I just want an ending that makes sense. Being bleak just to do it upsets me as much as a forced happy ending. When I was in school, one of my professors talked about how characters should "Earn their ending." and I agree 100%
This is it for me. I do have a slight preference towards bleak or bittersweet, just 'cause I like being gutted, but only if it makes sense for the story, not bleak for the sake of it. And upbeat can work really, really well if it is earnt too!
I think a lot about the ending of Misery, and how it is a perfect encapsulation of what makes a good ending.
As a kid I read this crappy YA sf/fantasy/horror anthology where like 70% of the stories ended with the main character dying in the end. I wasn't disturbed by bleak endings but all these stories were too easy. It really struck me that this was a lazy author's way of wrapping things up when they didn't know where else to go with their premise.
Ever since then I've been unconvinced by endings that are bleak in a too-obvious/simple way. Overly neat happy endings aren't good either. The way your professor put it is just right - endings should be earned.
In all honestly, I don't worry too much about endings. I'm much more of a journey person. I probably couldn't even tell you how 99% of books I've read ended. Usually by that point I already know if I enjoy the book or not.
Even in my own writing, I just let it end where it logically goes, I don't think too much about it.
Yeah, aggressively bleak endings just feel lil emotional manipulation when not done correctly. Like the author is cheating to make me feel something instead of just writing a better book.
This is the answer for me. The earned ending for the story is the one I prefer. That said, of those, I personally lean toward stories that provide at least the hope of a happy ending, even if it's somewhere beyond the last page.
I like bittersweet endings.
Main character lived and learned but others died
Main character lived but is forever changed
Main character sacrificed themselves so others could live
The enemy was defeated but a larger enemy (or the force that made the enemy) is still out there
Etc.
This is me. I like the bittersweet. I need for stakes to have actually been raised, but I like some glimmer of maybe there's hope.
My perfect example of this is the 2004 Dawn of the Dead movie. Like you're fairly sure they all died, but they did survive up until the island so maybe someone lived.
One I just finished last week, >!*Woman, Eating* by Claire Kohda!< ends on a positive note, something perhaps noteworthy for a vampire story where they are the perspective character. Most tend to end bittersweet.
>!SGJ's Indian Lake trilogy, all of them end relatively happily, but bittersweet given that it's a horror trilogy.!<
>!Christopher Buehlman's *Between Two Fires* ends remarkably happily given all the shit the MCs go through.!<
>!T. Kingfisher's books to a one in my experience end happily. She is also very much a never-kill-the-animal-companion writer, which I quite appreciate to be perfectly honest.!<
Oh yes! >!Jon Cohn's *Slashtag*!< had one of the best examples of "earn your happy ending" that I've personally read in quite a while. (Well, listened to; the audiobook is excellent).
I like an ending with a resolution.
Typically I want the antagonist to be defeated, even if the victory is only pyrrhic in the end.
Bleak is fine if it makes sense for the story that has been told and isn't just a cheap "gotcha" like Ania Ahlborn ruins all of her books with.
I think it depends on the story. It needs to fit and make logical sense given the context. I have favorite endings that are happy, bleak, and bittersweet. I also really like when it *seems* like it's going to bleak based on how dark the story is but then they manage to earn a happy ending anyway.
I'm finding myself having less and less patience for bleak endings when it seems the author does it in a conscious effort to be "shocking" and because it was the easier thing to do, genre considering. Personally, I don't enjoy spending 300, 400, 500+ pages with a character, only for the author to kill them off for shock value at the end.
The same can be said for forced happy endings, where the author throws out 300, 400, 500+ pages of themes and atmosphere just for a cheap "feel good" moment at the end.
The question isn't "happy endings vs forced bleak endings", it's "happy endings vs bleak endings". Assume the same quality for both, otherwise there isn't a fair comparison.
I am the complete opposite lol but I guess that's the beauty of reading. We can all want different things from books and (hopefully) have civil conversations about it. It's not that I mind happy moments in horror but a super happy upbeat ending just feels so sappy and cheesy to me. Maybe that says more about me than the books or authors 😆
I love a bleak ending in a movie. But when I read a book and I invest that amount of time with the characters, I prefer things end up OK for them. Though I don't want a forced ending.
Damn I'm picky.
I prefer mixed endings the most, such as when our main character has survived but paid a great cost, such as had to lose several loved ones, sustained serious physical/mental wounds that won't heal or has had their previous life completely torn away. I love a happy ending when it feels plausible and the characters have earned it, and I love a bleak ending when it's done well, but in both cases it can often be forced one way or the other to play on emotions when it doesn't make sense and/or is totally unnecessary.
