Who needs happy endings?

 Anne here, having a bit of a rant. There's a strange thing about happy endings — a lot of people think they're rubbish. Not serious. Not real. Not worth reading. Or watching. 

Me, I love happy endings in books and movies. And I get grumpy when I think books or movies are needlessly miserable at the end. Of course I'm not condemning all books and movies with sad endings — only those where I don't think the sad ending is justified.

Most of the comments below should be preceded by Spoiler Alerts. I'll highlight the book or film titles in bold so you can be warned. 

I remember when I was a kid reading Henry Treece's The Children's Crusade. Boy, was that ever a sad ending. It was a story about the religious crusade made by children in 1212,  where hundreds of children left their homes to join a crusade, believing they were sent by Jesus, and that their innocence and righteousness would convert Muslims to Christianity. It ended very badly. Many of the children starved and died along the way, some (the lucky ones) returned home, and others were sold into slavery, believing the ships they sailed in were taking them to the Holy Land. Instead they went straight to the slave markets.

I could cope (just) with that kind of a tragic ending — it was history, after all — and there were important lessons to be learned. But for years I fretted about those children.

But in a lot of fiction people die and bad things happen just for effect, and a book or a film ends badly simply because the writer thinks it will make for a better, more dramatic ending. Or they think it's "more realistic" — as if happy endings are unrealistic.

I say, who needs gloomy realism? There's plenty of that in the world we live in, but there's also a lot of happy stuff, and I want us to celebrate that, not push it under the carpet and call it mindless fluff. 

There was a film I watched once, called CRUSH, with  Andie MacDowell. She was a middle aged school headmistress who met up with a much younger former student (played by Kenny Doughty) and had an affair. He's a breath of fresh air in her life, and she has a chance to change her humdrum, routine life. But she doesn't have the courage, and when he is tragically killed in a random stupid accident, she ends up back in her rut, keeping the whole affair a dirty little secret, only she has a baby now.

Nothing has been learned, and she doesn't change at all. 

That movie so frustrated me that I mentally rewrote the ending. Instead of him being killed, I would have had him badly injured. And the accident makes her realize what he means to her and how he's changed her life. Of course he would get better, only now he's not alone -- she's with him, facing the world with courage, and bringing up their baby together. Making it a happy ending, in which she's learned something important — that what does an age discrepancy matter if you can be happy together?

Even if I kept him being killed, I would have her make a wonderful, emotional speech at his funeral, being brave, and telling the world what a wonderful young man he was, and how he changed her life. Showing that she has changed, and that he didn't live for nothing. And that he didn't die her dirty little secret.

The film and novel, The Dressmaker, also bugged me and once again I mentally rewrote the ending. There was no reason why the romantic lead hero needed to die pointlessly in a really dumb stunt, no reason I could see for the protagonist to revenge herself on the town, let alone set it on fire. It was all there (as far as I could see) for the drama. And it was presented as a triumphal ending, but all I could see was pointless vandalism, and what about the people whose homes were burning — how did they deserve that?

Then there's the movie The Bookshop (with Bill Nighy.) Wonderful photography, fabulous acting, gorgeous location — and then (in my view) a pointlessly negative and depressing ending. 

It's all about a widow starting a bookshop in a small island town, and how the first lady of said community opposed her. But the bookseller persists, and more and more people come to buy books. And it's all looking so hopeful, and right (ie books) is about to triumph — and then?  It all ends gloomily and hopelessly — the shop is closed, the widow has lost all her money, and the supposed "triumph" at the very end is when the little girl sets the shop on fire. Why end on such a negative note? Because it was "realistic"?

Bah humbug, say I.

People could have come out of that movie feeling uplifted and happy but no, they had to come out feeling crushed, and thinking "what was the point of that?" And the message for life was "don't even bother trying." And when did pointless revenge become triumphal?

Contrast the audience response to that of the people coming out of cinemas after watching the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, all smiles and happy discussion — a reinforcement that though times can be grim, goodness can triumph and that happy endings are possible.

I hate this belief that negative and miserable endings are more "realistic" than happy endings. As far as I'm concerned, if it's a choice between coming out of a cinema (or closing a book) feeling gutted and gloomy, or coming out feeling uplifted and positive — well, you know which I'd choose.

