Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Happily or Not So Happily Ever After?



I'm a sucker for a happy ending. I like to see the protagonist get together with Mr. or Ms. Right (whether or not that person was the supposed love interest throughout the rest of the book) and find things work out just the way they're supposed to. But that doesn't mean that everything has to be perfect.

I like when the character has to give something up in order to come full circle. Like something they thought was vitally important at the beginning of the book turns out to not be as important to the person they become at the end.

But this has me thinking about books where there isn't really a happily ever after. Maybe just a happy for now, or better than it was 300 pages ago. Or even no happy ending for anyone. It can be hard to pull off and takes a lot of skill to write that end of ending and still leave the reader satisfied with the story.

What do you think about happy versus unhappy endings? Do you have a favorite book that doesn't have a happily ever after at the end?

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