Unhappy endings - examples?

[Codger]

I'm in the process of mapping out a new novel, and have concluded that it will have an unhappy (tragic?) ending. This started me wondering about whether a modern novel can be successfully sold that ends on a down note.

Can anyone suggest titles of sad-ended, recent novels that have been successful? I'm at a loss to remember any. (Or possibly my brain is in a fog.) I'd like to study a few examples.

Life provides many examples of unhappy conclusions. I would think that the novels written would reflect this reality.

Any suggestions?

[maestrowork]

Atonement immediately came to mind because of the movie and the novel.

And I don't think the ending of Fight Club was all that happy...

[auntybug]

Message in a bottle...

City of Angels...

HATED THE ENDINGS!!!

[ishtar'sgate]

Can't think of any off the top of my head and cruising my bookshelves doesn't help either. I like happy endings. Sure life isn't like that but I read to escape reality not to confirm it sucks.
I agree with Donald Maass who said in his book, The Career Novelist -
The point is that to the extent that fiction validates our cherished ideals it will sell. To the degree that it condemns us as people, holding up the ugly mirror of truth but leaving us without hope, it will be shunned. Readers are largely optimists. They want to believe that human beings are fundamentally good. They love happy endings.

[Codger]

Can't think of any off the top of my head and cruising my bookshelves doesn't help either. I like happy endings. Sure life isn't like that but I read to escape reality not to confirm it sucks.
I agree with Donald Maass who said in his book, The Career Novelist -
The point is that to the extent that fiction validates our cherished ideals it will sell. To the degree that it condemns us as people, holding up the ugly mirror of truth but leaving us without hope, it will be shunned. Readers are largely optimists. They want to believe that human beings are fundamentally good. They love happy endings.

Mr. Maass may be right. The quote you posted makes sense. maybe I'm just a curmudgeon by nature. I weary of reading story after story where the "They all lived happily ever after." ending leaves me thinking, "This is Pollyannaish. I'm getting syrup poisoning."

I'm not suggesting that endings should be uplifting or depressing. I personally enjoy finishing reading a book with the satisfaction that the ending is plausible, and fits the story's details. My enjoyment of many otherwise good novels has been ruined in the last thirty or so pages.

[mrockwell]

Not too recent, but Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes definitely doesn't have a happy ending. It's fitting, and gives the reader the closure they need, but the events of the book are just too tragic for any kind of HEA.

-- Marcy

[jennontheisland]

The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge.

[The Lonely One]

That movie with Will Farrell comes to mind (what was it, stranger than fiction or something?).

But I have to say, I'm notoriously a fan of the unhappy ending. Well, at least, the ending that is appropriate.

E.g. -- a detective/private gun hunts down a man who killed his friend. The man belongs to a gang of pirates that killed his family. He's got a bone to pick.

In the end, the detective's family is still dead, his friend is still dead, his point of view on life hasn't changed, and the guy he was hunting has a knife through his neck.

Was his life altered, his point of view shifted by his actions? Well, not really. A bunch of good people are dead and he's trying to balance the scales a little. Mission accomplished.

I don't see a problem with an unhappy ending. What's compelling about a book to me isn't where it ends but how it gets there (think: "it's the journey, not the destination" or other cliches).

[Nakhlasmoke]

Not perhaps unhappy, but ambiguous - Oryx And Crake - Margaret Atwood.

[TsukiRyoko]

I never read the book, but the movie The Mist (based on Stephen King's novel) had a very unhappy, ironic ending.

[TsukiRyoko]

On second thought, most of King's stuff ends on an unhappy note.

[regdog]

I don't know if it was adapted from a book but there is an excellent Chinese movie 'Raise the Red Lantern' that has a sad ending and is a brilliant story

[Phaeal]

Yes, for a popular novelist, King is king of unhappy endings. They don't come much bleaker than Pet Sematary. I love it anyway. And hey, for unhappy or ambiguous endings, just pop over to the literary aisle. ;)

Actually, unless you're writing category romance, I don't think an unhappy ending will be a problem, per se. Just make sure your eyeglasses are neither coleur de rose NOR coleur de merde.