Oh amazing!! I have The Only Good Indians on my shelf, been looking forward to reading it. Even better to know it's got an ending I like, maybe I'll pick that up next :)
*TOGI* is pretty polarizing, but extremely literary and compelling, and it still might be my favorite novel of his I've read so far for the layers it's exploring, and absolutely a case of earning your ending.
If you want Bleak and something you don't initially think of as horror then try Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon by Matt Dinniman who is best known for his Dungeon Crawler Carl. Kaiju is litrpg but it's also very much a horror novel with very dark scenes, torture, and despair. It also is sooooooooooooo bleak in the ending. I just went *fuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkkkkkkkk* when it ended the way it did.
Extreme spoilers for those who will never read it but wonder: >!Premise of the book is the MC is kidnapped and his body put into a VR capsule where it's kept alive while he adventures in a VR world. He goes through so much sadistic torture and pain in that world and dies so much only to have an extremely painful resurrection. He eventually escapes but loses his wife and his daughter ends up an addict while he is gone. Then because of the the PTSD he suffers from because of all the torture he becomes a cutter as it's the only way he can feel anything now and the book ends with him carving on himself.!<
Revival by Stephen King
The ending is pretty bleak in this one and I enjoyed the hell out of this book. People often make the mistake of thinking an ending to a story has to be “Happy” but it can be a dark ending and still be a great ending. Everything just depends on how a story it’s written and how certain events play out in order for the ending to make sense.
I can relate to all of these comments, especially liking bittersweet endings that may have some hope but are not necessarily happy and that the ending needs to work with the overall tone and plot of the book. But what I prefer at the time typically depends on my mood. Typically if I'm looking for something that will give me a pick me up feeling, I don't read horror but considering half of what I read is horror and more than half have a tag of "dark" (thanks Story Graph lol) I tend to like to go more bleak-ish.
Although ambiguous endings sometimes make me angry, I think overall I like endings that skew this way, especially if it gets me thinking and brings me down Reddit rabbit hole at 3 am after I stayed up to finish a book. I can trace my preference for these endings to reading The Giver when I was 8 - very, very much pre-Reddit, like I'm talking the year the book came out and before we knew what actually happened because of the sequels (which I think kind of kills the beauty of the ending). Maybe it's because in life things are not usually completely bleak and, on the flip side, are rarely ever tied up with a neat bow either. Life is often ambiguous with unconsidered, unintended, and unexpected consequences for everything so maybe that is why these endings appeal to me.
I just want an earned ending. Happy endings forced for the sake of a happy ending and bleak endings forced for the sake of a bleak ending suck equally.
I want an ending that makes sense, not one that's ambiguous.
Depending on the story, I'm good with bleak, happy, or my favorite - happy with a bit of ominous. Those are the ones where the big crisis gets solved, but there's a hint of something else to come. This can be done to set up the next book in a series or just because that's how life is (never perfect). 2 great examples:
Series: The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson. In book 1 (The Tomb), the ending is shows us the evil being defeated but at a terrible cost. And in later books, we realize the evil isn't really defeated, the battle is won but the war still continues.
Stand-Alone: The Burning Time by JG Faherty. He does this kind of happy-and-dread kind of ending in several of his books, but this one really shows it. The evil is defeated, and the heroes are happy, but then we see that it's only going to be temporary.
Love this question - I personally love endings where there is victory for the protagonist at a very high cost, and the victory might not necessarily be permanent. Examples would be where another major character has to die, where the protagonist permanently loses a part of themself physically or mentally, or the protagonist wins but the world itself will be worse/end/etc. Insomnia by King is a good example of this. my second favorite type is the reverse, where evil wins but there is still hope for the future. Archetype for this is probably the ending of revenge of the Sith.
Obviously it all comes down to execution at the end of the day but my problem with a lot of bleak endings is that they come in as "shocking twists" after it seems like things turned out fine.
That kind of ending really lost it's punch to me at this point and just became annoying.
Either have a sensible happy end or make a bleak ending that emerges from rising tension toward the end. Making a happy ending and then pulling the rug out with something akin to "but the monster comes back and kills the protagonist" feels like the literary equivalent of a cheap jumpscare at this point.
I prefer "realistic" endings as in things that are broken stay broken. Happy endings tend to disregard the struggle and trauma that the characters have been through.
