# If you could change the ending of any book...



## tbrookside (Nov 4, 2009)

...what would it be?

This was a thread at the Facebook Barnes and Noble page, and lots of people said _Gone with the Wind_. That surprised me, since I think it has a perfect ending and the only possible one that is true to the characters.


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## Daniel Arenson (Apr 11, 2010)

I'd change the ending of _The War of the Worlds_, so that the characters defeat the aliens themselves, as opposed to the aliens just catching a cold.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Patricia Briggs third Mercy Thompson book.  The ending itself was okay, but the run into it was too harsh for me.  I think it left scars.  True to the story and character?  Yes.  But I mostly read to escape and that wasn't a place I ever wanted to visit.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

In _The Hunger Games_, I'd change the ending so there weren't two winners ... its not really the kind of book that needed a happy ending.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

_Gone With the Wind_ for me. The ending of the book affected me so adversely that from that time on I never started a book without reading the ending first. The Kindle finally cured me of that. It's possible to do with Kindle books but somehow was too much trouble and so I've stopped.


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

I would change the ending to Mockingjay. It just wasn't done well and it left me feeling empty and like it was still all so unfinished.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

My Sister's Keeper. I really enjoyed the book but the ending ruined the entire book for me. The ending/solution felt like a cop-out to me and was a huge let down.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

For those who want to change GWTW, have you read Scarlett or any of the other books about GWTW Characters? like Rhett's People? I haven't and am just curious if they are worth it.

As for a book I would change? .. only books that I think were worthless from the get-go. And I have burned their names from my memory, so I can't tell you what they were.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I'd change just one thing in a book that I otherwise adored: _Possession_. I found it just too, too sad that


Spoiler



Christabel's daughter didn't love her - she didn't even like her


. It felt like one layer of sadness too much to have laid upon the story. I also found it not quite convincing.

I rewrite that part in my head.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I would completely leave out the epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Daniel Arenson said:


> I'd change the ending of _The War of the Worlds_, so that the characters defeat the aliens themselves, as opposed to the aliens just catching a cold.


I know several people who think the same thing but I liked the ending. As written, he Martians could not have been defeated by the humans. At least that's how it read to me.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Luvmy4brats said:


> I would completely leave out the epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.


This.


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## tbrookside (Nov 4, 2009)

imallbs said:


> I know several people who think the same thing but I liked the ending. As written, he Martians could not have been defeated by the humans. At least that's how it read to me.


If I was going to change _The War of the Worlds_, I would have the humans lose.

If Wells intended it as a metaphor for western colonialism and imperialism, that's how the story would end - or, at least, that would have been the ending as of the date of the writing of the novel.


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

I'd change the end of The Shinning, it just got silly when


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the topiaries came to life...


 luckily Kubirck did it for me, when he made his film version. I liked his ending much better, though I know some will disagree.


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## Jasmine Giacomo Author (Apr 21, 2010)

Kennit's beloved death scene at the end of the third Liveship Traders book by Hobb. The man was a sociopath, and got more love than several other characters...combined. It sickened me, really, but to be fair, I already knew far too well what evils a sociopath is capable of and I really wanted justice rather than compassion.


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## cruising ann (Apr 2, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> For those who want to change GWTW, have you read Scarlett or any of the other books about GWTW Characters? like Rhett's People? I haven't and am just curious if they are worth it.
> 
> As for a book I would change? .. only books that I think were worthless from the get-go. And I have burned their names from my memory, so I can't tell you what they were.


Scarlett, not so much. She goes to Ireland and wrecks havoc.  Rhett Butlers People, that is a good read, tells his family history, and of course available on kindle.


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## Julie Christensen (Oct 13, 2010)

I really disliked the ending of My Sister's Keeper.  I loved the twists and turns of the story, and Jodi Picoult is such an engaging writer, but I felt betrayed by the ending.  It was like she thought she had to do just one more crazy twist, instead of giving us a good, satisfying ending.


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

I would change the end of every Charles Dickens book.  His endings are so forced and contrived that he has seriously made me roll my eyes.


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## Laurie (Jan 9, 2009)

"Gone, Baby, Gone" 

Great book, but I hated the ending.


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## Brenda M. (Nov 26, 2008)

The Story of Edgar Sawtell. HATED the ending!!!


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## kansaskyle (Sep 14, 2010)

I just finished _Darkness on the Edge of Town_ by Brian Keene, and I would definitely


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have an actual ending. As it is, the author just leaves you hanging unsure of what happens to Robbie, Christy, and Russ. Do they escape the darkness via the sewer (unlikely) or die a horrible death once they get beyond the protective runes Dez created (likely).



*NOTE:*
Out of kindness to other readers, please use the spoiler tag (i.e., highlight the text and click the *SP* button) for anything that gives away the ending of a book! This masks the text in black highlighting, but readers can hover their mouse over the text to see the words if they want to see what you wrote.


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## EllenR (Mar 31, 2009)

Heck yes. The Twilight books.


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I'd have the girl choose the warm werewolf over the glittery, tortured vampire!


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## mathewferguson (Oct 24, 2010)

Perhaps it's not the ending but it's terrible that Susan in the Narnia series was excluded from paradise simply because she grew up.


