4 Story Endings That Are Better Than The Story

With the final film in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy just out on DVD -- and the recent celebration of Tolkien Reading Day -- it got us thinking about story endings. Finding the perfect ending to a story can be a hard nut to crack, especially as many people would happily debate just what it is, exactly, that constitutes a "perfect ending" to their favorite shows and series.

Still, when a story wraps up on exactly the right note, it's a moment of satisfaction for the book-lover or film buff that has few equals. Read on to see four of our favorite, most powerful endings.

(Minor spoilers ahead.)



-- Fight Club (the film)

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate 

so we can buy stuff we don't need to impress people we don't like."

When Fight Club was first released, I went out of my way to avoid seeing it. A movie about a bunch of guys beating each other up didn't sound like my type of flick, to say the least. But then I was assigned the film as part of a college class syllabus, and I found myself stuck with watching Fight Club whether I wanted to or not.

There wasn't much to recommend it to my sensibilities, either, as I watched the Narrator (our unnamed main character) have his typical, materialistic, button-down life interrupted by Tyler Durden, a nihilistic anarchist who starts up underground "fight clubs" as a way to connect men back to real meanings in their lives. Of course, when you're convinced that there is no meaning, such a plan is bound to be twisted, and the Narrator is caught up in a plan of increasingly horrible and dangerous consequences.

That is, until the story's end, when we discover who Tyler Durden really is -- and what our Narrator can do to defeat him. With Tyler's message ultimately rejected and destroyed, our Narrator is free to live a new life with his gal-pal Marla -- "new life" being rather more literal than normal. Tyler's true identity was a sucker-punch of an ending that I never saw coming, and it gave me an appreciation for a film I thought I'd never even watch.

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-- Star Trek: The Next Generation (the series)

"That is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and 

studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence."

The last two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation rarely reached the heights of excellent storytelling as seen in earlier episodes. But then came "All Good Things …," the two-parter series finale, in which Captain Picard is ordered to take the Enterprise to investigate an unusual spacial anomaly. Unfortunately, his orders are complicated when he abruptly finds himself time-jumping six years into the past (when the Enterprise was just about to undertake its first voyage) -- and some 25 years in the future, when he's retired and his crew has gone their separate ways. Splintered between three timelines, things look even worse for Picard with the return of Q, an all-powerful alien adversary who delights in picking on Picard whenever possible.

But this time, Q's motives seem to be about more than making things entertainingly difficult. In fact, Q is insisting that Picard is on the verge of making a decision that will wipe out all of humanity -- leaving Picard struggling to solve the puzzle across three different timelines before it's too late. What makes this episode so incredible, for me, is that the solution is unlocked for Picard in the same instant it's unlocked for the audience -- and it's a mind-blowing answer that could only work within the limitless bounds of the sci-fi genre.

It's worth mentioning that I'm not entirely alone in my assessment as to the power of this story. The two-parter earned the 1995 Hugo Award (given annually for the best science fiction and fantasy works and achievements of the previous year) for Best Dramatic Presentation.

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-- The Graduate (the film)

"One word: plastics."

"How exactly do you mean 'plastics,' sir?"

"Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?"  It's the most famous line of the classic 1967 film, but The Graduate is about so much more than a recent college grad falling under the spell of an older woman. Benjamin Braddock has spent the last four years slaving away to earn his college degree, but now that he's got it, he's at a loss to find his next step. Utterly confused as to what he ought to try next or what he wants to do with his life, he drifts without purpose -- ultimately finding himself in the arms of Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's law partner.

As Benjamin continues to drift listlessly, his parents pressure him to ask out Elaine, the Robinsons' daughter. Ben does what he can to get out of it, but eventually finds himself all but forced to take Elaine out for the evening. Initially determined to be as terrible to her as possible (and, therefore, end any chances of a second date), Ben slowly begins to realize he actually likes her. Here, at last, is a person with whom he can be wholly himself.

Elaine feels the same -- at least until she finds out that Ben has been romantically involved with her own mother. Horrified, Elaine dumps Ben immediately, leaving Ben determined to reunite with Elaine -- a future with her being the only future he can see for himself.