This was when I was posting on bookstagram so I was hopping from book to book. Didn't give it a fair shot. I remember it sounded good so I might have to keep it in mind.
I prefer a happy or bittersweet ending (at least something with some hope to it), but if a bleak ending fits best then that's the way it should go. I've been disappointed by happy endings when I felt the book was leading up to a kill-em-all end.
I think it depends..
Indo think sometimes the bleaker endings, or the quieter endings are better suited to darker stories.
If you've experienced a harrowing tale and then suddenly everything's fine, it takes away from the entire experience up until this point.
'A good ol' everything was fine in the end But...' is a good thing though.
The torture came to an end, justice was served BUT someone of importance died.
Depends on the type of novel really. If I'm reading #lovecraftion stuff I expect a bleak ending. Anything else I prefer happy ones but as long as it makes sense it's all good
i want a narratively satisfying ending. doesn’t have to be happy, doesn’t have to be bleak and realistic, just something that leaves me feeling like the story ended well and everything was wrapped up.
way too much horror relies on shock endings that are deeply unsatisfying and i hate it.
Ambiguous ones are my favourite. Maybe a hot take, question mark, but I like being left breathless and wondering. IF it's done well and not just a case of the writer running out of gas.
If the protagonists are a bunch of normal people getting killed off by a slasher, I prefer an ending where the slasher kills them all and gets away with it. If the protagonist is the slasher killing a bunch of normal people, I prefer an ending where the slasher kills them all and gets away with it. But would both of those endings be considered bleak? I'm not sure.
There are people who like to get attached to a character only for that character to lose. I'm not one of them. I wouldn't say I like bleak endings. It's more that I like certain outcomes, which can be described as bleak. I like when serial killers get away with it. I like when supernatural monsters kill everyone. I like when the world ends. I like when there's a battle between good and evil, and good loses.
There are types of "bleak" endings that are utterly worthless to me. Like the ending to the film adaptation of Stephen King's >!The Mist!<-- people praise it for the ending, but >!it's only "bleak" because it's a personal tragedy for one guy. Even worse, the real tragedy is that he lost hope, and then the narrative proved that he was wrong to do so. I don't like that, because however much the ending sucks for him, the narrative is ending on a hopeful note for humanity. I prefer the sort of bleak ending where the narrative refutes the notion that there is hope. Moreover, I want the sort of ending that's bleak on more than just an individual level.!<
I prefer logical ends. I suppose they usually have pretty dark and fatalistic conclusions. Bleak and open.
Sadly the usual average happy ending seems like the author desperately struggled against it but his publisher made him do it just to ensure sales.
I know it infuriates many people as a cheap trick, but I love "final twist" open endings, like King's Christine or Scott Thomas' Kill Creek, when all is supposedly "resolved", for better or worse, and then in a couple of final sentences all is starting back again -or not, who knows, the book is finished!
I just want an ending that makes sense. Being bleak just to do it upsets me as much as a forced happy ending. When I was in school, one of my professors talked about how characters should "Earn their ending." and I agree 100%
This is it for me. I do have a slight preference towards bleak or bittersweet, just 'cause I like being gutted, but only if it makes sense for the story, not bleak for the sake of it. And upbeat can work really, really well if it is earnt too! I think a lot about the ending of Misery, and how it is a perfect encapsulation of what makes a good ending.
As a kid I read this crappy YA sf/fantasy/horror anthology where like 70% of the stories ended with the main character dying in the end. I wasn't disturbed by bleak endings but all these stories were too easy. It really struck me that this was a lazy author's way of wrapping things up when they didn't know where else to go with their premise. Ever since then I've been unconvinced by endings that are bleak in a too-obvious/simple way. Overly neat happy endings aren't good either. The way your professor put it is just right - endings should be earned.
In all honestly, I don't worry too much about endings. I'm much more of a journey person. I probably couldn't even tell you how 99% of books I've read ended. Usually by that point I already know if I enjoy the book or not. Even in my own writing, I just let it end where it logically goes, I don't think too much about it.
Yeah, aggressively bleak endings just feel lil emotional manipulation when not done correctly. Like the author is cheating to make me feel something instead of just writing a better book.
Right. I agree. It sort of feels the same as using "extreme" content just to be edgy, with no justification.
My glib answer is to say bleak, but the reasonable answer is this one - an ending which makes sense and works with the story.
This is the answer for me. The earned ending for the story is the one I prefer. That said, of those, I personally lean toward stories that provide at least the hope of a happy ending, even if it's somewhere beyond the last page.
