Fiction_L Archives Surprise/memorable endings to books Dates: 3/7/01,4:17 PM  through  3/16/01,10:51 AM  (19 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to March 2001 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Cherie L <[removed]@pcl.lib.wa.us>
REC'D: 3/7/01, 4:17 PM

Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the possibilities and
knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have recently covered this
topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books that have endings you
never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible impression.
I look forward to your responses.
Thank you,
Cherie
Pierce County Library

FROM: Viccy Kemp <[removed]@cityofcarrollton.com>
REC'D: 3/7/01, 4:27 PM

As a matter of fact, in the Fiction-L archives from November 1999, there is
a list of books with surprise endings. But in reading the list, my all-time
favorite is not listed there: "Southern Discomfort" by Rita Mae Brown. The
last two paragraphs of the book completely change the reality of that world.
HTH
Viccy Kemp
The opinions are my own; the library wouldn't want 'em!

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cherie L [[removed]@pcl.lib.wa.us]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 4:14 PM
> To: Fiction_L
> Subject: Surprise/memorable endings to books
>
> Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the possibilities
> and
> knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have recently covered
> this
> topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books that have endings
> you
> never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible impression.
> I look forward to your responses.
> Thank you,
> Cherie
> Pierce County Library
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: "Vinton Library" <[removed]@netins.net>
REC'D: 3/7/01, 4:47 PM

Fortune is a woman by Elizabeth Adler

Virginia Holsten
Vinton Public Library

FROM: Kaite Mediatore <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 3/7/01, 5:07 PM

I defy anyone to anticipate the ending of _Persian Pickle
Club_ by Sandra Dallas.

Kaite


--- Cherie L <[removed]@pcl.lib.wa.us> wrote:
> Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the
> possibilities and
> knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have
> recently covered this
> topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books
> that have endings you
> never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible
> impression.
> I look forward to your responses.
> Thank you,
> Cherie
> Pierce County Library
>
>
>
......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L:
http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html


=====
Kaite Mediatore, Reader's Services Librarian
KCKPL Main Branch
625 Minnesota Ave.
Kansas City, KS 66101
913.279.2212 fx 913.279.2032
[removed]@kckpl.lib.ks.us

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

FROM: Melissa Norton <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 3/7/01, 6:53 PM

PRIMAL FEAR by William Diehl is a doozy, and NOT for
the faint of heart.
Melissa
--- Cherie L <[removed]@pcl.lib.wa.us> wrote:
> Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by
> all the possibilities and
> knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you
> have recently covered this
> topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of
> books that have endings you
> never saw coming, or endings that have left an
> indelible impression.
> I look forward to your responses.
> Thank you,
> Cherie
> Pierce County Library
>
>
>
......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L:
http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html


=====
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melissa Norton [removed]@bridgton.lib.me.us
Asst. Librarian & Webmaster
Bridgton Public Library http://www.bridgton.lib.me.us
65 Main St.
Bridgton, ME 04009
207-647-2472

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

FROM: Vicki Novak - LIBRARYX <[removed]@MAIL.MARICOPA.GOV>
REC'D: 3/7/01, 7:25 PM

Here's the link to the Surprise Endings list compiled previously:
http://www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/Surprise.html

I had forgotten that we did this list and I also asked the same question
recently. I did get a few additional suggestions, but I never got around to
compiling a new list. Here are the additional suggestions I got:

Chris Bohjalian's Tran-sister radio which was one of my favorite
reads of 2000!

How about Midwives by Christopher Bohjalian? The ending puts a totally
> different slant on the whole story.

Sharyn McCrumb If Ever I Return Pretty Peggy-O I have to say that the
ending surprised me..

I thought that two books written by Tom Savage had GREAT endings! One is
"Precipice" and the other is "Inheritence". By the way, if you're ever
looking for a good suspense novel, I think all of his fit the bill.

"Bingo" by
Rita Mae Brown. The last paragraph completely changes the entire book.

