Unhappy endings - examples?

Codger · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

Message in a bottle...

City of Angels...

HATED THE ENDINGS!!!

ishtar'sgate · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

ishtar'sgate said:
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 · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge.

The Lonely One · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

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

TsukiRyoko · Oct 10, 2008

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

TsukiRyoko · Oct 10, 2008

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

regdog · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

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

josephwise · Oct 10, 2008

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

A. Hamilton · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

Codger said:
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 · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

TsukiRyoko said:
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 · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

JamieFord said:
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 · Oct 10, 2008

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 · Oct 10, 2008

My unpublished WIP.

What was good enough for Shakespeare is good enough for me.

ReneC · Oct 10, 2008

Anna Karenina

Unhappy endings - examples?

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teh other evil broad

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yes

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here for a minute...catch me?

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agent at The Knight Agency

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