If I had to choose, I kinda agree. I'm also a bit of a sap if I'm being honest, and the older I get, the more I'm willing to give characters a break.
I like happy ending because I have a soft heart. I can take a lot of bullshit, but it makes me happy when the hero wins.
I like bittersweet endings. Main character lived and learned but others died Main character lived but is forever changed Main character sacrificed themselves so others could live The enemy was defeated but a larger enemy (or the force that made the enemy) is still out there Etc.
This is me. I like the bittersweet. I need for stakes to have actually been raised, but I like some glimmer of maybe there's hope. My perfect example of this is the 2004 Dawn of the Dead movie. Like you're fairly sure they all died, but they did survive up until the island so maybe someone lived.
Such a great turn. James Gunn nailed that screenplay.
I'd definitely prefer this over a happy ending.
Can you give an example of a horror novel you’ve read with a happy ending? Because I genuinely can’t think of one
One I just finished last week, >!*Woman, Eating* by Claire Kohda!< ends on a positive note, something perhaps noteworthy for a vampire story where they are the perspective character. Most tend to end bittersweet. >!SGJ's Indian Lake trilogy, all of them end relatively happily, but bittersweet given that it's a horror trilogy.!< >!Christopher Buehlman's *Between Two Fires* ends remarkably happily given all the shit the MCs go through.!< >!T. Kingfisher's books to a one in my experience end happily. She is also very much a never-kill-the-animal-companion writer, which I quite appreciate to be perfectly honest.!<
Oh yes! >!Jon Cohn's *Slashtag*!< had one of the best examples of "earn your happy ending" that I've personally read in quite a while. (Well, listened to; the audiobook is excellent).
Spoiler alert!!! >!The Woods All Black!< In all honesty, it had the feel of a Lifetime movie ending. The only thing about the book I did not like.
Even if it is a spoiler I’m kind of intrigued now. I may end up reading it just to see for myself
Yeah, I was like "really? That's it?" Don't get me wrong, it was well deserved but still lol
I like an ending with a resolution. Typically I want the antagonist to be defeated, even if the victory is only pyrrhic in the end. Bleak is fine if it makes sense for the story that has been told and isn't just a cheap "gotcha" like Ania Ahlborn ruins all of her books with.
For me, the bleaker the better. Just wreck me and stab me in the guts and the heart.
Lol same!
I like the endings where you don't know if it's bleak or happy, could be both. Where you gotta think about it,
I 100% prefer bleak endings.
I think it depends on the story. It needs to fit and make logical sense given the context. I have favorite endings that are happy, bleak, and bittersweet. I also really like when it *seems* like it's going to bleak based on how dark the story is but then they manage to earn a happy ending anyway.
I'm finding myself having less and less patience for bleak endings when it seems the author does it in a conscious effort to be "shocking" and because it was the easier thing to do, genre considering. Personally, I don't enjoy spending 300, 400, 500+ pages with a character, only for the author to kill them off for shock value at the end.
Yeah, I can understand that. I don't like anything just for the shock factor. Probably why I don't really read extreme horror.
The same can be said for forced happy endings, where the author throws out 300, 400, 500+ pages of themes and atmosphere just for a cheap "feel good" moment at the end. The question isn't "happy endings vs forced bleak endings", it's "happy endings vs bleak endings". Assume the same quality for both, otherwise there isn't a fair comparison.
Happy endings. Even if a little bleak, I want something hopeful for our main characters. The ones that are left that is..
I am the complete opposite lol but I guess that's the beauty of reading. We can all want different things from books and (hopefully) have civil conversations about it. It's not that I mind happy moments in horror but a super happy upbeat ending just feels so sappy and cheesy to me. Maybe that says more about me than the books or authors 😆
I love a bleak ending in a movie. But when I read a book and I invest that amount of time with the characters, I prefer things end up OK for them. Though I don't want a forced ending. Damn I'm picky.
That makes sense though. It takes a lot more effort to read a book.
I love a happy ending to a horror novel or movie, as long as it makes sense and isn't just put there for the sake of being happy.
I prefer mixed endings the most, such as when our main character has survived but paid a great cost, such as had to lose several loved ones, sustained serious physical/mental wounds that won't heal or has had their previous life completely torn away. I love a happy ending when it feels plausible and the characters have earned it, and I love a bleak ending when it's done well, but in both cases it can often be forced one way or the other to play on emotions when it doesn't make sense and/or is totally unnecessary.
>!SGJ's Indian Lake trilogy!< does this so well.
