The last two books I read were captivating: Isola by Allegra Goodman and God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I practically devoured them. But the endings!? I’m so sick of books where the ending ties everything up in a pretty little bow.
Give me something realistic. In the way that suffering and exploitation are realistic y’know? The way some questions in life never get answered. Give me something shocking. Give me something disturbing.
The only story that has really ‘got me’ in the last decade was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Even his other books didn’t do it for me.
I don’t need a sadistic beating either though.
by YrMothersMaidenName
19 Comments
Kaju Battlefield Surgeon
The most fucked up ending in any book I’ve read recently was The Library at Mt Char by Scott Hawkins. My partner and I don’t really even agree on what happened at the end.
To be fair, we also don’t fully agree on what happened at the beginning either.
It’s an odd book.
It breaks a lot of unspoken rules about writing and storytelling and character development and it sort of just throws a lot of shit at you but you can’t stop even if you wanted to, and the end result is like getting sucked through the It’s A Small World ride after a large dose of mushrooms has kicked in.
I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone so:
>!Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy!<
Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Giants in the Earth by OE Rolvaag
Putting these under a spoiler tag in case anyone else didn’t want to know that they end not so happily:
>!Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton!<
>!Havoc by Christopher Bollen!<
>!The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark!<
Penitence by Kristin koval is a true crime-feeling book centered on a murder that takes place between a sister and brother. If you need books to have all the answers, this wouldn’t be the book for you, but it’s a deeply emotional book that ends the way it NEEDS to, but not in a bow.
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn are two thriller mysteries that I would say do not end succinctly. They both have endings that offer the reader with tension for what could happen with the characters post novel.
Edit: reread the title and realized you’re looking specifically for fucked up endings lolol. Gone Girl had the most fucked up ending out of the three here, for sure.
Sorry I’m kinda bad at describing books. But I enjoyed my time with all of these books truly! 🙂
Blood Meridian is a very fucked up book, with a very fucked up ending. One of the best books I’ve ever read, very historically accurate to how scalp hunters would have acted in the old west. If the vibe of movies like No Country for Old Men appeals to you, this book is right up your alley.
Tender is the Flesh!
Use of Weapons by Iain Banks.
Lolita
Annihilation/Authority/Acceptance
{{I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman}}. Not fucked up, but realistic (given the setup and circumstances)
{{The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa}}. Similar to the above.
{{A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck}}. This one has statue with me for a while. Think about it every so often despite reading it like two years and 100+ books ago.
We Need to Talk about Kevin
Oh definitely *The People in the Trees* by Hanya Yanagihara.
The Crooked House by Agatha Christie
Endless Night by Agatha Christie
Both of these really left me questioning what I had just read.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carré. Most tragic but fitting ending I have ever read.
Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna—no pretty bow
My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa
The Magus by John Fowles
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell