Slog Comments
The Climax Is an Anticlimax
1
I see the first one on the list is Eugenides' The Marriage Plot. I haven't read that one, but the ending to Middlesex is also terrible.
3
I just finished reading "Foundation" by Asimov. (Spoilers for a 61 year old book!) The last chapter has two characters talking about the military strategy for a coming war, ultimately deciding to do nothing and just wait it out. Then there's a footnote saying they did, in fact, do nothing. The end.
4
I'm torn between being stunned by the lack of Margaret Atwood on the list and wanting to give them slack in the face of the herculean task of narrowing Atwood novels with disappointing endings to just one.
6
Meh. Putting Infinite Jest on the list because it was really long and didn't end with a car-chase or explosion or life-affirming revelation or some such nonsense was bullshit. How are you supposed to wrap up a novel like that, fercrissakes?
7
This list is not very well put together. The writer is just complaining about books not wrapping up nicely in a tight little bow. I'm sorry these books weren't written by Dan Brown. Also, how did she want Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to end?
8
To be fair, the sled trope was pretty original. For what it's worth, sledding can be very dangerous. According to the Journal of Trauma Research, 45,000 accidents severe enough to require admission to and emergency room occur each year. Hundreds actually die.
9
3/4 of the books I've read by Tom Robbins. It's like he just gets tired of writing them by the last few chapters, throws his hands up in the air and says "eh, whatever".
10
Lonesome Dove. Love the book, hate the last few chapters. The book just keels over and dies with Gus. I've always wondered if something really bad happened to McMurtry while he was finishing the book; it gets so depressing and pointless.
11
I have heard these described as "Tantric novels." Things build and build, and when you get to where there should be a climax... nothing happens.
12
@2, ditto for all of Stephenson's books. I love them, but motherfucker just can't write an ending.
13
The inclusion of Everything is Illuminated seems weird. I haven't read the book, but the identified flaw seems as though it takes place relatively early in the book - or at least, not at the end.
15
Ethan Frome was an assigned summer reading novel when I was in 8th grade. What a depressing way to read away the summer! Of all the books they could've chosen! I always hated Ethan Frome.
16
Just about any Dickens novel. Or just about any Victorian novel, for that matter. Finished reading Pickwick Papers the other night, loved it, could barely get through the last 50 pages.
18
richard russo's empire falls has one of the shittiest endings i've ever read
it's such a shame because the writing is so enjoyable
it's such a shame because the writing is so enjoyable
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