Who needs happy endings? I think we all do.

Have you seen any of these movies or read the books?Do you ever mentally rewrite the endings of some stories?  Do you disagree with my view of the films or books I've mentioned? (Don't hesitate to say so — I love a discussion.) What do you think? And what books or movies are making you happy at the moment?

Comments

[theo]

I've read a small handful of books that have had endings that made no sense, two of which flew across the room, I was that upset. The thing that really comes to mind for me though is the movie, 300. I'm pretty fascinated with that time in history and was so excited for the movie that I was the only woman in a field of men at a packed theater, to watch it. And I loved it! So when it came out on DVD, I bought it and told my husband we needed to watch it, that he'd like it. We watched it together and got to the end and he started shouting at the screen. "Everyone DIED! What The Heck??? That's not a good story! Everyone DIED!!!" To which I patiently explained again; 'Honey, it's history, they all died.' He was angry all evening because the story made such an impression.

I don't watch things like that or read things like that. I don't need the anger. I don't need the depressing ending. I rewrote a story to give it a happy ending once because the ending was so sad. I needed it to be happy. So, I'm with you, Anne. Give me a happy ending any day. It makes me a much happier person and that gets passed along to others :)

[Mel]

In crime fiction, we would feel pretty miffed if the killer got away with it and the police just gave up... happy endings in other stuff is the same. Human beings are hardwired for hope and justice. If you look at titanic, a more tragic event is hard to imagine, but it had a satisfying ending in that although there was tragedy, there was also enduring love and the sense that they would be together again, if only in the afterlife.
That’s why I completely hated Muriel’s Wedding. Depressing.
I agree Anne! Happy endings are absolutely vital.

[Diane]

I often feel as though an unhappy ending is more contrived than a happy one. And I also feel as though the author is being a bit clever or making a point or trying to fit a certain literary criteria.

I love a happy ending. I write happy endings. And I like to read happy endings. I make a conscious decision not to read or watch such things at Titanic or 300, and if anyone asks me why not, I ask if the ending was any different. Of course, it isn't, and so I don't watch it.

[Mary T]

I am with you 100% on this Anne. When a fictional story could end either way and the author chooses to end on a sad note - all I can say is WHY?

I am fine with history being presented exactly as it was. I wouldn't want it any other way. As a teenager I was fascinated by the Holocaust and read a lot of books concerning that. More than a few tears and no happy endings, but they were good reading.

My entertainment was much more varied when I was young. I could see a movie like THE GODFATHER or read a book like IN COLD BLOOD and be satisfied. Can't do that anymore though.

I discovered romance books in my thirties while going through a very depressed period. I didn't want to waste my time on anything that didn't end well. So when I retired and had more time for reading, I naturally gravitated toward those books.

When you have a happy ending at the end of a romance you know that that couple isn't going to have smooth sailing for the rest of their lives. But if the author has done their job well you know that the couple have a love that is deep and abiding enough to see them through the rough waters.

Great post.

[Jude Knight]

I find false the whole idea that happy endings are somehow false and sad endings are somehow truer. What a grinch-like philosophy! Endings are false. Life does not come in a neat package with neatly snipped off portions. Our story starts in the mists of time, long before we are conceived, in the threads that become part of the warp and weft of our lives. It will continue long after we are gone, becoming warp and weft of the lives of others,

Every story ending is artificial, as is every beginning. We can tell a love story that stops at the funeral or start years later when the bereaved person falls in love again and tell a romance in which the tapestry includes the threads of that grief transmuted into wisdom and compassion.

I choose happy endings.

[Sue McCormick]

I have NEVER understood why happy endings are false and bad endings are more realistic. Except thet the idea is advocated by those academic "critics" who feel the need to be "smarter" than the average reader.

There are happy moments in everyone's life; those moments are good places to end a story you are telling.

There is nothing particularly intelligent, or smarter than the next person in concentrated on the fact that the glass is half empty. I MUCH prefer to notice that it is half full and to concentrate on what can be done with the half-full part. (And half-full is JUST as factual as half-empty, so it is just a realistic!)

