Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Endings That Left Me With My Mouth Hanging Open

Tuesday, October 4, 2011


This week's list from The Broke and the Bookish is Top Ten Book Endings That Left Me With My Mouth Hanging Open (because of the cliffhanger or because it the ending was MINDBLOWING, etc. Here's my list...


1) The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger– You know what’s coming, but it still breaks your heart.


2) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver – At no point did I think this one was going to have a fairy tale ending. The whole book is leading the reader towards the final, horrible event. Even though I knew something awful was coming, it was still incredibly powerful to read.



3) The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon – I am still scratching my head about this one, but in a good way. I loved that it really makes you think and I’m still not sure I understood all of it.



4) The City of Thieves by David Benioff – I just did not see the ending coming on this one. It isn’t exactly cheerful, yet somehow, it still managed to be funny.



5) One Day by David Nicholls – Seriously? WTF.



6) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – I loved the ending. I wasn’t sure how she was going to do it without killing off the main characters, but she managed it beautifully.


7) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving – Again, this is one of those that is building towards a big reveal the whole time, but I still wasn’t expecting what happened.


8) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – I read this one a few years before the movie came out (and ruined the twist in the trailer) and so I didn’t know what the twist was.



9) My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult – This is the only novel by Picoult I’ve ever read. Since then I’ve heard she often has big shocking endings, but I didn’t know that at the time.


10) And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie – It’s a whodunit, Christie’s best in my opinion, so of course the ending is supposed to surprise you, but it’s so good!

20 comments:

Anne said...

I felt the same way about A Prayer for Owen Meany. I knew it was building up to something and was totally surprised by the end. Great list!

Teacher/Learner said...

A Prayer For Owen Meany had an incredible ending. Great choice :)

Trish said...

Can you believe I've yet to read an Agatha Christie!? That one sounds like a good one to start with.

B said...

Oh my gosh One Day I totally forgot about that ending - not happy. Have you ever read The Elegance of the Hedgehog? Even though it was a shock, I actually thought it worked well in the book.

On Time Traveler's Wife: I've reread that book 3 times and you're right, you know it's coming but I sob EVERY TIME. And not just a couple tears - I cry for a solid 20 minutes. Oh but it is SOOO good!

Jaskirat@SeeitORreadit said...

Surpringly i haven't read any of these but I want to read The Time Travellers Wife.

Check out my Top Ten Tuesday HERE

Jaskirat@SeeitORreadit said...

Sorry here is the link:
http://seeitorreadit.blogspot.com/2011/10/top-ten-tuesday-1.html#more

Unknown said...

I have read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and the end made me mad but it obviously made an impression if I'm still fuming about it. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult also has a really surprising ending and was really better than My Sister's Keeper, in my opinion.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Anne/Teacher - It just blew me away.

Trish - Oh, definitely start with that one. It's so good!

Brenna - I have read Hedgehog and I agree it worked for that book. I've re-read TTW too and seriously, bawling everytime. It's embarrassing.

Jaskirat - The Time Traveler's Wife is so good!

Yvonne - I may have to try that one. I've heard mixed things about her other books.

Anonymous said...

Super choices! The Angel Game is without doubt a head-scratching read. Have you read The Shadow of the Wind by Zafon?

Jeanne said...

I definitely agree about The City of Thieves. I read several by Picoult until I figured out that she will always write about a modern dilemma without ever taking an ethical stand on it. Then I quit reading anything by her; I get enough of the "here are the problems" format!

Kayla said...

I really liked Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry, but I haven't read The Time Traveler's Wife yet. I want to read it before I see the movie.

I'm not even sure I want to read One Day, though I thought the trailer for the movie looked good and I definitely want to see it. But spending two hours watching a movie and spending a week reading a book are two very different things, and I heard One Day has an unsatisfying ending. I don't want to spend so much time on something that will disappoint me in the end. But I love Anne Hathaway, so I'll give the movie a try at least.

Sandy Nawrot said...

Damn you are good at this. When I saw the question earlier, I scratched my head. The Human Bobby for sure, but I forgot so many good ones. Nice job with this one.

Jenners said...

You have some good ones on here that I've read too. Now I'm thinking I've got to read the ones I haven't read already!

Kailana said...

I know what you mean about The Time Traveller's Wife.

Ana S. said...

TTTW just killed me. Sadly I read Never Let Me Go more recently and knew what was coming. I wish I'd been able to find out as I was reading, but I still really loved the book.

Bybee said...

My Sister's Keeper still has me fuming, too.

Mumsy said...

I hate that about Jodi Picoult: she writes about moral dilemmas, and then almost always punts at the end. And I get mad every time. It's like she doesn't even care about the issue she spent a WHOLE BOOK writing about. *sulks*

Loved the endings in TTW and City of Thieves. Why don't we hear more about City of Thieves? Such a good book.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Annie - Oh my gosh, yes! It's one of my all-time favorite books.

Jeanne - That format doesn't appeal to me either.

Kayla - Some people loved the book. I enjoyed parts of it, but I just had too many problems with the characters overall and then the ending was just ridiculous.

Sandy - I haven't read The Human Bobby, I'll have to check it out.

Jenners - Making lists like this always remind me of how many books I want to re-read.

Nymeth - I think Never would have been a very different read if I knew everything going into it.

Bybee - And then the movie completely changed the ending, ridiculous.

Mumsy - I've heard that over and over again about her. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about, so I tried My Sister's Keeper, but I wasn't impressed.

LindyLouMac said...

An interesting list Melissa and for the five titles I have also read from this list I would agree about the endings.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Lindy - I love a good ending!