[Karen Duvall]

An ending doesn't have to be happy, but it does need to be satisfying. Like maybe the story goal was met, but with dire consequences. That's more desirable than having the character skip off into the sunset, though romances usually end that way.

Absolutely right about Stephen King's endings. Satisfying, but tragic. The goal was met. No other promises were made. The ending to Storm of the Century still haunts me.

Love stories that end tragically should be taken out and shot, IMO. The famed Love Story is case in point, as are City of Angels and Message in a Bottle. Hated those endings!!!!

House of Sand and Fog ended on a real downer, and I don't recommend The Book of Ruth. I'm still disturbed by that book.

For me, books that resolve story issues and reward the MC are wonderful, but I also want to see the price paid for those rewards. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and that's reality. So John can save the world, but to accomplish it his brother died to save him. Now that's what makes a good story.

[RunawayScribe]

I'd say Cold Mountain. Definitely a downer of a finish.

[josephwise]

American Psycho
No Country for Old Men
The Road
The Story of Edgar Sawtell

[P.H.Delarran]

someone mentioned the House of Sand and Fog.
some stories don't exactly end bad, but the revelation in them is not really a happy ending, as in The Others. (realizing that one has killed one's children and self and that they are all now ghosts has got to be a bummer).
I also think of movies, The Orphanage, and The Sea Inside.

[virtue_summer]

Life provides many examples of unhappy conclusions. I would think that the novels written would reflect this reality.

Any suggestions?

1) Novels aren't life. They're fiction.
2) People always say "life doesn't have these happy endings" but where are the endings in life (other than death)? Often we think something has ended and it comes back to impact our lives later. I always think of story endings not as the complete end (unless the characters are all dead) but as the point at which the main conflict has been at least temporarily resolved and the author chose to stop, either on a high note or a low note. And we can all agree that life consists of both of these, right?
3) I'm in agreement that the most important thing is that the ending be appropriate to the story. I don't believe in happy endings for the sake of happy endings or in unhappy endings for the same reason. The type of story you're telling should dictate how it will end.

[maestrowork]

Happy endings are so overrated. I've written a few stories where the endings were anything but happy. They were the right and satisfying endings for the stories. I think that's one important to remember.

[CheshireCat]

I never read the book, but the movie The Mist (based on Stephen King's novel) had a very unhappy, ironic ending.

Worst. Movie ending. Ever.

Ever.

I can handle endings -- movies or novels -- that aren't "and they lived happily ever after." As long as it satisfies, an ending can be a downer.

That said, I prefer endings that are in some way positive, even if it's that the good guys triumph -- even if it costs them.

Maybe especially if it costs them.

I have read books that attempted to tie all the tragedies and wounded characters up in a pretty, healed, happy bow at the end -- and those were virtually always wallbangers.

It has to be believeable.

[JamieFord]

You can have a sad ending--even a tragic ending, but if you can also pack in a little nobility, it won't leave the reader feeling like they've been stabbed in the heart for no reason.

[Codger]

You can have a sad ending--even a tragic ending, but if you can also pack in a little nobility, it won't leave the reader feeling like they've been stabbed in the heart for no reason.

Good point. The sadness or tragedy must not be handled in a way that the reader could construe as punishment. They have invested their time and emotion in reading the story. Don't slap them in the face for their trouble. It must be a natural extension of the story.

I've read many novels where the author jumped through all sorts of hoops trying to tie every loose end into a happy ending. It was awkward, and was often the worst writing in the book.

[miles]

Books/Movies/Plays that come to mind:

Romeo and Juliet

Gone With the Wind

Titanic

West Side Story

Fiddler on the Roof


Just goes to prove, some of the biggest movies and books in history have unhappy endings.

[Mad Queen]

My unpublished WIP. :) What was good enough for Shakespeare is good enough for me.

[ReneC]

Anna Karenina

[bethany]

Flowers for Algernon

Of Mice and Men

[MelodyO]

OMG The Time Traveler's Wife, which was a best seller/soon-to-be movie.

I know a lot of people hated the ending, but I don't think it was necessarily because it was sad, but because it wasn't handled properly IMO. Regardless, I loved the rest of the book enough to forgive any shortcomings the ending had. As long as a sad book has a wee ray of hope at the end, I'm all for it. I love a good tear-jerker.

