# Fictional stories with unfinished business **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823 "2011-09-27T23:43:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/21 "2011-10-04T04:49:20Z")
**Song of Solomon** by Toni Morrison. Guitar and Milkman, the two main characters, are put in a fatal collision course, but the author leaves it ambiguous who lives and who dies. According to Wikipedia, Milkman dives towards Guitar and dies in the process; when I read it in 1979, it wasn’t so clear cut, and either way, Guitar’s fate remains unknown. Few white readers ever sympathized with Guitar; Black readers of that day, I’m not so sure. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/22 "2011-10-04T06:33:01Z")
Anyone who has ever read **The Neverending Story** will recognize the phrase, “But that is another story that will be told another time.” ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/23 "2011-10-04T06:54:57Z")
There was a series on a while back that never answered the riddle, “what did one snowman say to the other snowman?” That’s all I can think of, though. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/24 "2011-10-04T14:48:15Z")
Koxinga, that was Lost, and the answer was given - “Smells like carrots.” ---
**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:** [October 4, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/25 "2011-10-04T14:49:30Z")
_What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?_. The book ended with the fire; the movie did tack on a real ending. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/26 "2011-10-04T15:06:51Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Koxinga, that was Lost, and the answer was given - “Smells like carrots.” Ah! An answer! I knew my faith in that series wasn’t misplaced. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/27 "2011-10-04T15:41:08Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > Hmmm…I must be more dense than most. All these years I’ve just thought either > a) Deep Thought was so complex it confused itself in identifying the Ultimate Answer > b) Deep Though was so confused it programmed Earth I incorrectly so the wrong question was the result > c) Arthur’s ‘divining method’ wasn’t worth crap “What do you get when you multiply six by nine?” is not the question. We know this because the computer that was supposed to find the Question and encode it in Arthur’s brain, aka Earth, became contaminated by the arrival of the alien ship full of “middle-man” workers. Managers, hairdressers, telephone sanitizers, et cetera. Arthur was descended from _those_ people, not the carefully computed constructs of Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823/28 "2011-10-04T17:40:02Z")
> [@Neevil](#): > > Well if the wrangling between Larsson’s family and his long-term girlfriend regarding his estate is ever resolved you may get your wish. It appears there is a manuscript for a further book in the Millenium series which his partner is holding, the book in question apparently introduces Lisbeths twin sister Camilla. Lots of rumours abound about the book and whether it will ever see the light of day, however. > > [http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/03/28/fourth-stieg-larsson-novel/](http://shelf-life.ew.com/2011/03/28/fourth-stieg-larsson-novel/) I had heard that Larsson had unfinished work behind, but I wasn’t sure if the unfinished work included Lisbeth’s twin sister. I hope that what he left behind was fleshed out enough that it could be published some day! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-stories-with-unfinished-business/597823.md?page=1)