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## Robert Tell Author (Aug 17, 2010)

"Cuttings For Stone" by Dr. Abraham Verghese is a great book currently making the rounds of book discussion groups. A wonderful read overall but I hated something at the end that I would change if I could. I won't say what because I don't want to ruin the ending for people now reading the book.


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## chiffchaff (Dec 19, 2008)

I second those who mentioned Edgar Sawtelle and My Sisters Keeper.


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It's not that I have to have happy endings, those were just too sad and had no redeeming consequences.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

mathewferguson said:


> Perhaps it's not the ending but it's terrible that Susan in the Narnia series was excluded from paradise simply because she grew up.


Mathew, there's still hope for Susan.

From _Letters to Children_, a letter of 1957: "The books don't tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there is plenty of time for her to mend, and perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end--in her own way."

She's certainly likely to be shocked into thinking on more serious matters by the events of _The Last Battle_.


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## katbird1 (Dec 10, 2008)

Brenda M. said:


> The Story of Edgar Sawtell. HATED the ending!!!


This was the book that immediately came to mind, loved it until the end.


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## crosj (Nov 8, 2008)

Under the dome by Stephen King.  It appeared to me that he needed an ending right away
and just stuck it on.  Terrible ending to a great book.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

Luvmy4brats said:


> I would completely leave out the epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.


Darn, that was mine. I'll go with _Little Women_. I have a quite a bone of contention to pick about Jo and Laurie not ending up together. It's been fifteen years since the first time I read the book, and I'm *still* annoyed.


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2010)

Luvmy4brats said:


> I would completely leave out the epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.


I'd remove Ginny altogether.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> For those who want to change GWTW, have you read Scarlett or any of the other books about GWTW Characters? like Rhett's People? I haven't and am just curious if they are worth it.


I hated _Scarlett_--the writing was no comparison to GWTW. It lacked the depth of GWTW, almost as if Ripley had a gameboard with cardboard cutouts of the characters she moved around at random while she was writing it. I haven't read _Rhett's People_, though the premise sounds interesting. Take into account I have a strong aversion to writers picking up another writer's work and trying to continue it--I think it's borderline plagerism, unless it's a reworking of an old myth or fairytale. Authors like Ripley should get their own sandbox and quit playing in someone else's.

I would change the end of Jan Siegel's series--_Prospero's Children_, the first book, showed so much promise, but by the third book _The Witch Queen_, the series had fizzled. I think the main character Fern lost her umphh by the third one.


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## jwasserman (Aug 30, 2010)

Richard Laymon's The Traveling Vampire Show. Up until the ending, it was a wonderfully paced coming of age story with hints of terror and real moments of supernatural dread. The ending reads like it was thrown together in about 10 minutes and attempts to wrap up the book as quickly as possible. It was sloppy and the characters deserved far better. I was ready to love this book but couldn't believe the gorefest or ridiculousness of the conclusion.


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

crosj said:


> Under the dome by Stephen King. It appeared to me that he needed an ending right away
> and just stuck it on. Terrible ending to a great book.


I agree. It took him over a thousand pages to get to _that_? The premise was great though.

I know it would ruin the book, but I would have loved a more hopeful ending to The Road. That book, while beautifully written, was just so depressing! I'm a HEA kind of gal.


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## Margaret Jean (Aug 31, 2010)

IMHO, I tremulously offer two titles:  Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) and Madame Bovary (Flaubert).  I hate it when male authors throw their female protagonists under the train (pardon the pun, A.K.).  "It's just not FAIR!" Of course it is, but maybe it's just "not right!"  Or something like that.  Anyway, I'd have loved to have seen them married off to some wealthy old goat with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. They are just such fine ladies dealing with impossible situations (men! who happen to be their husbands!).  I mean, what would you do, ladies, under similar circumstances?


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Under the Dome

I'll try to explain this without spoiling it for anyone yet to read it okay?

It would have been nice to explore (if even for just another 50 pages) what the townspeople & survivors thought....once they knew who had been behind the huge dome that had been dropped onto their little town.

They don't have to know WHY.... I just wish King would have gone a bit further and shown us what a few of the characters thought about it.

Did nearly dying change their way of looking at life as they knew it?

Were a few of the characters "closet " believers and now they run around town pointing up at the sky shouting- "
SEE? I told you so....I told you so!"

Did a few of them shuck it off as National Enquirer fodder and NOW... they walk around thinkiing...."Well, I'll be damned"  

I mean, it was okay and all (the book in general) but the ending just fell flat-- felt rushed.

This was a rare King novel for me....... I read it once and haven't gone back

I am enjoying Full Dark, No Stars much more.


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## Mark_A_Lopez (Oct 24, 2010)

Luvmy4brats said:


> I would completely leave out the epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.


Couldn't agree more.


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

Edgar Sawtelle.  Loved the book but despised the way it ended.


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## willowpolson (Nov 9, 2010)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The final battle was a letdown. I thought it should have been a lot bigger, and I found myself saying, "That's it?" I didn't mind the epilogue other than it should have been a lot longer, or been its own book, otherwise left off. It felt tacked on.

On Stranger Tides: I LOVED this book, but felt the end just kind of tapered off instead of being a satisfying climax/dénouement. "Then some ambiguous stuff happened that could be a sequel some day, and they walked off and lived happily ever after." It felt like he got tired of writing it.


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