The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. I was pretty sure that my library copy of the book must have lost a few pages. I did some research online only to find out that was indeed the way it ended.
How about Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Glasgow? I did not realize when I started it that the author passed away before she could finish writing the book. It didn’t END. It just stopped. An editor told what would probably have happened. What a disappointment to me.
The Mermaid Chair…so disappointing after The Secret Life of Bees (which I adored!). Redeemed by her latest, “The Invention of Wings” – which is spectacular!
I have. I won’t say the book, but it was a series, and halfway through the last book, I was done. I finished it … because I can’t “not finish a book I start”… but I was actually angry. It was as if the author completely forgot what they were writing about. Their style even changed. The first book ended up not making much sense, and the moral of the story ended up basically being “Nothing will ever get better, so why even try, everyone might as well be dead”. Yep… won’t ever read anything from that author again.
There was a book my students were reading inspired by Columbine, but with an underlying message about how too much security takes away freedom and it started so well, but ended “not with a bang but a whimper.” The kids were annoyed- couldn’t blame them.
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep — many of our book club felt it left unanswered questions, but others felt all was answered. I was with the first group.
Yes! The Miniaturist was so good until there was such a disjointed ending that made me believe the author didn’t have a plan! Nonetheless we had a lively book club discussion and ate hutspot ?
@Nina I love all his work but I say to each his own…its great though, got to add as a lover of all things Garcia-Marquez…there are so many great books to enjoy and I’m at an age where I read what i want but check out suggestions and recommendations of course, but make up my own mind.
@Shelley Everyone’s tastes are indeed different. I’ve been trying to get friends and family to try reading War and Peace for years now. No takers yet.
Garcia-Marquez has an amazing writing style (assuming the translator did a good job), but I just didn’t like the characters in Love in the Time of Cholera. I’m hoping that when I get around to Solitude I’ll like those characters better.
I have to admit, now that I think about it, it may be that I have confused 100 Years with Love in the Time of Cholera. Whichever one it was, I still detested it.
That last Jodi Picoult book I read, “Leaving Time” had a twist in the end I never saw coming. The amount of shock I felt was a tribute to her talent as a writer!
The Dinner by Herman Koch. I hate it when a book fools me into believing one thing and then turns out totally different. Won’t spoil it for those who want to read it. But dear me, never again.
@Ronda I admit, I had to read the ending twice as I couldn’t believe what I had read. But, I’ll never forget it and I pondered long after I closed the book.
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor. I’m not sure what ending I thought it should have but I am sure I felt like I had no idea what I had just read. The ending left such a strange gaping feeling.
Charlaine Harris had wonderful ideas for the Sookie series, but I loved what HBO did with them – especially the first three seasons. The show kinda jumped the shark by the end, and I think the books did too.
I totally agree Tammy. True Blood was so fun to watch but toward the end, it was just disappointing. I remember holding the book, looking at it thinking: What? WHAT?? Are you Kidding Me? Lo!
…many, many times. The Nightingale…the young German soldier dying … I invested a lot of time in that character, and when he was killed off … well, (excuse me) I was really pissed!
I was very surprised and disappointed at the ending of Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. I also hated the ending of The God of All Animals. Has anyone else read that book?
Although the first time I was truly SHOCKED by an ending was when reading Jurassic Park for the first time. I loved it though! Better than the movies. (Of course)
Let me preface this by saying I am a big Michael Crighton fan. That said, the endings for Congo and Sphere seemed Disney like. My reaction at the time was he looked at his watch, realized he had to be somewhere and just wrapped it in a bow…and they lived happily ever after…
@Mary it was clearly rushed in the writing so the publisher could just get it out. Katniss acres completely out of character, plus taking her out of the action so the reader misses it is just bad storytelling.
Your comments made me look up a synopsis of the story, wondering why y’all disliked it. I realized I had actually seen the movie and hated it so much I repressed seeing it and I never even considered reading the book.
Gone With the Wind – I read it in high school and told my best friends all the details as I read it – I (we) got to the end and 🙁 – we spend numerous bus rides to school constructing different endings to it 🙂 (also later in life had a friend who read it – her husband told me was sitting in the living room with her as she was finishing it, when suddenly a book went flying across the room, and his wife is shouting “NO, NO, NO!” )
@Paul My daughter’s and I argued for the longest on whether they lived or died. We all read all of her books and I wad them at least 2 times each. Love her books.