Did anyone mention The Road by Cormac McCarthy? Now THAT was a sad ending. ::kills self::

[Susan Breen]

An unhappy ending can be cathartic. There are times I've read things I knew were going to make me cry. Like Tuesdays with Morrie, which is non-fiction, but even so. And remember Brian's Song? My husband still can't watch that one.

[Clarec]

Not too recent, but Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes definitely doesn't have a happy ending. It's fitting, and gives the reader the closure they need, but the events of the book are just too tragic for any kind of HEA.

-- Marcy

Anything by Jodi Picoult? Or just the two I've read? Can't even remember the names - My Sister's Keeper and one about a woman who learns her dad kidnapped her as a child. It wasn't exactly upbeat.

Yep, some of SK and John Saul is also master of the bad/creepy ending which I hate. There is a place for books with an unhappy ending but personally, I like the old Hollywood ending. Cheers me up.

Clare

[TheAntar]

Worst. Movie ending. Ever.

Ever.

I liked the ending. Very memorable. Imagine that situation, oh my god, how would it FEEL? Very provocative.

[Entropy Perk]

Where the Red Fern Grows
Like Water for Chocolate
At Risk
Fall on Your Knees
Talk Before Sleep
Bridge to Terabithia

Heartbreaking scene's, death, loss of innocence, abuse... but such lovely reads..

[Ms Hollands]

Unhappy or unsatisfying (as Meastrowork and CheshireCat have proposed)?

I HATED - really really hated** - the ending of Jane Eyre. I didn't want her to marry that ponse when she was such an independent person. It was such an unsatisfying ending for me as a teenager, yet it was a happy ending. I'd much prefer a satisfying ending over a happy ending.

**I don't hate it as much anymore, but I still don't like it.

[kct webber]

"Odd Thomas" by Koontz has a pretty sad ending. Good ending. Satisfying. But sad, all the same.

"Wicked" by Maguire has a sad ending--and it was exactly how it was supposed to end.

I've always been a fan of unhappy endings. But I think the key is simply if it fits the story.



(Oh, and BTW, I loved the ending of The Mist.)

[EriRae]

Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson, recently made into a movie)
My Sister's Keeper (only Jodi Picoult book I've read)
Storm of the Century (Stephen King, movie screenplay, there is no book)

I don't suppose that helps your quest, since I've merely repeated what others have said. I love an appropriate ending, no matter how I feel when I finish reading.

[Susan Lanigan]

Sophie's Choice

[Entropy Perk]

Sophie's Choice

OMG, YES!

[C.M. Daniels]

We Need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

[bramble]

Chosen By a Horse
Snowflake in My Hand

White Oleander is a good example of a happy ending that was needlessly pasted onto a book- the ending ruined the story for me. You can't have that much angst and damage wrap up into a happily ever after.

[Mythica]

While I enjoy happy endings more, I think unhappy endings are more interesting.

I think the best endings are happy endings to a series of unhappy endings, and that's what I try for. :)

[mjlpsu]

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

[boarhog]

Why should modern fiction be any different from traditional fiction on this account? I say you can definitely have a successful book that ends on a downer.

All tragedies end that way.

[sheadakota]

This was already mentioned, but I'll throw it in again because the ending upset me soooo much;

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

I read all the Hamlet analogies- still HATE HATE HATE the ending.

[bfloxword]

I suppose readers like to read novels or short stories that confirm their philosophical outlook on the world. I suspect that at the end of most realistic stories, some folks are happy, some are sad, some are alive, some are dead....

Our characters are fictional. We develop them into, we hope, fully realized characters, then pit them against the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'. If we are of an opimistic bent, most of them will come through the test stronger and ready to face new, unspecified challenges in the next book. If we are not, then we might write more of our characters being smashed before they grow.

I think the thing to care for is to not deux machina on them, creating sad or happy endings that the story doesn't support. In other words, the bride and groom don't get hit by lightning as they leave the church....and the wife-beater doesn't inherit a Billion Dollars and get away with murder.

And, of course, happy endings can make you cry, also. I don't tend to cry at unhappy endings if the ending fits the story. Just nod my head and say "yes, that is the way the world works. Dammit, anyway."

