was also pretty bad. I love Sirius. He's my fave character, so I was heartbroken.
ReplyDeleteI want to read Flowers in the Attic. It sounds like a great book.
I actually wasn't disappointed with the end of Breaking Dawn. I guess I'm a pacifist. :)
Besides, it was already closing in on 800 pages. A full-out battle would have made it way longer and it would have ended on a sad note.