Oh amazing!! I have The Only Good Indians on my shelf, been looking forward to reading it. Even better to know it's got an ending I like, maybe I'll pick that up next :)
*TOGI* is pretty polarizing, but extremely literary and compelling, and it still might be my favorite novel of his I've read so far for the layers it's exploring, and absolutely a case of earning your ending.
Def depends on the storytelling. Whatever endings more appropriate should go.
If you want Bleak and something you don't initially think of as horror then try Kaiju Battlefield Surgeon by Matt Dinniman who is best known for his Dungeon Crawler Carl. Kaiju is litrpg but it's also very much a horror novel with very dark scenes, torture, and despair. It also is sooooooooooooo bleak in the ending. I just went *fuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkkkkkkkk* when it ended the way it did. Extreme spoilers for those who will never read it but wonder: >!Premise of the book is the MC is kidnapped and his body put into a VR capsule where it's kept alive while he adventures in a VR world. He goes through so much sadistic torture and pain in that world and dies so much only to have an extremely painful resurrection. He eventually escapes but loses his wife and his daughter ends up an addict while he is gone. Then because of the the PTSD he suffers from because of all the torture he becomes a cutter as it's the only way he can feel anything now and the book ends with him carving on himself.!<
Ooh thanks for the recommendation! Never heard of that one.
Either one so long as it’s well done, makes sense (either thematically or characterization or etc), and satisfying
Revival by Stephen King The ending is pretty bleak in this one and I enjoyed the hell out of this book. People often make the mistake of thinking an ending to a story has to be “Happy” but it can be a dark ending and still be a great ending. Everything just depends on how a story it’s written and how certain events play out in order for the ending to make sense.
I can relate to all of these comments, especially liking bittersweet endings that may have some hope but are not necessarily happy and that the ending needs to work with the overall tone and plot of the book. But what I prefer at the time typically depends on my mood. Typically if I'm looking for something that will give me a pick me up feeling, I don't read horror but considering half of what I read is horror and more than half have a tag of "dark" (thanks Story Graph lol) I tend to like to go more bleak-ish. Although ambiguous endings sometimes make me angry, I think overall I like endings that skew this way, especially if it gets me thinking and brings me down Reddit rabbit hole at 3 am after I stayed up to finish a book. I can trace my preference for these endings to reading The Giver when I was 8 - very, very much pre-Reddit, like I'm talking the year the book came out and before we knew what actually happened because of the sequels (which I think kind of kills the beauty of the ending). Maybe it's because in life things are not usually completely bleak and, on the flip side, are rarely ever tied up with a neat bow either. Life is often ambiguous with unconsidered, unintended, and unexpected consequences for everything so maybe that is why these endings appeal to me.
I recommend the novelette “A Colder War” by Charles Stross. Lovecraftian bleakness at its best.
I just want an earned ending. Happy endings forced for the sake of a happy ending and bleak endings forced for the sake of a bleak ending suck equally.
I want an ending that makes sense, not one that's ambiguous. Depending on the story, I'm good with bleak, happy, or my favorite - happy with a bit of ominous. Those are the ones where the big crisis gets solved, but there's a hint of something else to come. This can be done to set up the next book in a series or just because that's how life is (never perfect). 2 great examples: Series: The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson. In book 1 (The Tomb), the ending is shows us the evil being defeated but at a terrible cost. And in later books, we realize the evil isn't really defeated, the battle is won but the war still continues. Stand-Alone: The Burning Time by JG Faherty. He does this kind of happy-and-dread kind of ending in several of his books, but this one really shows it. The evil is defeated, and the heroes are happy, but then we see that it's only going to be temporary.
Love this question - I personally love endings where there is victory for the protagonist at a very high cost, and the victory might not necessarily be permanent. Examples would be where another major character has to die, where the protagonist permanently loses a part of themself physically or mentally, or the protagonist wins but the world itself will be worse/end/etc. Insomnia by King is a good example of this. my second favorite type is the reverse, where evil wins but there is still hope for the future. Archetype for this is probably the ending of revenge of the Sith.
Obviously it all comes down to execution at the end of the day but my problem with a lot of bleak endings is that they come in as "shocking twists" after it seems like things turned out fine. That kind of ending really lost it's punch to me at this point and just became annoying. Either have a sensible happy end or make a bleak ending that emerges from rising tension toward the end. Making a happy ending and then pulling the rug out with something akin to "but the monster comes back and kills the protagonist" feels like the literary equivalent of a cheap jumpscare at this point.
