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.

Request Fight Club from the Catalog



-- 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.

Request Season 7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation from the Catalog



-- 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.

Request The Graduate from the Catalog



-- 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!

Request Secret Window, Secret Garden from the Catalog

-- Post by Ms. B 

The Bradbury Chronicles

"First of all, I don't write science fiction. I've only done one science fiction book and that's Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it's fantasy. It couldn't happen, you see? That's the reason it's going to be around a long time -- because it's a Greek myth, and myths have staying power."  Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury was well known for the two books mentioned above, but he was a writer who was so much more than just those books (although they are my personal favorites). Bradbury wrote over 500 published works which included screenplays, television scripts, plays, and, of course, novels. His stories touched so many lives in his sixty-plus years as a published author. And though his most well-known works were published in the 1950s and 1960s, he never stopped writing.

Bradbury was born in Waukegon, Illinois on August 22, 1920. His family moved around in the early part of his life, but he ended up settling in Los Angeles by his early teens. He did not attend college, but he earned his knowledge and skills as a writer by spending much of his time at the public library.

“Libraries raised me,” Mr. Bradbury said. “I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.” (New York Times article).

In 1943, Bradbury became a full-time writer, and by 1947 he had his first collection of short stories, Dark Carnival, published. A few years later, The Martian Chronicles was published in 1950, and Fahrenheit 451 in 1953. He never stopped writing after that; his last book was published in 2007.

I have to admit that I have not read a lot of Ray Bradbury's work, but what I have read has had a profound effect on me. A long time ago, there was a miniseries made out of The Martian Chronicles, which is a collection of short stories that tell a tale of the colonization of Mars. I don't think the mini-series was really that good, but it made me want to read the book. And the book has always stuck with me. A few years ago, I decided to re-read it, and it moved me just as much the second time around as it did the first. In many ways, this contributed to my love of sci-fi, even though Ray Bradbury did not consider this book to be sci-fi -- which now, as an adult, I see more clearly.

The other book that I love is Fahrenheit 451. I also read this when I was a teenager, and I was so moved by these people who risked their lives to save books that it might even have influenced me, in some subconscious way, to become a librarian. For someone who had loved reading all of her life, it was hard for me to fathom that anyone would want to destroy books.

There are several other books of his that I still want to read, and now with his recent passing at the age of 91 on Tuesday, I am even more inspired to read them. Here are the ones that I am most interested in, along with a few other of his works:

Dandelion Wine (1957) - In 1928, Douglas Spaulding wanders around Green Town, Illinois, with his brother and realizes that he is alive.

Farewell Summer (2006) - Celebrating the final days of summer, thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding and his friends declare war on the stuffy older set of their community, an effort for which the boys plot to stop the courthouse building clock as a means of staying young forever.

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) - A story of two young boys who begin to encounter evil secrets when a lightning rod salesman gives them one of his contraptions covered with mystical symbols.

I Sing The Body Electric! (1969) - A collection of twenty-eight classic Bradbury short stories and one poem is set in a variety of locales, ranging from the verdant Irish countryside to the coldest reaches of outer space.

The Illustrated Man (1951) - Eighteen science fiction stories deal with love, madness, and death on Mars, Venus, and in space.

And if you would like to read a more in-depth biography of Ray Bradbury check out The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury by Sam Weller.



"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." -- Ray Bradbury


-- Post by Tracy