THE JUDAS CHILD by Carol O'Connell.

PLAIN TRUTH by Jodi Picoult
THE DROWNING PEOPLE by Richard Mason

It's not exactly a surprise, but the end of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
>still bowls me over, and I've read it several times.

The very end of William Diehl's PRIMAL FEAR was like a
trapdoor opening under my feet, and still gives me
chills.

The ending of Steven Millhauser's EDWIN MULHOUSE has what I would call a
surprise ending, in that many of the people I have recommended it to have
slid right through the last paragraph at top speed and do not actually take
in what happens. When I have chit-
chatted with them about it they are stunned and go back and re-read it and
get the shock of their lives.

Could we include short stories, too? I'm think of Frank Stockton's "The
Lady
or the Tiger."

I'd include
Dancehall by Bernard F. Conners
Letters from the Inside by John Marsden (ya)
Double Wedding by William Katz
Eden Close by Anita Shreve

The ending to the book Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle is quite a
surprise.

I thought AMSTERDAM, by Ian McEwan, had a terrific twist at the end.

The one with the ending that surprised me the most was

The Woman and the Ape
by Peter Hoeg

in which a woman falls in love with an ape that was part of her husband's
science experiment!

My all time favorite surprise ending occurs in Not a
Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffery Archer.

Another one is the new book Roses are Red by James
Patterson.


Vicki Novak
[removed]@mail.maricopa.gov

Adult Services
North Central Regional Library
Maricopa County Library District
17811 N. 32nd St.
Phoenix, AZ 85032-1201

http://mcld.maricopa.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Cherie L [[removed]@pcl.lib.wa.us]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 3:14 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Surprise/memorable endings to books


Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the possibilities and
knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have recently covered
this
topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books that have endings
you
never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible impression.
I look forward to your responses.
Thank you,
Cherie
Pierce County Library

FROM: "Nora M. Armstrong" <[removed]@clsn1269.cumberland.lib.nc.us>
REC'D: 3/8/01, 7:56 AM

I would include The Brethren, by Grisham. The last couple of paragraphs
really took me by surprise.

Nora Armstrong
Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center
Fayetteville, NC
(910)483-7878, FAX (910)486-6661
[removed]@cumberland.lib.nc.us

FROM: "Karen A.K. Keller" <[removed]@tln.lib.mi.us>
REC'D: 3/8/01, 8:28 AM

"House of Sand and Fog" by Andre Dubus III.

Karen Keller
Brighton (MI) District Library

FROM: "Karen A.K. Keller" <[removed]@tln.lib.mi.us>
REC'D: 3/8/01, 8:39 AM

Thought of another... "The woman and the ape" by Peter Hoeg.

Karen Keller
Brighton (MI) District Library

FROM: [removed]@edmail.com
REC'D: 3/8/01, 9:10 AM

Definitely Susan Leslie's "An Unfinished Tapestry" -- you think you've guessed the ending four or five times from the middle of the book on, and you're wrong every time! (It's not only a surprise, but also rather weird!)

Kathy Shannon
Thornwood H.S.
South Holland, IL


On Wed, 07 March 2001, Cherie L wrote:

>
> Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the possibilities and
> knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have recently covered this
> topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books that have endings you
> never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible impression.
> I look forward to your responses.
> Thank you,
> Cherie
> Pierce County Library
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 3/8/01, 10:04 AM

At 06:23 PM 3/7/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Here's the link to the Surprise Endings list compiled previously:
>http://www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/Surprise.html


The first two that come to my mind and which are not on said list are
THE BURNING COURT by John Dickson Carr and VOICE OF OUR SHADOW by
Jonathan Carroll.

As I get older (and more cynical), it's harder and harder for any
book to surprise me. The most sympathetic character is the
murderer? Seen it a hundred times. The narrator has actually been
dead since the first page of the book? Seen it a dozen times.
Person X had a sex change and is in the book all along as Person Y?
Seen it, seen it. So a special honorable mention has to go to one
of the few books I've read in the last five years or so that did in
fact surprise me in the ending, even if it was in an unbelievable
and convuluted manner: FALLING ANGEL by William Hjortsberg.