[Emy]

We Need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

O yes!

Also 'Candy' by Luke Davis doesn't just end sadly, it leaves you feeling absolutely gutted...

[HeronW]

Happy endings for the characters or for the readers?
Many mystery/suspense/thrillers end with catching the bad guy--but only after there's a sizable body count so that makes it unhappy for the families of those lost.

Living happily ever after works for fairy tales but it's hardly satisfactory for adults.

[Codger]

...In other words, the bride and groom don't get hit by lightning as they leave the church....and the wife-beater doesn't inherit a Billion Dollars and get away with murder..."

Sometimes it's necessary to emphasize that life isn't fair, and the above examples might be used to depict the irony that's not all that uncommon. It comes down to: Could this happen? Should this happen (given the story details)?

"Nice" characters frequently inflict bad things on others when they feel desperate. Unfortunately, surprise endings have been removed from mainstream fiction's writer's palettes, due primarily to cheesy movie endings and badly conceived "twist" endings in novels. Now it seems that any attempt at surprise in the final pages of a novel is adjudged to be cheap, or unfair.

This thread, so far, indicates that there is a fairly even division between those who like/accept unhappy endings, and those who favor sunshine/rainbows. Many qualify their answers by stating some variant of "endings may be sad but, only if supported by story details."

But there are events and actions that happen unexpectedly in the real world. Are they to be off-limits?

As I stated earlier, many novels I've read were destroyed in the last pages because the author simply couldn't write a convincing or entertaining ending.

[DreamWeaver]

Madame Bovary (the ending starts out unhappy, and then it gets worse)
The House of Mirth
The Age of Innocence
1984
Old Goriot

[RickN]

My preference is based on how you define 'unhappy'.

Does the protaganist triumph, yet does so in a way that hurts him? For example, Vacchs writes his Burke books in a very dark world. Burke beats the bad guys but usually loses his girl or his dog or his friends at the climactic point. Someone else mentioned Koontz and his Odd Thomas series -- same thing. I like these type of books if the ending is satisfying and believable. I disliked the ending of Thelma and Loise because I didn't buy their solution to the problem.

Or, does the antaganist win, i.e. Hannibal? I don't read for entertainment just to have the bad guy win. This type of book usually removes the author's future works from my read list.

[Pink Ink]

If the ending is true to your characters, it will always be a good one.

'course, I'm a sucker for happy endings, and if my romance is veering towards an unhappy ending, I give the characters another lifeline so they can end up together eventually. If they choose not to do it, then it's not like I didn't try.

[shebitme]

time travelers wife is sad to me.

also, it's important to remember that an ending can be both sad and happy, (e.g. one character dies but another doesnt. or something bad happens, but it's not the end of the world and will be fine in the long run.)

[selkn.asrai]

Atonement.

Cold Mountain.

Brave New World (poor John.)

Edgar Sawtelle.

Any of Shakespeare's tragedies, which have spawned numerous works (including the most recent, Edgar Sawtelle.)

[ClaudiaGray]

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro also comes to mind.

What might be more to the point of what you're looking for, though, is current/contemporary commercial fiction that has an unhappy/downbeat ending. Examples of that are harder to come by than of literary fiction, where unhappy or at least bittersweet endings are a lot more common.

And far from being overrated, I think an honestly earned, realistic happy ending is actually one of the hardest things to write, and one of the most pleasurable things to read.

[dclary]

I just got back from the Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie, which I hear is based on a book, or possibly history.

I don't want to give anything away... but that book belongs in this category.

[triceretops]

Movie/script--Million Dollar Baby, just absolutely crushed me. Devastated me. My roommates refuse to watch it for that reason.

Tri

[maxmordon]

Not recent, but is the biggest example I can think of. Miguel Ángel Asturias' The President ends with all the characters dead, insane or living unhappy for the rest of their lives except for the president himself.

[dclary]

Not recent, but is the biggest example I can think of. Miguel Ángel Asturias' The President ends with all the characters dead, insane or living unhappy for the rest of their lives except for the president himself.
Is it about America?

[Feidb]

I haven't read every answer on here so I apologize if it was already mentioned, but The Ruins by Scott Smith ended on a major bummer. In fact if I'd known that ahead of time, I never would have wasted my time.