The last third of the movie strikes many fans as romantic (or stalker-lite, depending on your perspective), as Ben tracks down Elaine before he loses her forever. But while the film has a nominally happy ending, the last shot suggests that these new adults are still as uncertain about their future as ever -- which is precisely the feeling that most new graduates can relate to best.

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-- Secret Window, Secret Garden (the book)

"You know, the only thing that matters is the ending. 

It's the most important part of the story, the ending."

When writer Mort Rainey retreats to his summer home on Tashmore Lake, he's just trying to get a little peace of mind (and some fresh writing inspiration) in the aftermath of a messy divorce. So when John Shooter shows up on Mort's doorstep and accuses him of plagiarizing one of Shooter's stories, Mort finds himself with one too many problems to handle.

At least the fix to Shooter's accusation seems easy enough. All Mort has to do is prove he committed no such plagiarism. But when Shooter's insanity starts escalating, the stakes grow increasingly personal -- and Mort suddenly discovers there's no easy way out after all. Especially when Mort discovers that Shooter is not at all who he claimed to be.

I discovered this story on audiobook, and listened to the rip-roaring, nail-biting ending while driving home alone at night in the middle of a deserted country road. Rarely have I had a more terrifying -- or pleasing -- horror story experience. Don't miss it!

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-- Post by Ms. B 

Time And Relative Dimensions

On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, and the world was changed forever. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s newest novel, entitled 11/22/63, tells the story of Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher who is presented with the opportunity to alter history. Jake's friend Al, who runs the local diner, shares with Jake a secret: Al's restaurant contains a portal to the year 1958. So begins Jake's trip back in time -- to the world of Elvis, sock hops, big American cars ... and JFK. It's the world of troubled loner Lee Harvey Oswald, and of high school librarian Sadie Dunhill -- both of whom will have an impact on Jake's life in a way that transgresses all the ordinary rules of time.

King's novel is being touted as a fascinating look into America in the 50s and 60s, as well as being a thrilling page-turner with a great premise and fully-realized characters. It's also King's first real foray into that sub-genre of science fiction known as time travel, which got me thinking about time travel stories in general.

Since H.G. Wells arguably invented the genre with his classic story The Time Machine (see below for a link), time travel stories have flourished on the printed page as well as in movie theaters and on television screens. So while you're waiting for your reserved library copy of 11/22/63, check out these other great stories about traveling through time:

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

Here's a novel about someone presented with the chance not to alter the course of history -- but rather to study it. Kivrin will be traveling to the fourteenth century to observe one of the deadliest eras in human history: the Black Death sweeping through Europe. While on the surface, the assignment seems easy -- she'll just receive her modern-day inoculations and be on her way -- things get complicated when a crisis leaves her stranded in the past. While her instructors try desperately to get her back, Kivrin is left to struggle her way through one of the most harrowing periods of the Middle Ages. A different sort of time travel story, this novel places less emphasis on flashy technology and action sequences, and more on the unfolding of character growth and development.

Night Watch: A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett.

Pratchett's infamous Discworld series has been renowned for years for its sharp humor and witty satire of the typical fantasy tropes. But as the series has continued its grown into a fine (and funny) fully developed story of its own, with fully-developed characters and fresh ideas of Pratchett's own. This particular installment in the series stars the put-upon leader of the Watch, Sam Vimes, as he's dragged back in time to serve as a mentor ... to his younger self. And it's up to the two Vimes to deal with a revolution -- which, for the elder Vimes, has already happened.

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card.

Most famous for his young adult sci-fi series about Ender Wiggin and his fellow classmates from Battle School, Card has also written a number of other science fiction and fantasy titles. This book, the first in a planned series, follows a group of future scientists sent back in time to observe Colombus's westward exploration. They find out more than they bargained for when they discover that Columbus is acting under the orders of another group of scientists -- these from an alternate future -- who were sent back to try and prevent their own terrible timeline from coming to pass. The scientists from our own timeline send back three agents to various turning points in history, trying to find an outcome for history that won't result in the genocide of the Native American people -- but the agents will never know if they succeed. Sound confusing?  It is, but Card pulls off the the twisting, turning plot-tangle with aplomb.

Yesterday's Enterprise - from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Trials and Tribble-ations - from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The various Star Trek series -- there are five in total -- are full of episodes about time travel and alternate timelines. Here are two of the most famous: in Yesterday's Enterprise, the crew of the starship Enterprise suddenly find themselves in an alternate timeline where dead crewmates haven't died, the Federation is at war with the Klingons -- and only one person on board knows anything has changed. And in Trials and Tribble-ations, the DS9 crew travels into the past to the time of Captain James T. Kirk, in an episode with such plot twists (and with an impressive use of CGI technology used to place DS9 actors onto the bridge of Captain Kirk's Enterprise) that the story would be nominated for a Hugo award.

Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality by Ronald L. Mallett, with Bruce Henderson.

A non-fiction read about time travel? Not as far-fetched as it sounds. Dr. Ronald Mallett, a Pennsylvania native (who is also one of the first African-American theoretical physicists), writes about his discovery of the basic equations that he believes are needed to one day develop a working time machine. Interwoven with his personal journey about his life and family (he first became interested in the concept of time travel after losing his father at the age of ten), this book is both science thesis and memoir -- and truly original.


Time Travel Classics:

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
Wells's classic novel has been adapted into audiobooks, radio plays, and films.

Doctor Who - the series.
This classic British television series -- about an alien called the Doctor and his time-traveling blue police box -- was recently updated for modern audiences.

Back to the Future - Complete Movie Trilogy.
Join Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd in the famous film trilogy about an ordinary high schooler and his mad scientist friend traveling into the past and future as they try to keep their own timeline intact.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain.
A nineteenth-century man is transported back in time to the land of Camelot.

Terminator - film.
A cyborg assassin is sent back in time to kill the mother of future rebel leader John Connor -- before Connor can even be born.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
Though not having quite as much time travel as its three sequels, the first novel in L'Engle's YA, sci-fi, time-traveling quartet is easily the best of the lot.

Peggy Sue Got Married - film.
A fainting spell at her high school reunion send Peggy Sue back in time to her senior year of high school -- and gives her another chance at getting her future "right."


-- Post by Ms. B

Beyond the Horror

Last week I discussed my all-time favorite author: Stephen King. I mentioned how odd it was, in some respects, for me to be a fan of his -- primarily because I am absolutely not a horror fan. And yet there's something about Stephen King's writing style and thematic story elements that draw me to his writing regardless of that.

But another reason I can enjoy him so much is that he's not, strictly speaking, a "horror writer." Oh, he definitely writes horror -- make no mistake about that -- but many of his books can be classified as thrillers, or mysteries, or science fiction. And even his straight-up horror offerings have more to them just the scares (not that he doesn't write some pretty great scares).

So if you, like me, are not generally a fan of the horror genre, but find yourself wanting to give King a try, here are some alternate-genre reads of his that might be more up your alley.

Duma Key

Edgar Freemantle, owner of a construction company, hasn't sketched a picture in years -- until a construction site accident leaves him with an amputated right arm, memory and speech problems, and a flush of anger issues. Renting a beach home on the west coast of Florida to recover, Edgar takes up his old art hobby once again, only to discover two things: his paintings are better than they've ever been before, and the things he's painting are starting to come true. While many critics commented on the obvious parallels between Edgar's experiences and Stephen King's own near-death experience from several years previous, what I was more impressed by with this novel was the characters. The main characters are interesting and well-developed, and you come to genuinely care about them by the end of the novel.

"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" // "The Body"

"Different Seasons" collects four short novels by Stephen King, and two of those -- "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" and "The Body" -- are among his finest non-horror works ever.

"Rita Heyworth" -- considered to be one of King's all-time masterpieces -- tells the story of two prison inmates: Red, a "lifer" who has just been denied parole; and Andy, one of the more unusual inmates to serve time at Shawshank. What follows is a story that is equal parts hope and redemption; to give away any more of the plot would be a disservice to the story.