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

FROM: Suzanne Booker <[removed]@monroe.lib.in.us>
REC'D: 3/8/01, 10:47 AM

Henry James wrote great endings - one example being the wonderful/terrible
ending of The Turn of the Screw ("we were alone with the quiet day, and
his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped"). George Orwell's novels
also tend to end with some unforgettable total bummer. (example:
1984 "He loved Big Brother.")
Susie

FROM: Judy McMahan <[removed]@mail.hall.public.lib.ga.us>
REC'D: 3/9/01, 8:13 AM

Dark Thirty by Terry Kay

-----Original Message-----
From: Cherie L [[removed]@pcl.lib.wa.us]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 5:14 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Surprise/memorable endings to books


Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the possibilities and
knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have recently covered
this
topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books that have endings
you
never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible impression.
I look forward to your responses.
Thank you,
Cherie
Pierce County Library

FROM: "Ruth Clark" <[removed]@dakota.lib.mn.us>
REC'D: 3/10/01, 4:03 PM

Try Lambs of God by MaRele Day. Not being able to see the ending kept me
reading!

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Cherie L
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 4:14 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Surprise/memorable endings to books


Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the possibilities and
knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have recently covered
this
topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books that have endings
you
never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible impression.
I look forward to your responses.
Thank you,
Cherie
Pierce County Library

FROM: [removed]@co.wake.nc.us
REC'D: 3/10/01, 4:35 PM

"The Partner" by John Grisham left me saying out loud, "HUH?" It was a
surprise


Donna Beaver
Wake County Libraries
Zebulon, NC branch

FROM: Karen R White <[removed]@pb.seflin.org>
REC'D: 3/12/01, 3:40 PM

Instruments of Night by Thomas Cook.


Karen R. White
[removed]@pb.seflin.org

FROM: Cheryl Conro <[removed]@dupagels.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 3/15/01, 10:57 AM

Cherie-

The Day After Tomorrow by Alan Folsom--most people are quite surprised by the ending of this book..

Cheryl Conro
Geneva Public Library
Geneva, IL

-----Original Message-----
From: Cherie L [[removed]@pcl.lib.wa.us]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 4:14 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Surprise/memorable endings to books

Hi everyone, I'm new to Fiction_L, and excited by all the possibilities and
knowledge you offer. I apologize in advance if you have recently covered this
topic. I'm looking to put together a book list of books that have endings you
never saw coming, or endings that have left an indelible impression.
I look forward to your responses.
Thank you,
Cherie
Pierce County Library

FROM: "Brad Scott" <[removed]@ci.allen.tx.us>
REC'D: 3/15/01, 6:43 PM

"Use of Weapons" by Iain Banks has one of the most startling endings of any book I've ever read -- it makes you re-evaluate the plot of the whole book in retrospect.

Bradley A. Scott
Allen (Texas) Public Library

** All opinions are personal. **

FROM: "Mary Rindfleisch" <[removed]@biblio.org>
REC'D: 3/16/01, 10:51 AM

The ending of _Affinity_ by Sarah Waters was a real shocker for me. Just
when I thought I had sorted out all the half-truths, deceptions,
self-deceptions, etc., Waters threw in one last scenario which ahdn't even
occured to me.

Mary Rindfleisch
Adult Services/Readers' Advisory Librarian
Ridgefield Library
472 Main St.
Ridgefield, CT 06877
Phone: 203-438-2282
e-mail: [removed]@biblio.org

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Brad Scott
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 7:25 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: RE: Surprise/memorable endings to books


"Use of Weapons" by Iain Banks has one of the most startling endings of any
book I've ever read -- it makes you re-evaluate the plot of the whole book
in retrospect.

Bradley A. Scott
Allen (Texas) Public Library

** All opinions are personal. **

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