I hate bummer endings! Apparently I wasn't alone either, as the reviews The Ruins got on Amazon were pretty negative, for the ending, but also for the sucky writing.

[maxmordon]

Is it about America?

There's no clear setting. But is obvious Turn-Of-The-Century Central America (or more specifically, Guatemala)

[kuwisdelu]

Of course modern books don't have to have a happy ending!

I'd post a list, but there are so many good examples here already.

Personally, I'm not sure I own any books that don't have an unhappy ending...I'm a fan :D

[Nefertiti Baker]

I will never forgive Bertrice Small for one of her endings involving a bird, an arrow, and much stupidity.

[Tirjasdyn]

The Princess Bride...the book, not the movie.

[jeany]

"Lonesome Dove" (best western I've read so far). I laughed a lot and cried a lot. I love that kind!

"The Ice Limit" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is an adventure thriller in this category. I couldn't put it down.

I was going to say "Cold Mountain" but I see it's been mentioned. I like the uplifting "five years later" scene, the "ending after the ending". That makes the ending a lot easier to take, doesn't it! I liked the book better than the movie, but that very last shot was my favorite thing in the movie. They're at the dinner table outside under a big tree, and then it pans out over the top of the tree. It reminds me very much of the last scene in "Howard's End" (the movie--I haven't read the book). "Howard's End" has a similarly awful ending, but then there's that "five years later" scene at the end with the love child playing in the field with her mother, and it gives you a chance to dry your tears and try to get yourself together before the lights come back on in the theater.

[Fulk]

Naturally, a lot of classic literature does not have a happy ending (such as Romeo and Juliet, which was mentioned earlier in the thread). But since you're looking at more modern examples, how about The Green Mile? I'm certain there are others, as well. Some, like the His Dark Materials trilogy, end on a more hopeful, but bittersweet, note.

[Prawn]

Any book by Cormac McCarthy.

[Perimyndith]

Farthing, by Jo Walton -- loved it, but it was not really happy-ever-after sort of ending. It was nominated for a Nebula and the Campbell award. It's the only thing I can think of that qualifies as "recent" though skimming my bookshelf I can also come up with:

Doomsday Book (Connie Willis) -- It's not a spoiler to point out that half of the story takes place during the Black Death in England. Not for the faint of heart but among the best books I've ever read. Won both the Hugo and the Nebula.

City of Sorcery (Marion Zimmer Bradley) -- Actually it's been years since I read it, but I recall it ended non-happily.

[Philky]

"Lonesome Dove" (best western I've read so far). I laughed a lot and cried a lot. I love that kind!


The movie is incredible, too. If the book got you, the movie will crush you. One of the saddest endings of any story.

[Fullback]

From one old codger to another, if your tragic ending means death, we all die, so method and timing are the only variables. The story may not be a tragedy if something was accomplished in the life or death.

If all deaths are tragedies, then every life is a tragedy. Can't some of us die satisfied?

[stc]

Are endings reducible to a 1-bit binary judgement of "happy" or "unhappy?"

I'm glad it's so simple--makes it more like life, right?

What's the take on these stories--"happy" or "unhappy?" Why? Happy/unhappy for whom? The viewer/reader? The main character? Other characters?

Godfather I
Godfather II
Godfather III

How about Easy Rider? Happy, right? Because the drug dealers get killed? Happy for the viewer, unhappy for the characters?

[IdiotsRUs]

How about Easy Rider? Happy, right? Because the drug dealers get killed? Happy for the viewer, unhappy for the characters?

As a biker I can say it was very unhappy for me to watch - and afterwards dream about getting blown away by some dude driving past just because I ride a bike and am therefore fair game cos I'm not 'normal'.

It is not a happy ending unless you hate hippies.

Bleak man. Very bleak.

[Jerry B. Flory]

The Saga of Elric Michael Moorcock.

[Severian]

Some, like the His Dark Materials trilogy, end on a more hopeful, but bittersweet, note.

I was actually crushed by the ending to The Amber Spyglass. I was so emotionally invested in the characters of Will and Lyra that I couldnt get the sense of loss and seperation out of my head for a week.