[Mary Jo Putney]

Exactly so, Jude Knight!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Anne, no surprise our posters agree 100%, as do I. We are romance people, we write about the best in life's possibilities. And I studiously avoid books and movies with unnecessarily miserable endings because really, who needs that???

[Christina Courtenay]

I’m definitely with you Anne! Miserable endings just make the reader/viewer miserable too. I shall avoid the films and books you mentioned like the plague and would add The Thorn Birds (so unnecessary for the son to die!!!) and the film Bridges of Terabithia. So wish I could erase them from my mind.

[Beverly Abney]

Back when I still went to movies, or now when I watch them on TV, I want to KNOW before I start that I will not be unhappy with the end. If I have any doubt, I will not watch. It is the same with books. I always read the end before I start the book. Why waste time on an unhappy experience?

[Kareni]

I'm yet another one who loves a happy ending. My husband has been known to call me a Pollyanna, but I'm definitely the happier of us...so those happy endings are working for me.

Thanks for a thought provoking post, Anne.

[Vicki L]

Totally agree that there needs to be a happy ending. Or at least a good, positive ending. It might not be exactly happy, happy but you can see how life is going in a positive direction. My favorite Dick Francis books are the ones that end on a positive note. (The Edge, To the Hilt, Hot Money).

I love the way Rosamunde Pilcher had one of her characters, Carey in The Winter Solstice, muse on the happy ending of a film or story. (Page 411 in the MM paperback).

"She thought now, that in a book, in a film, that moment would have been the end. The final embrace, after reels of antagonism and misunderstanding. The camera after backing off into a long shot, panning up to the sky, to a skein of home flying geese or some other meaningful symbol. Throbbing theme music, and the credits rolling, and the good sensation of a happy ending.

But life didn't stop at the end of the story. It just moved on."

Personally I like the feel of a story moving on. The possibility of that happening with the characters. Maybe that is why I like epilogues are little glimpses of how life went on for the characters after the final scene. Winter Solstice to me has that feel of the characters moving on. Continuing to live through the ups and downs of life.

As for those books that are sad and dreary with sad and dreary endings I totally reject them. So many of the books that book clubs choose are "those" books which is why I can't do book clubs at my library. Angsty sad stuff with horrible endings!

So yes, I vote for throwing bad books across the room. Putting them in the send straight out of the house, do not loan out box. And even the dreaded DNF pile because I'm not going down sad sad whiny rabbit holes. Grin.

[Andrea Stein]

I have felt that way about "Frenchman's Creek" for years and vow someday I'm going to re-write the story with a happier ending :-) You're not alone, Anne.

[Malvina]

I am with you all the way, Anne. I love happy endings, and feel wretched when the main character or love interest is killed off. Unnecessary, IMHO! I think it was Message in a Bottle that upset me the most, poor Kevin Costner diving into the waves and never coming back... I was with my daughter and her best friend and they laughed at me frothing at the mouth so much, it became a ‘thing’ in our family (‘You can’t go and see that, he/she dies!’ they will cry). No sad endings for me, particularly if the movie or book is billed as a ‘romance’! Bit hard to have a romance when you kill it off, literally. An absolute pet peeve of mine too. By the way, that book ‘The Children’s Crusade’ would have traumatised me for life! Golly.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Theo. I've never watched 300, and now I doubt I ever will. *g* And I can understand your husband's reaction — you invest emotional energy in the characters and then they die? Okay, it's based on a real historical event — I get it. But so often that kind of movie doesn't teach you anything, really — or does it?

[Anne Gracie]

That's right, Mel — and yet I think in real life the police often end up giving up on a case because they've run out of clues, or steam or something. But we wouldn't stand for it in our books and movies.

Titanic is another movie I avoided (because I knew how it ended and wimps R me.) But my understanding of the movie is that there were some hopeful aspects — enduring love, as you say.

[Anne Gracie]

Diane, I agree with you. I think it's pretty easy to create strong emotion in a story where you get readers (or watchers) to identify with a character and then WOW! kill them in a shock ending. I think it's much harder to craft a believable happy ending.

