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Ell said:Recently finished Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.
About half-way through Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.
Ell
I loved it, was on the way to giving it 4 out of 5 stars, . . . until the ending! It was a quite a letdown.What did you think of Pattern Recognition Ell? I always consider getting it but have been unsure for a very long time indeed!!!
Ell said:Gibson started a number of very intriguing threads, then ended everything very abruptly. In addition, the many loose ends were tied up too tidily and didn't ring true to the story I had been reading.
Exactly! I'd rather have an open-ended story like Oryx and Crake than one where I feel the author is writing an ending just for the sake of writing an ending.{Tigress} said:Don't you hat when that happens? I can't tell you how many times I've read a book and felt completely let down in the last 25 to 30 pages. As if all the things that take 300+ pages to build up can be resolved in a few paragraphs. It's like you can spend a whole chapter talking about making camp for the night by a river, but finally defeating evil, saving the world, and living happily ever after can get done in a page or two.
Yep, me too. And it's doubly bad for me because I don't like books to end at all. Since I read for the characters, I wanna know what happens in the "happily ever after" part, and it's bad enough that books can't go on forever, but then to go ahead and turn that knife you just stabbed me with by cutting the ending SHORT... well that's the quickest way to completely lose my interest in anything you write.Ell said:Exactly! I'd rather have an open-ended story like Oryx and Crake than one where I feel the author is writing an ending just for the sake of writing an ending.
Ell
You're a series writer's dream!{Tigress} said:This is probably why I enjoy Fantasy so much. Not that Fantasy authors are any better than any other writers at coming up with good endings, but at least I can usually read three or more books before I'm forced to say goodbye to those lovely people I've just met.
Sazón said:I am currently reading Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure for school. Anyone who has read it before can also say that they feel terribly sorry for what Jude, the protagonist, goes through.
Litany said:I finally managed to drag myself through The Earthsea Quartet, and I'm sorry Wabbit, but I didn't like it. The second story was ok, but I found the rest really dull. You could see what the ending would be as soon as you were told the problem, and it seemed to drag on forever.
So yesterday I started Natural History by Justina Robson. It's sci fi set in a future of genetic engineering gone bonkers. I've only read three chapters, but the alien artefact that's mentioned in the blurb has already been discovered and the story is chugging along quite well.
Ell said:I loved it, was on the way to giving it 4 out of 5 stars, . . . until the ending! It was a quite a letdown.
Gibson started a number of very intriguing threads, then ended everything very abruptly. In addition, the many loose ends were tied up too tidily and didn't ring true to the story I had been reading.
Would I recommend it? Like I said, the first 3/4s of the book was fascinating, so I'd say, buy a cheap used copy or borrow it from the library and if you have my reaction, you won't be so annoyed.
SillyWabbit said:BTW, good luck with the move
At the moment I am reading A painted house By John Grisham. This is my first encounter with him. I'm not sure what to make of it It's ok so far. I want to write more about it when I have finished it
Regards
SillyWabbit