Last sentences that blow you away.

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

@betenoir

Oh and you could argue, trananlanticaly, if this is a last line but

“I was cured alright.”

It’s sure a better last line than “And all that cal.”

[well_he_s_back]

The last lines of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” are worth mentioning: “…He had apparently come there and died. When they tried to pull his skeleton away from the one he held in his arms it crumbled into dust.”

and though they don’t sum up the trilogy, I love that last line of LOTR.

[ivylass]

The last line of **King Rat ** by James Clavell just blew me away. Seriously, I sat there, trying to catch my breath. Talk about a sucker punch to the gut as you realize the analogy. It’s so good, I won’t reveal it here. To get the full effect you have to read the whole book. I’m not going to ruin it for you by having it niggle in the back of your mind.

My teenaged son just finished reading it and he was also stunned. It’s not that long a book, you can read it over a weekend, and I cannot recommend it enough.

[What_Exit]

@well he's back

The last lines of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” are worth mentioning: “…He had apparently come there and died. When they tried to pull his skeleton away from the one he held in his arms it crumbled into dust.”

and though they don’t sum up the trilogy, I love that last line of LOTR.

I too love the end:

At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry
and Pippin rode on to Buckland; and already they were singing again as they
went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was
ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire
within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew
him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.
He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I’m back,’ he said.

I was thinking of you user name as I was about to post this, so good timing all the way around.

Jim

[Ghanima]

“After all, tomorrow is another day.” - Gone With the Wind

After all Scarlet has been through, she still has the same fighting spirit; this sentence sums up the very reason she is still alive.

[Dung_Beetle]

@ivylass

The last line of **King Rat ** by James Clavell just blew me away. Seriously, I sat there, trying to catch my breath. Talk about a sucker punch to the gut as you realize the analogy. It’s so good, I won’t reveal it here. To get the full effect you have to read the whole book. I’m not going to ruin it for you by having it niggle in the back of your mind.

My teenaged son just finished reading it and he was also stunned. It’s not that long a book, you can read it over a weekend, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Is it necessary to read the series? My library lists it as fourth in the Asian saga.

[MaxTheVool]

The last paragraph of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (Alice has woken up from her “dream”, told her older sister about it, and her older sister is thinking about Alice):

Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make THEIR eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.

[Baffle]

The ending of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series literally blew me away. I sat there, unmoving, just blinking, for a good ten minutes, until my girlfriend interrupted my awe.

I simply cannot in good faith post it here though; that one single line will ruin the entire seven books if read first.

I’m pretty sure Stephen King stretched his epic story out into seven books just to one-up Tolkien.

[gonzomax]

No it wasn’t the airplanes.
It was beauty that killed the beast.

[BrainGlutton]

@Baffle

The ending of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series literally blew me away. I sat there, unmoving, just blinking, for a good ten minutes, until my girlfriend interrupted my awe.

Despite your use of the word “awe,” I remain uncertain as to whether you mean that in a good or a bad way.

[Ichbin_Dubist]

Huckleberry Finn: “But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory
ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me,
and I can’t stand it. I been there before.”

“The Delicate Prey,” Paul Bowles:
“The next night he did not know where he was, did not feel the cold.
The wind blew dust along the ground into his mouth as he sang.”

Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet:
“I just kind of stopped all over.” (The protagonist is dead.)

“Araby,” James Joyce:
“Gazing up into the darkness, I saw myself as a creature driven
and derided by vanity, and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”
Finnegans Wake, James Joyce:
… yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used
or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall
and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with
my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say
yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes
and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume
yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon:
“Now everybody–”

(Good opener, too: “A screaming comes across the sky.”)

[Dung_Beetle]

@BrainGlutton

Despite your use of the word “awe,” I remain uncertain as to whether you mean that in a good or a bad way.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first, but came around to thinking that it was the only possible way.

[cher3]

Ichbin Dubist, I think your 5th one is from Ulysses.

[Push_You_Down]

The last line of Brave New World Where “The Savage” has just hung himself. The last line simply describes the directions his body turns as it hangs from the rafters.

[Debaser]

Dammit!

Shaara in Post #28. Asimov in post #42.

Both of the lines that popped into my head upon reading the thread title are taken.

I’m taking my ball and going home. grumble grumble

[Ichbin_Dubist]

@cher3

Ichbin Dubist, I think your 5th one is from Ulysses.

You’re right, I was looking for both online simultaneously and crossed my wires. You could argue that FW doesn’t have a last line but recirculates.

[BrainGlutton]

Speaking of Pynchon, the last line of The Crying of Lot 49 finally explains the title.

[ivylass]

@Dung Beetle

Is it necessary to read the series? My library lists it as fourth in the Asian saga.

No, each story in the “saga” is a stand alone. In fact, Clavell’s last book, Gai-Jin, is chronologically the third in the series.

The ones you should read in order are Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, Noble House, and Whirlwind (although you can skip that one. I never had an urge to read it more than once.) Those are the main stories of the Struans. The other books introduce characters that interweave in the four Struan books, but you can certainly read *King Rat * by itself.

[Roadfood]

“After all, a boy loves his dog.”

“Maybe he just wanted to steal our wirecutters, ya ever think of that?”

[Baffle]

@BrainGlutton

Despite your use of the word “awe,” I remain uncertain as to whether you mean that in a good or a bad way.

I thought it was very good, because…

… as the book was coming to an end, I kept telling myself there was no possible way he could come up with anything cool enough to be at the top of the tower, that it would have to be a let-down. But I was wrong; he did, in fact, come up with a way to make the ending not be a disappointment.