Most disturbing book endings...

[avs]

Coming off just finishing Rise of Endymion

Which books ending disturbed and upseted you the most?

For me (in reverse chronological order of reading):

Rise of Endymion - D. Simmons
His Dark Materials - P. Pullman
All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
Three Comrades - Erich Maria Remarque
1984 - George Orwell

 

[tangaloomababe]

I have read both All Quiet on the Western Front and 1984, out of the two it would be 1984. Just that acceptance, dismal though it is. When I first read this book, I thought Winston may have just had a spark of hope left that he was hiding, a hint of rebellion and non conformist , but each time I read it, I think that its all gone, as with Julia. He has accepted what must be. Its very sad.

 

[UltraCulture]

Not so much disturbing, but I thought the end to Non Stop by Aldiss was kind of sad.. Dont want to say much as to spoil it.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Definately The Sun Dog by Stephen King -one of his scariest stories imho

 

[Urien]

Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks
Duma Key Stephen King

I don't want to spoil them, so I won't. But both are well worth reading.

 

[Lioness]

Not so much the ending, but the whole last book of the Dark Tower made me cry multiple times.

 

[gully_foyle]

The ending to A Canticle for Liebowitz. A great book and a great ending, but it shook me up.

In a similar vein, the ending of Brasil (the movie) was probably the nastiest and most depressing I've ever seen.

 

[Connavar]

Most quality PKD book depress me so much that i feel empty and depressed after the last page.

Now Wait For Last Year, Do Androids, The Maze of Death.

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz had really disturbing ending.....

 

[HoopyFrood]

One of the most frustrating: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Heinlein. Normally I don't mind open endings (big King fan that I am, I'm used to them) and it is a Time story, but that one really made me agitated.

I agree that the ending of Pullman's Dark Materials is sad; to think that the only way they can be near one another is to sit on that bench...

The saddest ending to a book ever (even more so than The Dark Tower Series, whose entire last book, as Lioness says, is just one sad moment after another it seems) is about the last four pages of Flowers for Algernon. A more sad and moving ending I have never read...

 

[mosaix]

The saddest ending to a book ever is about the last four pages of Flowers for Algernon. A more sad and moving ending I have never read...

Agree with you there Hoopy. The older I get the more emotional I get when reading. I first read it in my 20's and thought it pretty sad but was more interested in the technique of the writing for want of a better word.

I re-read it about three years ago and it took me ages to finish because I was crying all the time.

The ending of Something Happened by Joseph Heller is disturbing because it's so disappointing.

 

[DarrellR]

I would have to go with Steven Erikson's Deadhouse Gates. The ending at the Chain of the Dogs blew me away. I just didn't see that coming.

 

[HoopyFrood]

My gods, how on earth did I forget that ending? Yes, the ending to Deadhouse Gates. Just the most...horrible ending (not in terms of writing, of course, just the intense and horrifying events) I've read.

 

[Rosemary]

A few pages before the ending in Tales of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. When one of the main characters takes the place of another and goes to be guillotined. He also comforts a young girl in the tumbrel... I have read this book so many times and seen the movie more than once and yet I still have to get the tissues out!

 

[Hypnos164]

I second both Flowers for Algernon and Deadhouse Gates

There is a Greg Egan story from Axiomatic - Learning to be Me - that I still find disturbing and memorable over a decade on from reading it...

 

[avs]

to Hoopy Frood:

If you think the ending to His Dark Material was sad, you will like (or is it hate?) ending of Rise of Endymion. Same vein but I thought even darker.

to Mosaic:
I never finished Something Happened, although I loved Catch 22. Is anything besides Catch 22 by Heller worth reading?

 

[gully_foyle]

Is anything besides Catch 22 by Heller worth reading?

Picture This was pretty good. God Knows is a pure joy to read.

 

[flygin]

The ending to A Canticle for Liebowitz. A great book and a great ending, but it shook me up.

In a similar vein, the ending of Brasil (the movie) was probably the nastiest and most depressing I've ever seen.

I was going to post about A Canticle for Liebowitz. I found it to be very depressing, and I still find myself thinking about it at random moments, even though I finished it back in December.