I just don't understand why so many people (and writers and film-makers) thing that a tragic ending is worthier or more literary. I'm not saying all movies and books need happy endings, but that the ending has to make sense and be justified.
And in the case of stories from history that I know end badly — I don't go there. I'll stick to the history books, not the versions that take me on an emotional roller coaster and leaves me feeling gutted at the end.

[Anne Gracie]

Mary, yes! All those books you (and I) read about the holocaust taught us things, about how such dreadful things can happen, and possibly make us aware enough so that they never happen again. Unhappy endings in fiction can teach us valuable lessons, and give us insight into the world, and human nature. But there needs to be a point beyond the shock value to them, in my view. And so many movies in particular, as well as some books, are only interested in the shock value.

[Anne Gracie]

Spot on, Jude. And you're right that every story ending is artificial, but I far prefer stories that end on a hopeful note than ones that give the subliminal message of "what's the point?"

Your second paragraph reminds me of the PIXAR film UP, which starts with the beautiful and sad story of a young man and woman falling in love and goes on to the woman dying and the man, now old, gloomily facing the prospect of the rest of his life alone. And that's the main story in the movie. And it's beautiful.

[Anne Gracie]

Yes, Sue, it's as if they think that stories that end positively are somehow cheating. And yet, look at Pride and Prejudice — one of the reasons that I think it's so hugely popular is that it's regarded as a literary masterpiece AND it ends happily. So people who look down their noses at romance can happily enjoy P&P because it's "literary" and they can proudly proclaim that they're fans of Jane Austen and know that their literary taste will be admired. Whereas if they said the same about any romance writer, their taste would probably be regarded by many as questionable.
And yes, let's stick to seeing the glass as half full.

[Anne Gracie]

Exactly, Mary Jo — why waste my time and money (and emotional energy) on being made miserable! When instead I could come away feeling hopeful and happy and smiling.

ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT
I can think of one movie that ended on a very sad note -- but it was a bitter-sweet ending, and when the lights came up in the cinema, half the audience was in tears (me included), but smiling through the tears at each other and feeling moved and touched. One of those movie endings where people talk to strangers as they're coming out of the cinema, because they just have to share. And that movie ending was perfectly right the ending gave us a new insight into a whole lot of the events in it. And I've told so many people to go and see that movie because it was wonderful.
It was French movie called "Two is a Family" with Omar Sy.

[Anne Gracie]

Yes, Christina -- don't you hate it when you can't get the awful images or moments out of your mind? I'm another one who gets haunted by them, long afterwards. And would we love those books/movies any less if the unnecessary bad thing hadn't happened? I doubt it.

[Anne Gracie]

I'm the same, Beverly. I go to movies with a small bunch of writer friends, and they know I'm a total wimp about violence and unhappy endings. Why pay to be artistically traumatized when I can get it for free by watching the news?

[Anne Gracie]

Yes, Kareni, I think the glass-half-full people are in general much happier. Why choose to be miserable or go through life with a gloomy cynical outlook.

[Anne Gracie]

Oh Vicki, you've named a few of my favorite writers. I love Dick Francis books, and they do always end well. And my friend and fellow writer, Barbara Hannay put me onto Rosamunde Pilcher years ago. We were on a writing retreat and when I said I'd never read her, she marched me off to the nearest bookshop. (I ended up coming home with 4 or 5 Rosamunde Pilcher books. *g*

As for bookclubs, YES! Why are so many of their choices so angst-ridden and gloomy? I don't understand it. It's as if you actually enjoy a book and have fun reading it, then you must be doing it wrong. There's an assumption that "serious reading" has to be grim and maybe difficult reading, and that anything else is frivolous and a waste of time. But I know from some of my friends who are in book clubs that half the time a lot of the members don't finish the book. And yet they keep choosing gloomy , angst-ridden books that are somehow regarded as "worthy".
I don't get it at all. For me, reading is like food — you need a variety.

[Anne Gracie]

Andrea, go for it! Rewrite it, and make it wonderful. I'll buy it.

[Anne Gracie]

Henry Treece was one of my favorite writers as a child, Malvina, along with Enid Blyton. They were pretty much opposite ends of the spectrum. *g* Treece didn't avoid the grim aspects of life, and he didn't write down to children. Some of his scenes have haunted me forever — in fact earlier this year I read one scene aloud to an on-line workshop I was giving on historical fiction, and it made people shiver even then. But they were part of the tapestry he wove with such skill. And those scenes were enlightening and made me think.

