Response Video: Book Endings You'd Change If You Could

[@ericdavis5791]

I ran out of cocaine, so this video was just what I needed. Thanks, Steve!

[@ladyjatheist2763]

100% agree about Stephen King dropping the ball on his endings... Exceptions may be Carrie and The Shining.... other than that, for him, I love the RIDE he takes us on, so can often just accept the ending for what it is. 100% agree with you on Hannibal. The ending actually soured me on anything else Harris writes/had written oTHER than SotL and Red Dragon. The Odyssey, I didn't mind the war being thwarted, though the outing of the "traitors" and justice against them would've been nice. Usually I'm a "journey" person when it comes to books, often because even a "good" ending can be painfully anticlimactic. Never heard of The Delivery, but may one day pick it up just to experience the betrayal. But I don't get much time to read anymore so maybe won't waste time on it Thanks for all the breakdowns!

[@ABT212]

Lawrence Block's Eight Million Ways to Die's mystery resolve was a travesty.

[@ASoron0424]

My god, the riot act your Bean would read if you were gone 20 years...

[@devildriverrule111]

I read the title of this video and instantly said "Hannibal" and there it is, Steve agrees hahaha.

[@GinaStanyerBooks]

I knew The Delivery would be on this list! I wish you’d tell us the ending, I’ll never read it and I’ve been curious for years. The worst ending of a book for me was The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay. It was so awful I haven’t been able to read anything else by him since then.

[@RasmusKarlJensen]

I never liked the ending of Dracula, it always felt extremely underwhelming.

[@jshaers96]

Completely agree. It was really perfunctory and I felt Stoker just ran out of steam by the end.

[@kalkwiese]

I felt like Stoker ran out of steam by the middle, to be perfectly honest

[@ianwild66]

I would change the ending of Larsen's book Passing because It is too sad.

[@paulmorton4911]

I agree with you 100% as regards Stephen King. I don't like his endings and I don't like his writing style. I guess we hold a minority opinion however because he has sold over 400 million books worldwide!

[@jayartstudios]

I find it funny that you still call Odysseus “Ulysses” immediately after vowing not to. Not trying to make fun of you Steve, just found it funny. 😂 Great video.

[@saintdonoghue]

Dammit, did I? I haven't watched the video -

[@mtngrl5859]

With Stephen King, I believe his popularity has been due to the idea that many readers & aspiring writers have of popular writers in that one can have great success early in one's career without extreme effort. Unlike most writers who toil for years, King achieved success at a relatively young age. King has enjoyed a high visibility for a LONG TIME.

[@إسماعيلسعيد-خ8ذ]

Hi Steve. Call me Ishmael. I would like to see a revised ending to Scott Smith THE RUINS and also Richard Layamon's the Travelling Vampire show

[@GrammaticusBooks]

Old Yeller…for the win!

[@audreyh7892]

I would, at this point, appreciate an attempt at an ending.

[@damianp564]

Stephen King's It was my first experience by feeling betrayed by a bad ending. I read the book as teen in the 80s. I was even proud of myself for reading such a thick novel and then I got to the end and said "What?! That's it?" Still burns.

[@GertyMae]

There are two camps. Each camp probably has something valid to say. If forced to choose a camp, I'd probably go join the kids who didn't adore the second epilogue of War and Peace.

[@RyanLisbon]

Fun video, Steve! I would change the ending of Le Carre's The Perfect Spy. Maybe because of how it made me feel more than it being bad. I remember enjoying Hannibal (ending seemed for Hollywood) but Red Dragon is what all other dark and prickly thrillers are measured against.

[@harrisonrecht7785]

I’m not sure exactly what category this would fall into but for me: No Country for Old Men. I was pretty low on Cormac McCarthy by that point anyway, but the dismal, cynical, middle finger to his readers of an ending that he gives for anyone bothering to care at all about his characters was what I needed to realize his novels aren’t for me.

[@ChristopherEvenstar]

There was something about the ending of _God Bless You, Mr Rosewater_ that I didn't care for, but I dont know what. It may be that the main Rosewater character seemed to change rapidly. Perhaps I desire more detail. Not sure. Interesting take on "The Iliad". Also, I cant tell if I ought to read Harris' books or not.

[@GedDonohoe]

I've just read your review of The delivery, on open letters review, it's easy to see your feelings about the end of the book, I'm almost tempted to try it but do I want to invest time into a book with such an unworthy ending?. The ending of Hannibal has always left me feeling angry, knowing everything that had happened during the silence of the lambs and most of Hannibal, the ending just made no sense, it read like a twisted jump scare.

[@jamesholder13]

I'm going to try and make a response video to this (as well as the impossible to adapt movie video). Hopefully it will work out.

[@AndyD72]

Tess of the d'Urbervilles. From masterpiece to silly melodrama

[@jackwalter5970]

Lonesome Dove. A terrible, pointless ending.

[@BenBell-1809]

Something that happens towards the end of Cabin at the End of the World made me hate reading the last 70 or so pages of a book that I was really enjoying up until that point

[@kevintowle9665]

Steve: you once again took what i started and made it elegant and insightful! Really enjoyed your responses and examples! Well done sir!

[@thomashefferon9711]

Huckleberry Finn.

[@markreadsbo]

H.G. Wells for me does bad endings, The Time Machine feels like he thought his homework was due a week later. I used to think War of thè Worlds was bad but as I have got older it is one that makes sense. (Love how your dog gets up when you mention the dog.)

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

I thought the ending of Hannibal was just to end the story with no more sequels. The worst ending of all time goes not to a book, but a movie. Blade Runner. I saw it on opening night and it still makes me gag.

[@Barklord]

I neglected to thank you for steering me to Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me with an offhand comment you made on a video a few months ago. I was on a James Baldwin essay binge and it fit right in. So, thank you.

[@marke6638]

A serious novel so serious it informs you it is a novel on the font cover. The writer is good, the story is fascinating but main character has to die in order to emphasis that this is a serious literature. I can see it coming a mile off, the story doesn't warrant it and it is a disappointment when it happens.

[@TW777-n4x]

fahrenheit 451 ending Made no sense

[@monaedoyle3631]

In the book Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows I would have changed that Dobby wasn’t killed. In the Disney book Beauty and the Beast I would have made it much much darker. I think that Stephenie Meyer would have written the wolf pack more in the Twilight Saga. I wish when Harry Potter went to Hogwarts darker things had happened.

[@carolinasiqueira752]

The ending of The Odyssey always bothered me. Not because of Athena, but because we know that Odysseus is leaving with the oar. He single handedly kills two generstions of Ithacans, the remaining men hate his family, and he is going to leave again.