The Time Traveler’s Wife. Even though there was a lot of foreboding, halfway through I asked my wife if that is how it ended and she assured me it did not. She misunderstood the question. It did.
‘On Cold Mountain’ and any animal book
I felt like throwing that book at the wall. Spent two weeks of my life on that epic to have it end that way!
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling. Oof.
More often I think, “I hate to have it end!”
Gone Girl and Since We Fell. Actually, Since We Fell was not a very enjoyable book throughout, but the ending was the worst.
I definitely felt that way about Gone Girl!
I hated the ending of Gone Girl. It made me dislike the whole book.
I agree with Since We Fell – I think a conversation with the team who pushed that entire book through to publication would be interesting. ?
I was thinking Gone Girl for me as well. I just felt it was anti-climactic for me.
I agree with gone girl,
I hated Gone Girl. I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. It made me not want to try any of her other books.
Ironically, I always seem to like books that are labeled as “the next Gone Girl”.
With Gone Girl. I at least liked the book, just the ending was not blah.
@Christine her other books are better!
YES! Gone Girl. I hated that book.
Me too! I read it for book club and many people loved it. I rarely say that I hate a book, but I was sorry that I wasted my time reading it.
@Sandy , you and me both.
Same here
Yes! And I was so mad about it that I have evidently blotted the title and author from my mind.
I remember now, it was The Light Between Oceans. But I was irritated by the entire book, so it didn’t surprise me that the ending was disappointing.
I hated that one as well!!
Although I loved the book Leaving Time I felt punched in the face by the twist at the end.
Mansfield Park. Yuck.
I’m still shattered by the ending of the Tower series by Stephen King.
My Sister’s Keeper
I did not at first like the ending of Life of Pi- but after much thought and reflection, I accepted it.
I felt that way about Artemis by Andy Weir. I really liked the book but then all of a sudden it was over.
The Fault In Our Stars
Been there before!
The Eragon series, 4 books, all that drama and they literally just flew off into the sunset
Aww, I liked that series.
@Adrien I loved the series too, I just felt the ending didn’t do justice to the characters and story
@Theresa I read it awhile ago and sadly don’t recall the ending. I guess it wasn’t memorable!
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. I was pretty sure that my library copy of the book must have lost a few pages. I did some research online only to find out that was indeed the way it ended.
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Loved the book, hated the epilogue.
All the Light We Cannot See- I thought the ending was pretty unsatisfying
After that long book, it seemed to me the ending was rushed and tacked on.
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
Yesby. I had all of these pieces carefully plotted out. How dare they.
Gone Girl. I was hooked until the very end, then I was pissed.
My exact reaction.
@Carolyn I wanted him to get revenge! I actually said “that’s it!?” out loud.
@Lindsey , exactly!
I hated both of them at the end of the book.
I so agree with you.
yup, me too
I don’t like it when it is up to the reader to decide what happed.
11/22/63 is my all time favorite book but I didn’t really like the ending
I think he could have made the same point and had the protagonist do the same thing without the earthquakes etc.
Just read Twist of Faith a month or so ago and was so dissapointed, and then angry, and then frustrated at the writer AND the editor.
Cold Mountain did it for me…
As much as I love Stephen King, I feel that way about quite a few of his books.
Yes, particularly the Dark Tower series!
Gone Girl… great writing, dumb ending.
Completely agree. The ending was horrible
How about Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Glasgow? I did not realize when I started it that the author passed away before she could finish writing the book. It didn’t END. It just stopped. An editor told what would probably have happened. What a disappointment to me.
That would be horrible ?
I’m sitting here outraged that a publisher would do that!!
The Mermaid Chair…so disappointing after The Secret Life of Bees (which I adored!). Redeemed by her latest, “The Invention of Wings” – which is spectacular!
I agree with this entire comment.
The Time Travelers Wife.
Heartbreaking!! But still an excellent book. I dont think I hated this ending, I just really wished it could have been different.
Atonement!
Loved the ending!
I also loved the ending, but I can see how it would frustrate people.
Too many times to count.
Yep.