//

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. ... does anyone?"
"The Body" details the summer adventure of four pre-teen boys in 1960s Maine. While the object of their quest -- another boy who went missing and is now presumed dead -- is macabre, the story itself is not. It is, as the saying goes, about the journey, not the destination, and it's more about the stories of these four boys than it is anything else. King captures the voices of four youthful characters with his usual precision -- the kids are buoyant, silly, crude, and above all optimistic, giving a portrayal of childhood that is far from idealistic but still, in its way, fondly remembered.


(Both of these novellas happen to have been made into truly excellent film adaptations: The Shawshank Redemption starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, and Stand By Me, starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, and Richard Dreyfuss.)

The Eyes of the Dragon

As I mentioned last week, this was my first Stephen King novel, given to me by my mother when I was in high school. George R.R. Martin meets Grimm fairy tale, it's a high fantasy adventure about two royal brothers -- one of whom is Crown Prince, while the other becomes a witness to a murder of their father and King. Simply and straightforwardly told, it's something most fantasy fans should enjoy -- while also being a pleasant change of pace from the usual Tolkien derivative fare.

The Dead Zone

This one's a science fiction read that doubles as a thriller: if you could see the future, how far would you go to prevent it? Johnny Smith is injured in a car accident and put in a five-year coma; when he awakens, he finds himself with five years of his life gone, his parents stressed to the breaking point, and his former girlfriend now married to someone else. That in itself could have made for an interesting story, but King takes it a step further: the accident has left Johnny with psychic abilities. By touching an object, he has visions about the person that the item belongs to -- including visions of the future. And one vision in particular is cause for alarm, detailing the cataclysmic fate that awaits the world if presidential hopeful Greg Stiltson is elected to office. As sci-fi thrillers go, you can't ask for much better than this. (And yes, this book resulted in both a motion picture adaptation, as well as a six season TV series.)

The Green Mile

King is well-known to his fans for being unafraid to try different formats for his work: Riding the Bullet was originally released exclusively online, Ur is only available to read on the Kindle, and his new short stories are still routinely released in magazines. With "The Green Mile," King tried his hand at the serial novel -- the book being released in six parts that were issued monthly in low-priced paperback format. (The book has since been collected into one large novel.)

Another prison novel, this one differs from "Shawshank Redemption" in its supernatural twist. Told from the perspective of Paul Edgecombe, the block supervisor of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary death row, it details the story of inmate John Coffey, a man on death row for a crime he may or may not have committed. Another story about redemption and innocence, with a decidedly different twist from "Shawshank," this story comes to focus on Coffey and the question of his innocence or guilt -- not to mention his mysterious healing powers. This book, too, has been made into a well-known film, starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland is hiking with her mother and brother when she falls off the trail for a few minutes to get away from her family's bickering. A nightmare follows when a wrong turn finds her lost in the woods with nothing but a backpack of snacks, a Walkman, and her Tom Gordon baseball cap. The plot is simplistic in set-up, but the story it tells -- about courage, determination, family, and the power of faith (in both God and baseball) -- is anything but. I read this book for the first time over a decade ago, and it still remains my favorite King read.

The Dark Tower series

"Go, then -- there are other worlds than these." Stephen King's masterpiece is also his hardest work to describe. Science fiction? High fantasy? Epic? "Epic," at least, is certainly a word to describe this seven-book series that was nearly 20 years in the making, and which also serves to tie together many of the characters, settings, and stories of the rest of King's novels. And yet, it's not a horror series, reading more like a Spaghetti Western tribute crossed with post-apocalyptic fantasy ... and that's just the first book. Whether you like fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, or Epics, there's probably something in this book for you. (There's even a Harry Potter reference for the particularly sharp-eyed!)


-- Post by Ms. B

Ghost Agnostic

I love Stephen King.

This fact often surprises people. I am not the sort of person you'd think of as being a fan of a horror writer, mostly because I'm not a fan of horror stories. At all. I avoid horror movies at all costs and don't read any horror novels that don't have Stephen King's name on the cover. I hate the Saw films without ever having seen them and I don't like zombies even though I've been a Monroeville resident for nearly seven years now.

And yet -- Stephen King. He is, hands-down, my favorite author. But why? How does an author like King appeal to someone who has a general dislike of horror fiction?

