# Books with great endings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012 "2009-12-30T04:21:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/1 "2009-12-30T04:21:09Z")
(inspired by the [How important is a good ending in a work of fiction?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11935788) thread) What are some examples of books that have really good, thoroughly satisfying endings? ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/2 "2009-12-30T14:15:28Z")
I always liked the end of “Footfall”, in fact, I reread the last third of the book every year or so. Great space battle, seems fairly hard science and touch and go right up to the end. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/3 "2009-12-30T14:26:57Z")
I like several of Frederick Forsyth’s novels, most of which have some interesting twist at the end. **The Devil’s Alternative** , a Cold War thriller, is very datred now (or an interesting period piece), with its last twist on the very last page. Practically the last paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/4 "2009-12-30T14:49:59Z")
Not a novel, but Stoppard’s _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead_ \*\*has a terrific ending, especially for an existentialist work–basically, the ending is the title. Nice and neat. Now if I could bend the rule just a tad, one great book whose ending never really lived up to the rest of it (in my opinion) is \*Lolita[I\*]\*Not saying it’s a terrible ending—Humbert Humbert had to have a final showdown with whatisface, who was really just a metaphor for his guilty, sickened conscious; I dig all that. But something about that final scene always struck me as anticlimatic…of course, that may have been the point…you know what? Never mind. That was a great ending. (Off to reread.) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/5 "2009-12-30T15:08:32Z")
_Around the World in Eighty Days_. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/6 "2009-12-30T15:12:34Z")
To Kill A Mockingbird tops my list. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/7 "2009-12-30T16:00:28Z")
_English Passengers_, Matthew Kneale _Water for Elephants_, Sara Gruen _Persuasion_, actually all of Jane Austen _Skinny Dip_, Carl Hiaasen ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/8 "2009-12-30T16:25:51Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I like several of Frederick Forsyth’s novels, most of which have some interesting twist at the end. **The Devil’s Alternative** , a Cold War thriller, is very datred now (or an interesting period piece), with its last twist on the very last page. Practically the last paragraph. _The Day of the Jackal_ has a nice, satisfying ending - it’s sometimes hard to bring a thriller home well. For the opposite thread of incredibly unsatisfying endings, I suggest Stephen King’s entire oeuvre. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/9 "2009-12-30T16:28:37Z")
_Gone With The Wind_ has the best possible ending, as far as I’m concerned. Stephen King is hit or miss- I think some of his stuff ends well- _The Shining_, _Misery_, and _Dolores Claiborne_ are wrapped up well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/10 "2009-12-30T16:31:58Z")
> [@](#): > > The Day of the Jackal has a nice, satisfying ending - it’s sometimes hard to bring a thriller home well. The “twist” at the end of _Jackal_ wasn’t as impressive as his others, so I didn’t list it, although Day of the Jackal is my overall favorite Forsyth novel (and film) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/11 "2009-12-30T17:19:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I like several of Frederick Forsyth’s novels, most of which have some interesting twist at the end. **The Devil’s Alternative** , a Cold War thriller, is very datred now (or an interesting period piece), with its last twist on the very last page. Practically the last paragraph. _The Odessa File_ fits in there. I admit I haven’t read it since I was 11 or 12, but I still remember the “twist” 30+ years later. _Ender’s Game_. My wife is rereading it a few feet away at this very moment, and she says it holds up very well even when you know what’s coming at the end. ---
**Author:** ![A.Selene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@A.Selene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Selene)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/12 "2009-12-30T17:46:19Z")
The first one to come to mind is _Rendezvous with Rama_ by Arthur C. Clarke. The last line is wonderful. I know he’s written a sequel, but I never bothered with it. It’s a great tale of the exploration of an alien satellite rocketing through our solar system. It’s a huge cylinder, rotating to provide an artificial gravity, with everything built in multiples of threes. The book raises many questions, and doesn’t really answer many, but it’s a very good read. For those that haven’t read, the ending is spoilered below: The satellite leaves our solar system, and we don’t really know what is was for, or really much about the “Ramans” as we call them, at all. Their ship was empty of intelligent life, so we only get to see what they built, not who they were. But the last line seals the deal: “And on far-off Earth, Dr. Carlisle Perera had as yet told no one how he had wakened from a restless sleep with the message from his subconscious still echoing in his brain: The Ramans do everything in threes.” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/13 "2009-12-30T17:57:33Z")
_The Alienist_ by Caleb Carr. Because frankly, what book ending \*\*couldn’t \*\*be improved upon by having Teddy Roosevelt show up and kick everyone’s ass? Deus ex Roosevelta, if you will. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/14 "2009-12-30T18:36:16Z")
_A Tale of Two Cities_. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/15 "2009-12-30T19:03:32Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > _The Alienist_ by Caleb Carr. Because frankly, what book ending \*\*couldn’t \*\*be improved upon by having Teddy Roosevelt show up and kick everyone’s ass? Deus ex Roosevelta, if you will. I made up a party activity based on that ending that I like to call TR Ex Machina, where players rewrite famous endings of books and movies to involve TR. If enough alcohol is involved, you can combine this with charades. _Vanity Fair_ has a great ending, completely satisfying, and it keeps you thinking that things are going in the wrong direction (I remember yelling out loud at the book) before wrapping things up. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/16 "2009-12-30T20:15:21Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > _Water for Elephants_, Sara Gruen COOL! I’m not the only Sara Gruen fan around! I will second \*Water for Elephants \*and add _Timeline_ by Michael Criton and \*Gerald’s Game \*by Stephgen King. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/17 "2009-12-30T20:42:50Z")
I liked the ending of _Possession_. And the post-script. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/18 "2009-12-30T21:11:13Z")
I vote for _Marjorie Morningstar_ by Herman Wouk. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a _satisfying_ ending, but the ending is very, very **right**. (It also makes me tear up.) ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/19 "2009-12-30T21:11:39Z")
The end of the _Mistborn_ trilogy. Resolutions, major mysteries revealed, unexpected sacrifices, and of course, the Hero of Ages. (Not that the Hero’s identity is such a big suprise- I suspected it from Book 1, and I didn’t even pick up the eight zillion subtle clues- but what the role of the Hero actually is, and how that person qualifies). I’m a one-girl Brandon Sanderson fan club. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012/20 "2009-12-30T21:33:12Z")
> [@A.Selene](#): > > The first one to come to mind is _Rendezvous with Rama_ by Arthur C. Clarke. The last line is wonderful. I know he’s written a sequel, but I never bothered with it. It’s a great tale of the exploration of an alien satellite rocketing through our solar system. It’s a huge cylinder, rotating to provide an artificial gravity, with everything built in multiples of threes. The book raises many questions, and doesn’t really answer many, but it’s a very good read. For those that haven’t read, the ending is spoilered below: > > The satellite leaves our solar system, and we don’t really know what is was for, or really much about the “Ramans” as we call them, at all. Their ship was empty of intelligent life, so we only get to see what they built, not who they were. But the last line seals the deal: “And on far-off Earth, Dr. Carlisle Perera had as yet told no one how he had wakened from a restless sleep with the message from his subconscious still echoing in his brain: The Ramans do everything in threes.” It would have been far, far better if Mr. Clarke (and his [del]ghostwriter[/del]collaborator) had not emulated the Ramans in this respect. The second and third books are better forgotten - and best unread. My favorite ending, which I always cite whenever this topic comes up is also from Clarke: [Quote=The Nine Billion Names of God] [O]verhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out. [/quote] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-with-great-endings/523012.md?page=2)