But in general yes, ‘You can’t go and see that, he/she dies!’ is the same for me, too. It's the unnecessarily bad/sad endings that I really hate and I refuse to go there.

[[email protected]]

You wrote this on the absolute right day for me, Anne. Your comment that age difference doesn't matter, would be a theme I'd love to visit as there were many years between my late husband and me, yet we had 38 amazing yers together, today is the anniversary of his passing, so thanks and bless you.

[Janice Jacobson]

I don't like what I think of as Disneyized fiction - fiction in which the happy ending is likely improbable but absolutely mandatory, and all unpleasantness, pain and evil is glossed over or forgotten. Even as a child I didn't want that. It makes me feel I'm being lied to, and I have had enough of that.

I want truth, however unpleasant. I hope for a good outcome for the characters I care about, but if they die, they die, and that's life. At least they lived.

That said, I have to be in the right mood to read what I think of as "true" fiction. When I'm not, I generally avoid new books and go to some old favorite which may have bad stuff in it it but it won't come as a shock.

If that makes any sense :)

[Quantum]

In view of the near unanimity of comments, I propose that the Wenches be considered jointly for the next Nobel prize for literature as recognition of the joy that they bring to the reading universe.

I have now given up reading great Russian works of literature .... especially Dostoevsky's 'house of the dead' .... saw the play in London years ago and had to leave in the first interval!

[Kay]

Coming in late to the discussion. When I was just a Romanceland tadpole, back in the 70s, I was always looking for happy endings. Then one day I stumbled across Nakoa's Woman, by Gayle Rogers (1972). For those of you who have ever read this book, you know what's coming. Spoiler: the hero is shot between the eyes two pages from the ending.

To say I was a tad bit upset with this would be an understatement. After that traumatic event, I never again read a book without reading the last few chapters first. With electronic devices, that's a little bit trickier. Now, I find myself scouring reviews not necessarily to see whether the reviewer liked it, but to see if the reviewer mentions anything that is one of my hot buttons: like the hero dying.

And by the way, reading the end first doesn't spoil the story for me. Maybe I just don't like surprises.

[Linda L Manwiller]

Tjank goodness...another end-of-the-book reader. I never feel I am missing anything by doing this and, as you said, it can save a lot of wasted time if the main character meets a messy end. I remember feeling gutted when Dana Stabenow killed off her leading male (about half way through her Kate Sugak series). All those books to make you fall for him and then - nothing!

[Constance]

Vicki - so agree with you, but the lovely thing about the end of Winter Solstice (one of my annual re-reads), and especially for Carey, is the reader is left with the impression that all the stories are moving toward a happy ending, even if they haven’t ended yet. I can deal with that!

[Constance]

Brava, Anne! I have read/seen all you noted except The Children’s Crusade, and am not sorry to have missed that one! I couldn’t finish The Dressmaker because I could see where it was going and I did not want to go there. I did hang in to the end of The Book Shop, but cried angry tears as the boat pulled away from the quay.

My grandmother was a great storyteller although she was somewhat of the Brotherrs Grimm school; horrendous things happened in her stories, but there was always a happy ending. For example, before Cinderella tried on the glass slipper, one stepsister cut off her heel to try to make it fit, and the other cut off her big toe! As each rode away with a perplexed Prince, the birds in the trees called, “Go back, go back, there’s blood in her shoe! She is not the girl for you!” But in the end, the fairy godmother restored the feet of the stepsisters, so even they got a happy ending, whether deserved it or not. My sister and I have often discussed whether that influenced our expectation that everyone deserves HEA!

[Annette N]

I have read the Guernsey book and loved it - it is a wonderful story.

Anne, like you and most people here, I want a happily ever after.

I have PTSD. And I have anxiety attacks over small stuff. Dumb stuff.

There was a time in my past when I could watch thrillers, read intense stories and have not a flinch in sight. Now, not at all.

So, for me, I need those happy endings. I need reminders that there can be happiness.

Yes, I am well aware that life is not hearts and flowers and smiles. Wish it were, but it is not.