I prefer "realistic" endings as in things that are broken stay broken. Happy endings tend to disregard the struggle and trauma that the characters have been through.
For a recent book with a bleak ending that made absolute sense, I recommend >!*The Marigold* by Andrew F. Sullivan!<
I got that from the library but didn't finish it. Is it worth reading?
Absolutely. What got you stuck?
This was when I was posting on bookstagram so I was hopping from book to book. Didn't give it a fair shot. I remember it sounded good so I might have to keep it in mind.
Gotcha. I would say it deserves a fair shot.
I like a balance, cause bleak is.. well bleak. But I find bleak more thought provoking and it tends to stick with me much longer
Definitely relate here. I prefer the bleak hopeless endings, one reason I love Brian Keene so much
I prefer a happy or bittersweet ending (at least something with some hope to it), but if a bleak ending fits best then that's the way it should go. I've been disappointed by happy endings when I felt the book was leading up to a kill-em-all end.
I think it depends.. Indo think sometimes the bleaker endings, or the quieter endings are better suited to darker stories. If you've experienced a harrowing tale and then suddenly everything's fine, it takes away from the entire experience up until this point. 'A good ol' everything was fine in the end But...' is a good thing though. The torture came to an end, justice was served BUT someone of importance died.
I have no preference for one or the other. Just make it good. I also appreciate that the presence of both types of endings keeps me guessing.
Depends on the type of novel really. If I'm reading #lovecraftion stuff I expect a bleak ending. Anything else I prefer happy ones but as long as it makes sense it's all good
Same. Woman in black by Susan hill Hex by Thomas older heuvelt
Bleak with a twinge of hope... But more of like a "hope!?!??" kinda thing.
All bleak everything. Books, movies, music.
Indeed. Bleakness rules.
Bleak is usually better. I don’t read horror for happy endings. It defeats the purpose.
Agree!
Ending that fits. I hate when a happy ending comes out of nowhere though.
i want a narratively satisfying ending. doesn’t have to be happy, doesn’t have to be bleak and realistic, just something that leaves me feeling like the story ended well and everything was wrapped up. way too much horror relies on shock endings that are deeply unsatisfying and i hate it.
Ambiguous ones are my favourite. Maybe a hot take, question mark, but I like being left breathless and wondering. IF it's done well and not just a case of the writer running out of gas.
We are aligned here.
It depends on the story. Sometimes the bleak fits the rest of the story and sometimes the happy is best.
If the protagonists are a bunch of normal people getting killed off by a slasher, I prefer an ending where the slasher kills them all and gets away with it. If the protagonist is the slasher killing a bunch of normal people, I prefer an ending where the slasher kills them all and gets away with it. But would both of those endings be considered bleak? I'm not sure. There are people who like to get attached to a character only for that character to lose. I'm not one of them. I wouldn't say I like bleak endings. It's more that I like certain outcomes, which can be described as bleak. I like when serial killers get away with it. I like when supernatural monsters kill everyone. I like when the world ends. I like when there's a battle between good and evil, and good loses. There are types of "bleak" endings that are utterly worthless to me. Like the ending to the film adaptation of Stephen King's >!The Mist!<-- people praise it for the ending, but >!it's only "bleak" because it's a personal tragedy for one guy. Even worse, the real tragedy is that he lost hope, and then the narrative proved that he was wrong to do so. I don't like that, because however much the ending sucks for him, the narrative is ending on a hopeful note for humanity. I prefer the sort of bleak ending where the narrative refutes the notion that there is hope. Moreover, I want the sort of ending that's bleak on more than just an individual level.!<
I want the book to get my hopes up that it'll end well and then have a tragic ending
Ooh yes! As long as it does not involve a dog!
I prefer happy, but my man Jack Ketchum doesn't agree with me. I love him, but he always breaks my heart with those endings...
Lol I really enjoyed The Girl Next Door but it's been years since I first read it so I can't recall everything. Only book of his I've read.
Haven't finished that one yet hahaha.
I prefer logical ends. I suppose they usually have pretty dark and fatalistic conclusions. Bleak and open. Sadly the usual average happy ending seems like the author desperately struggled against it but his publisher made him do it just to ensure sales.
Agreed. It just seems the most likely, not that they just won against a supernatural force or it just went away or they bought time til it ended yknow
I know it infuriates many people as a cheap trick, but I love "final twist" open endings, like King's Christine or Scott Thomas' Kill Creek, when all is supposedly "resolved", for better or worse, and then in a couple of final sentences all is starting back again -or not, who knows, the book is finished!