I have. I won’t say the book, but it was a series, and halfway through the last book, I was done. I finished it … because I can’t “not finish a book I start”… but I was actually angry. It was as if the author completely forgot what they were writing about. Their style even changed. The first book ended up not making much sense, and the moral of the story ended up basically being “Nothing will ever get better, so why even try, everyone might as well be dead”. Yep… won’t ever read anything from that author again.
The movie sucked.
I have to say that the story was confusing,and Emily Blunt looked like a strung out junkie.
I know it won awards.but..
Harry Potter
Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series. And the thing is, he knew it!
Yes!
Once threw a book across a room because of the ending.
??
Many times!
number if times it felt like the author all of a sudden rushed the end of the story??
There was a book my students were reading inspired by Columbine, but with an underlying message about how too much security takes away freedom and it started so well, but ended “not with a bang but a whimper.” The kids were annoyed- couldn’t blame them.
Yep! 🙂
Yes
Oh yeah!
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep — many of our book club felt it left unanswered questions, but others felt all was answered. I was with the first group.
Yes! The Miniaturist was so good until there was such a disjointed ending that made me believe the author didn’t have a plan! Nonetheless we had a lively book club discussion and ate hutspot ?
Gone Girl.
Agreed!!!! Ugh!
Yes.
Yes. Searching for Mr Goodbar. Terrible, disturbing ending.
Yes just yesterday. If it hadn’t been on my Kindle I would have thrown it against the wall.
Yes, namely with The Crucible (which, surprisingly, gained a place among my favorites, once I had time to think it over!)
Yes; and I still want Owen Meany back!
Yes. You can see what’s coming but I still didn’t want it to happen.
All the Light We Cannot See
The Firm, I liked the movie ending better.
The Dark Tower. I was really MAD!!
I was too. Reading THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE HELPED some, but I’m still waiting.
Gone With the Wind!!!!!
That was one of my favorites. lol. I’ve always loved playing out different endings in my mind. ?
Yes, 100 Years of Solitude. Detested that book and the time I wasted reading it!
Oh I’m so sorry one of my top 5 faves…we all can’t like the same I realize.
That one has been in my TBR pile for ages, but I haven’t had the nerve to start it yet, mostly because I detested Love in the Time of Cholera
@Nina I love all his work but I say to each his own…its great though, got to add as a lover of all things Garcia-Marquez…there are so many great books to enjoy and I’m at an age where I read what i want but check out suggestions and recommendations of course, but make up my own mind.
@Shelley Everyone’s tastes are indeed different. I’ve been trying to get friends and family to try reading War and Peace for years now. No takers yet.
Garcia-Marquez has an amazing writing style (assuming the translator did a good job), but I just didn’t like the characters in Love in the Time of Cholera. I’m hoping that when I get around to Solitude I’ll like those characters better.
I have to admit, now that I think about it, it may be that I have confused 100 Years with Love in the Time of Cholera. Whichever one it was, I still detested it.
All the Bright Places. The ending made me soooo mad!
Yep
Often!!!
The Divergent series.
I was going to comment with the same thing. I threw Allegiant on the floor and left it there for a good three weeks.
Yes!!! I. Was. So. Very. MAD!!!
That last Jodi Picoult book I read, “Leaving Time” had a twist in the end I never saw coming. The amount of shock I felt was a tribute to her talent as a writer!
I was devastated by the twist at the end. Yes, a tribute to her talent.
This is what I had posted above: Although I loved the book Leaving Time I felt punched in the face by the twist at the end.
@Adrien – I was heartbroken!
That’s how I felt with My Sister’s Keeper.
That’s why she’s good!
Oh yes.
Too many times to count.
For Surely!
Future Home of the Living God. I loved the book up to the last few chapters, then absolutely hated it.
OR want to continue a little further.
The Dinner by Herman Koch. I hate it when a book fools me into believing one thing and then turns out totally different. Won’t spoil it for those who want to read it. But dear me, never again.
I didn’t like that book at all.
@Kim Thank you, because so many people tell me how great it is, and I keep thinking, are we reading the same novel?
@Beth I thought it was terrible. Did not get the popularity at all!
Oh, yeah.
1984. Big Brother…..OHHH brother!!
See, I like 1984, and LOVE Animal Farm . . .
I’ve never read Animal Farm. 1984 gave me a headache but we’re all different. ?
