# The opposite of Deus ex Machina... Stories with no real ending (spoilers obviously)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-opposite-of-deus-ex-machina-stories-with-no-real-ending-spoilers-obviously/201559>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 14, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-opposite-of-deus-ex-machina-stories-with-no-real-ending-spoilers-obviously/201559 "2003-09-14T13:36:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-opposite-of-deus-ex-machina-stories-with-no-real-ending-spoilers-obviously/201559/21 "2003-09-25T21:22:37Z")

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I don’t get why people say Snow Crash didn’t have an ending. It most definitely does, almost every plot thread throughout the book is brought to a sudden conclusion…it is so sudden it almost seems like a deus ex machina itself, except all the ending factors were lead up to, it just ended in a suprising way.

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**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-opposite-of-deus-ex-machina-stories-with-no-real-ending-spoilers-obviously/201559/22 "2003-09-26T00:59:25Z")

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Roger Zelazny’s _Amber_ books. Especially the second series. Been a while since I read them, but how much did he ever resolve or get around to explaining? Not too damn much.

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**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-opposite-of-deus-ex-machina-stories-with-no-real-ending-spoilers-obviously/201559/23 "2003-09-26T01:28:45Z")

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_Shogun_ and _Gai-jin_ by James Clavell. Both were great books that built up expectation of a huge conflict, but both were resolved by a couple of paragraphs that explained how the conflict was resolved. It was such a letdown after all the suspense.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-opposite-of-deus-ex-machina-stories-with-no-real-ending-spoilers-obviously/201559/24 "2003-09-26T03:03:19Z")

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The mid-1990s classic movie “Special Report: Journey to Mars.”

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**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-opposite-of-deus-ex-machina-stories-with-no-real-ending-spoilers-obviously/201559/25 "2003-09-26T04:00:48Z")

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How about Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” ?  
We can’t know for sure what the couple’s decision is.

Or what will happen to Daru in Camus’ “The Guest.”

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