But, if I want angst and anxiety,if I want to feel my heart broken by humanity, I only have to look at the news. Which is one reason I normally only watch the weather and sports. So, why would I read a book which breaks my heart, or watch a film which makes me feel bereft.

From reading the comments here, it appears that most of humanity wants to have an escape in their entertainment. It seems that many of us would rather have a happy ending than see the terrible stuff happen to our hero or heroine.

So, I am unsure why so many film makers seem to want to have us see the way the sausage is made from the viewpoint of the late pig. I am not talking about documentaries, but fictional films. It is a puzzle to me.

All this may mean that it is just me. It is just that I alone am not able to see the world as it truly is. Actually, I know the world as it truly is, and I would rather be met with a happy ending around every corner.

I met romance novels at a time in my life when I could barely read the comic section of a newspaper. And it felt as though I had found a bird's nest on the ground. It was wonderful to see people who loved one another. It was wonderful to see problems solved within the pages of a book.

One of the reasons I love books with humor is because I need that so badly.

I am grateful to all you authors who have given me a new lease on life. All of you who have blessed me with characters who end up with lives which are joyful.

I thank each of you. Y'all ought to be proud and pat yourselves on the back. You may not realize how much you do for many of us.

I hope everyone is taking care and staying well.

[Margot]

A great topic and I so enjoyed reading all the comments posted.
For me I prefer a happy, or satisfactory, ending to a story or movie. I can read enough news and reality stories that do not end well. When I chose a book or movie - I do like reality in them but they should have a good positive ending. Does not need to be Happily Every After as we all know there are bumps along the road of life.
I did see the movie The Bookshop (picked it mostly because of the setting and characters) and it left me wondering what the story was all about if there was nothing to hope for.
Great to read all the comments.

[Alice Mathewson]

At my last bookclub we talked about book endings, because the book we were reading (The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes) was good with a happy ending but had ended rather suddenly - all those loose endings wrapped up in a few pages. And that reminded me of the end of another book 'Now we are entirely free' by Andrew Miller which ended so abruptly that I thought they had forgotten to print the last page! And so the author was leaving me to make up my mind if it was a happy or sad ending - I read for a break from such decisions. To my mind, first I want a happy ending but if I am not going to get that, I want some indication that it is going the right way ie hope is offered to the hero/heroine

[Teresa Broderick]

I was enjoying the Bookshop so much and then that ending. I was so disappointed. I loved the Guernsey book too and the film was wonderful. A film I couldn't watch again or read the book is Black Beauty. Read it many years ago and even though the ending is ok there is just too much sadness throughout.
Another book I'll never revisit is Dreams of Other Days by Elaine Crowley. It's set in the Famine days in Ireland and it's absolutely heart breaking. I cried so much at the end. With the way things are in the world at the moment we don't need extra reasons to cry.
Wonderful post!

[Teresa Broderick]

Sounds like you have some lovely memories!

[LilMissMolly]

Loved your post and reading all the comments. Life is hard and not perfect. I listen to audiobooks and watch movies to escape. And happy endings provide the perfect escape.

I listened to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when it first came out over 10 years ago. I’ve recommended it or bought hardback editions of it and gave them away as gifts at least a dozen times to several of my more literary friends. Despite there being a few tragic scenes, the story is engaging and emotional, and everyone who reads, listens, or watches the move, really loves it. It is the perfect ending!

Yesterday I finished listening to Mary Jo’s Once Dishonored and it includes several frustrating and horrible acts that befall our heroine and hero. The ending is classic Mary Jo with the main characters finding justice and their reputations restored. Endings like that definitely uplift your spirit and attitude - especially when we are all afraid to leave our homes at the moment.

[Anne Gracie]

Hugs, Valerie, I remember Paul, and remember the lovely memorial seat for him in the zoo in Canberra.

[Anne Gracie]

It does make sense, Janice. I am just as unhappy with unbelievable happy endings as unnecessary sad ones. But I don't actively seek out grim topics and I do want my fiction to end on a hopeful note. And yes, rereading old favorite books can be a pleasure.