Yes, and resisted the urge to hurl it across the room in disgust.
Yes!
Yup
Hunger Games series, Divergent series
Yes!
Yes!
sometimes
Defending Jacob
What didn’t you like about it? It wasn’t happy but I thought it made for an even more impactful story.
From the perspective of a mom, I found the ending disturbing.
@Ronda I admit, I had to read the ending twice as I couldn’t believe what I had read. But, I’ll never forget it and I pondered long after I closed the book.
Same here. Not sure I could have done what she did.
Getting ready to start ‘Defending Jacob’ tomorrow!!
Yes, Message in a Bottle
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor. I’m not sure what ending I thought it should have but I am sure I felt like I had no idea what I had just read. The ending left such a strange gaping feeling.
I was not a fan of her short stories.
I loved her short stories, but that novel was a hard one for me.
The Divergent Series, Harry Potter, most books that I become invested in… lol!
To be honest, I thought that with Me Before You.
That is one of the only series I have read where I like the later books better than the first.
A couple of years back, I read through the Sookie Stackhouse series. Books were pretty good except for the last–Worst Ending EVER!!!!
Charlaine Harris had wonderful ideas for the Sookie series, but I loved what HBO did with them – especially the first three seasons. The show kinda jumped the shark by the end, and I think the books did too.
I totally agree Tammy. True Blood was so fun to watch but toward the end, it was just disappointing. I remember holding the book, looking at it thinking: What? WHAT?? Are you Kidding Me? Lo!
Just finished The Giver. Not sure how I feel about it. The end was not at all what I expected.
Taught that novel to my middle schoolers … on the curriculum, but never liked it…the end was too ambiguous for me.
…many, many times. The Nightingale…the young German soldier dying … I invested a lot of time in that character, and when he was killed off … well, (excuse me) I was really pissed!
It was so sad but I think if he had lived people would have complained that she wrapped things up too neatly.
Yes!
Go Set a Watchman…
The enitre book was a “nooooo” experience
I love these posts but I just read my first spoiler…….
I’m still gonna finish!
Oh, definitely still finish!
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Dumbledore’s death almost did me in.
Don’t remind me ?
Also Harry Potter and the Cursed Child… specifically the queer baiting was super problematic.
Most recently A Spool of Blue Thread
The last Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead Ever After, by Charlaine Harris. I’ve never been more disappointed.
Yes, Earth Abides. ….even though it was a good book, the ending didn’t suit me.
Oh yes. I threw Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper across the room when I finished it and have never read her again!
That’s what I love about Jodi Picoult. There’s always a twist at the end.
Me too, I love that I never figure out the ending….
The Horse Whisperer. The movie had a better ending than the book.
Game of Thrones, the first book. I read it before the series started and could not believe it!! I seriously thought I misunderstood.
I think I know what you are referring to. That was the point when I knew Martin’s books were worth reading. I went out to get the next one right away.
@Nina Yes! It really set them apart and made them special.
Twilight. Hated the whole series. Horribly written and the ending blew.
Oh yes! I even asked the author why she ended it as she did. She had a good reason, but it was still hard to accept.
Me Before You JoJo Moyes
Ethan Frome ?
Did you expect them to die in the sledding accident or escape to Florida?
Not to Florida on the sleds, but, you know!
The Half Bad series. Broke my heart. And then I had to give it to my best friend and then break her heart
I was very surprised and disappointed at the ending of Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. I also hated the ending of The God of All Animals. Has anyone else read that book?
My Sister’s Keeper I threw this one across the living room and then I cried.
Bel Canto disappointed me
Americana. Loved the book until the ending.
Yes, but I’ve also finished a book and thought this is not the end as I hoped for a sequel.
The Help- well knit throughout and it felt like she just gave up in the end- blah
Neil Gaiman – Stardust. Didn’t like that ending!
Although the first time I was truly SHOCKED by an ending was when reading Jurassic Park for the first time. I loved it though! Better than the movies. (Of course)
Yep. Just did: A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. I did not like the ending at all.
Yes!!
Stranger in a Strange Land. It was like someone other than the author finished up the book.
The Awakening Kate Chopin. My entire American Lit class was like “NO!!!”