King -- with a literary career spanning 40 years, nearly 50 books, and over 350 million copies of his works in print -- is known as America's Horror-Meister. And yet part of my love for his storytelling may stem from the fact that King may not completely deserve the title. ("You can't even be a 'mister' when you write horror," King commented recently. "They downgrade you to 'meister.'")

The first King novel I ever read -- given to me by my mother when I was a high school student -- was The Eyes of the Dragon. It was not a horror story but rather a high fantasy novel, in the vein of George R.R. Martin or Robert Jordan. It took place in the same sort of vaguely-medieval settings that high fantasy novels always seem to take place in, and the story had more to do with magic and family than it did guts and ghosts. True, it did possess some of the trademark darker flares that make up King's style (there's the standard touches of gore and vulgarity, which always strike me as being less about sensationalism and more about King's perspective of the grittiness of life). But for the most part, The Eyes of the Dragon is a fairytale-like fantasy story, less like a horror read and more like a lost volume of Lord of the Rings. (Only, y'know, more interesting; forgive me, but I am not personally a Tolkien fan.)

Speaking of The Eyes of the Dragon, King's magnum opus is also not horror, but rather a crazily epic, science-fiction/high-fantasy blend of a series called The Dark Tower. This seven-book series took nearly 20 years for King to finish and has sold over 30 million copies alone, and was inspired chiefly by the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning. (This series is particularly notable to die-hard King fans -- like myself -- for being the series which ties many of King's other works together; there are numerous references to other characters and stories from most of King's other novels.)

Of course, King's written plenty of novels that focus on the things that go bump in the night: 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, Pet Sematary, It. But King has a very specific interest in horror, and it's not just about cheap thrills. It is, rather, his fascination in what can happen when "the window between reality and unreality breaks and the glass begins to fly."

One of my favorite King quotes is from the dedication in "It," when he says that, "Fiction is the truth inside the lie." King's horror isn't really about gore and violence for the sake of gore of violence, but rather are gateways to the themes he really likes exploring: how hard it is to close Pandora's box once it's opened, why terrible things happen to good people, the thin line between fantasy and reality. (Check out King's memoir On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft to hear him discuss these themes himself.) And, too, themes about love, family, friendship, and God.

Ultimately, King is an optimist. Can an author be a "Horror-Meister" if he's also an optimist? True, King has said, "Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Sometimes, the monsters in King's books win -- but most of the time, his books are about bad things happening to good people and the good people overcoming in the end. The good guys don't always win (Cujo, Bag of Bones, and one of my favorites -- Duma Key -- have victories that come at a price). But most of the time the good guys do win, possibly because, as King himself says in The Shawshank Redemption, "Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best thing, and no good thing ever dies." It's that, more than anything, that makes me such a King fan -- well, that and the fact that he's a crackerjack storyteller. (A King novel, for me, is the very definition of a page-turner; putting one of his books down when I'm in the middle of a great scene is more or less impossible.)

Last weekend, George Mason University presented bestselling author Stephen King with the Mason Award, for his "extraordinary contributions to bringing literature to a wide reading public." It was part of GMU and Fairfax, Virginia's annual "Fall for the Book" festival, a weeklong community event that celebrates authors, readers, books, and literacy.

I was lucky enough to be there. King came out to give a wonderful speech about his experiences as an author (including a delightfully terrible -- or perhaps terribly delightful -- story about the worst place where he'd ever been asked for an autograph). This was followed up by a Q&A session (when asked if he believes in ghosts, King merely answered that he was a "ghost agnostic"), before he was presented with the award.

For me, the thrill of the evening came towards the end of the speech when he read a new passage from his current project, a novel he's titling "Dr. Sleep." If there's anything more awesomely entertaining than getting to hear your favorite author tell you a story, live and in person, I haven't found it yet.

Whether you're a horror fan or not, the world is frequently a scary place. But by writing about the dark places, Stephen King shines a light on the better things. His novels may be frightening, but they're also full of hope -- which might be one of the real reasons King appeals not just to me, but to his millions of Constant Readers.

That, and the fact that, as my mother says -- the man can tell a story.

(Check back next week for Part Two of this entry, where I'll share some of my favorite, horror-lite King reads.)


-- Post by Ms. B