[Anne Gracie]

Heh heh Quantum. We do our best, but really, we're also pleasing ourselves, as well. Maybe the Noble prize for literature in view of all the lords we've created. *g*

I don't know Dostoevsky's House of the Dead -- doesn't exactly sound lighthearted, does it? But then, was there ever a Russian writer known for lightness or comedy? I studied Russian literature at uni, and needed to read Georgette Heyer and Wodehouse in between the gloom and gimness. *g*

[Anne Gracie]

Kay, I used to be horrified at people who read the end of a book first, but I must admit there have been a few books that have got me so worried that I've flipped to the end, just to check that my people are going to be all right.

I once had a friend who was a wonderful writer. Her first book, a romance , was a finalist in a big romance competition, and very well deserved. But her second . . . I remember when she told me about it in the bar at the romance conference (she'd only just finished it and it wasn't yet published) It ended with the hero sacrificing himself to save the man who his beloved heroine loved— a bit like Dickens's Tale of Two Cities — " 'tis a far far better thing I do than I have ever done." I was horrified and told her. "It sounds like a terrific story, BUT you can't call it a romance! If you do, readers will be so upset at the end." We argued long and hard and several others joined in — it was a romance writers conference — and we convinced her that she could call it a love story, but not a romance. *g*

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Constance — I felt exactly the same at the end of the Bookshop. It could have ended as a triumph — I didn't even believe the reason she had to close it down — so why didn't they choose to make it an uplifting ending?

Some of those old folk and fairy tales horrified me as a child — and still do. The red shoes where a little girl is punished in a gruesomely ghastly way, simply for wanting some pretty shoes. The Little Match Girl broke my heart. And yes, the Cinderella where the ugly stepsisters cut their feet to fit. Awful stories to inflict on a child, especially a child with an imagination!

[Anne Gracie]

Annette, thank you for your wonderful comment. I love this bit especially : "why so many film makers seem to want to have us see the way the sausage is made from the viewpoint of the late pig."

Exactly. They want to rub our noses in the ugliness of this world, not realizing, I suppose that we're all too well aware that dreadful things can and do happen.

It's a belief that "serious" fiction can't be lighthearted in places and can't end well if it is to be taken seriously. The Wenches' books —in fact most good romances—deal with serious topics from time to time, and yet they all end well for the main characters. It doesn't have to be a choice between fluff or grimness.

[Anne Gracie]

Margo, that's what I thought about the bookshop movie too — if the message is "there's no point trying" than what's the point of making the film — or watching it? I wish we could rewrite the ending because in so many ways it was a wonderful film. And we could have left the cinema with smiles on our faces and hope in our hearts.

[Anne Gracie]

Alice I've never liked the books that end leaving you on a cliffhanger with no clear idea of how it ended for the characters. Teachers used to tell me "You have to make up your own mind" — well, bah humbug to that. *g* Of course I can decide the way things might go but I want to KNOW. LOL

[Anne Gracie]

Oh yes, I wept so many childhood tears over Black Beauty. There was another book I read called Nop's Trials, about a border collie who was kidnapped and who went through so many awful things before he came home. I remember reading it in the sunshine in my back yard, and every few minutes I would call over my dog — who was a border collie — and giving her a hug on poor little Nop's behalf.

I haven't read Dreams of Other Days , but the whole Irish potato famine was a disgrace and a tragedy. A non-fiction book I wept through was John Prebble's The Highland Clearances. Having been raised on tales of the romance of the highlands, it was hard to read such a tragic book, but I couldn't stop myself reading it. As I said, grim and tragic stories that are based on real history are tough to read, but teach us important things.

[Janice Jacobson]

I guess I am peculiar. I am more put off by a regency told in first person in language which is way too modern than I am by a book with a hideously sad ending. Sad endings happen in real life but ridiculous language is totally unnecessary :)

That said, I won't read books that focus on pain, torture, cruelty or psychopathology *and expect me to enjoy it*. I really don't get the modern fascination with serial killers, horror and so forth.

[Anne Gracie]

Lil Miss Molly, yes, I, too have pressed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society onto many people. And I agree, it's a wonderful example of how kindness and quiet courage can help get you through terrible times.

And I agree about Mary Jo's Once Dishonored -- in fact all of her books explore difficult and/or traumatic incidents, and yet she always ends on a hopeful and uplifting note. And that's why I read romance. *g*

[Vicki L]

Exactly! I even have fun each year moving the story along in my head. This year it was imagining how much easier life was for Sam with Elfrida as his "landlady" while he was traveling and getting the mill up in Buckley. Also how much fun Lucy had in school and running all over the town with her schoolmates.

[Mary Jo Putney]

LilMissMolly, I'm so glad ONCE DISHONORED worked for you. It was a tough book to write because there is too much injustice in the world--which is why I wanted a story where the characters overcame so much to find justice and each other.

Love the Guernsey book, too!

[Susan/DC]

I hated the ending of Titanic because she threw the sapphire in the ocean. I realize it was a tribute to her True Love, but all I could think of was that it was such a waste. She should have sold it and set up a clinic or a school -- much better tributes.

[Karin]

Another fan of happy endings here! Just noting, The Bookshop is based on a Penelope Fitzgerald book. She is a wonderful writer, and one of the few literary fiction authors I still enjoy. I don't know if the movie captured her humor, and I don't recall a fire at the end of the book, but I may have forgotten. I recommend trying one of her books, like "Gate of Angels" that ends happily.

[Jennifer Stevenson]

The "unhappy ending" was popularized by modernism. Modernism was invented IMO by second-, third-, and fourth-generation returnees from world wars and other wars, who had PTSD and were told to keep it to themselves. They retaliated by reinventing art: ugly to look at, full of unpleasant, alienated antiheroes, unlistenable music, anti-dances, anti-plays, and anti-poetry.

I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. That said, you will never, ever see me writing one of these endings.

[Anne Gracie]

Karin, I haven't read the book, and I never blame the writer of the book if I'm talking about a film version and haven't read the original book. They're often quite different. Thanks for the recommendation of Gate of Angels. I might also read The Bookshop. As I said, I enjoyed the movie -- right up until the end.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks for that explanation, Jennifer — most interesting.

[Anne Gracie]

Karin, I just went over to amazon, thinking I'd buy the book of The Bookshop, and the reviews there convinced me that it ended just as hope-crushingly as the movie. I might try Gate of Angels instead.

[Karen H near Tampa]

I am very surprised that no one has mentioned Nicholas Sparks. Except for "The Notebook," I am so disgusted with his books that I will never read one or watch a film. I tried a couple but after I spend several hours investing in the characters, he kills the hero. Yet everybody says how wonderful and romantic he is. I've always been a fan of HEA and actually threw "Gone With the Wind" across the room when I finished it as a teenager. The problem wasn't that Rhett left (although I certainly didn't like that) but that Scarlett didn't seem all that upset. Like other posters, if I want angst I just watch the news.

[Anne Gracie]

Karen, his books came up on my FB page when I posted the link to this blog, and yes, I feel the same. I hate it when he's listed as a romance writer, because for me, a romance always ends well for the main characters. I've never been happy with the ending of GWTW either, and I read that long before I was a romance reader.

[Janice Jacobson]

I have only seen the film of The Bookshop, and that because Bill Nighy was in it, but I don't recall it as being a depressing sort of thing. I didn't go in thinking it would be a romance (with a happy ending) or expecting that; I was hoping for a thoughtful slice of life sort of movie, and I got that.

Having this woman tell her story, however it turned out, was affirmative to me; it said to me yes, the things that happen to women and the lives they lead are important enough to talk about. I think a traditional happy ending where she falls into somebody's arms at the end and lives happily mated ever after would have felt false to that woman's time and personal story. It was better to be show that she had dignity and her life had value, guy or no guy :)

[Anne Gracie]

Janice, it wasn't the lack of a romance that I didn't like about the way the film ended -- I didn't expect a romance at all. It was that after all that struggle to get the bookshop off the ground, in the end it failed, and for reasons I didn't really believe in. So for me, the feeling at the end was "what's the point of even trying?" - which I found depressing.

[Janice Jacobson]

I understand your point, but I thought it was encouraging that she tried, that she got as far as she did, considering the era. Other women who succeeded later stood on her shoulders. To me it didn't say there's no point in trying; in fact it said the opposite :)