Love her work
Divergent
Hunger Games
Let me preface this by saying I am a big Michael Crighton fan. That said, the endings for Congo and Sphere seemed Disney like. My reaction at the time was he looked at his watch, realized he had to be somewhere and just wrapped it in a bow…and they lived happily ever after…
I hate it when the author just stops writing and calls it an ending.
All the time
That’s how at felt with Inferno. I’m glad Origin didn’t leave us like that
The Hunger Games series.
Yes! What bothered you?
@Mary it was clearly rushed in the writing so the publisher could just get it out. Katniss acres completely out of character, plus taking her out of the action so the reader misses it is just bad storytelling.
Yes!
The Horse Whisperer.
Crimson Petal and the White
Cold Mountain. I was so angry.
And at the movie too!! My husband read Cold Mountain first and he was peeved!
@Angela I refused to watch the movie! Still haven’t seen it.
Your comments made me look up a synopsis of the story, wondering why y’all disliked it. I realized I had actually seen the movie and hated it so much I repressed seeing it and I never even considered reading the book.
@Nikki I only hated how it ended.
@Michele oh. I didn’t like the mistreatment of history and what seemed like gratuitous violence. But I did not read the book, only saw the movie.
“The Story of Edgar Sawtelle”-by David Wroblewski. At the end, I was appalled that I had just spent 2 weeks reading “Hamlet.”
I loved that book! Never thought of Hamlet…may need to read again
The Flood girls…..
Yes!
Every book by George RR Martin of Ice and Fire because it takes years for him to write the next.
Anticipation……
Yes!!! I hate when I finish a book and I’m mad!!!
The Giver Series. I felt let down by the last part of the last book.
Atonement.
YES! The story of Edgar Sawtelle~ the ending was not good 🙁
Read it loved it was prepared cause they all said it was like Hamlet but so longed for diff ending..good book
I cried my heart out!
But I LOVE that book.
@Darby do y’all know if he’s written another good book?
Shelley, great guestion! I do not know . Sawtelle was his first novel.
But I am googling !!!
@Darby good girl thanks
shelley, I cannot see that he has written another book. The rights to a movie have been in negotiation since 2012. Let’s hope !!
@Darby yes hope springs eternal
That book was a gem, on so many levels. But the ending….?
@Kim we can relate, dear
Oh yes…..The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason. Had me reeling at the end.
Second “Atonement”!!!
Absolutely loved book and movie and all his work but I wanted another ending so badly.
The Help.
Yes!
More often I am sad I finished the book.
I love sad books or should I say realistic and don’t want them to end even though I’m crying actual tears. But I love all types even happy endings.
Yes!
Messenger by Lois Lowry
The Broom of the System, David Foster Wallace. Great book, but I never saw the ending coming, like hitting a brick wall. 🙁
Gone With the Wind – I read it in high school and told my best friends all the details as I read it – I (we) got to the end and 🙁 – we spend numerous bus rides to school constructing different endings to it 🙂 (also later in life had a friend who read it – her husband told me was sitting in the living room with her as she was finishing it, when suddenly a book went flying across the room, and his wife is shouting “NO, NO, NO!” )
Often. At the movies I have embarrassed my family and yelled it outloud as well.
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Yes, the ending really bugged me on that one too. My wife thought it was a happy ending, I took the opposite view.
@Paul My daughter’s and I argued for the longest on whether they lived or died. We all read all of her books and I wad them at least 2 times each. Love her books.
The Time Traveler’s Wife. Even though there was a lot of foreboding, halfway through I asked my wife if that is how it ended and she assured me it did not. She misunderstood the question. It did.
Rosemary’s Baby!!! I threw the book across the room in pure anger!
All the time, lol
Yes!!!
I was disappointed with how the Passage Trilogy ended!!☹️
Yes even tossed the book mad.
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel. Worst book I ever finished reading.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Don Quixote, but I understood why.
“Gone Girl”
Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney @Rosemary
Cold Mountain by Charles Fraser
My Sister’s Keeper and The Lovely Bones
Yes. And I have wanted a book to go on and on because I became so involved with the story and the characters.
This really happens to me when I’m reading a series. Just want more.
The Friday Night Knitting Club. Loved that book. Still mad at the author for the ending.
Hannibal by Thomas Harris
Yes, and then I’d be angry for days! ?