Shoutout to the woman at the library who said she skips book club endings

I was waiting in line at the Seattle Public Library last week and overheard a woman tell her friend she never reads the last chapter of any book club pick. She said she likes to make up her own ending instead. Her friend argued that missing the author's intent ruins the whole point. This got me thinking about whether a book's ending is fixed or open to personal change. Do you think it's okay to skip the final pages if you're not happy with where the story is going?

2 comments

2 Comments

laurabennett2mo ago

Honestly that used to sound like total nonsense to me. I was a stickler for the author's vision, like you're cheating yourself out of the real story. Then I got stuck with a book club pick that had the most predictable, sappy ending I could see coming from a mile away. Skipped the last twenty pages and felt way better about the whole book. Now I get it. Sometimes the journey is the point, and if the destination looks lame, you can just take a different exit.

norag552mo ago

Totally get that shift in thinking... had the same thing happen with a famous mystery novel. Figured out the killer halfway through and the rest was just boring filler. Closed the book right before the big reveal and made up my own better ending in my head. Felt like I won, honestly. The author didn't own my time or my fun.