Current Events > Stephen King having bad endings is such an overblown criticism.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Under The Dome's is terrible. Needful Things, The Stand, and Duma Key are bad. There are few bad endings to good books outside of that, and several fantastic ones, but he constantly gets written off as someone who can't end a book :/

people are complaining about bad endings in the horror genre? what the fuck?
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0xDEFECADE posted...

people are complaining about bad endings in the horror genre? what the fuck?

Are you suggesting the genre usually has bad endings? Because...no.

OctilIery posted...

0xDEFECADE posted...

people are complaining about bad endings in the horror genre? what the fuck?

Are you suggesting the genre usually has bad endings? Because...no.

I was talking about unfortunate endings, not poorly written endings. I assume now you meant the latter. Sorry
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King definitely has a problem with endings, but it's by no means a consistent thing. It's just that endings are generally his weakest aspect. Not surprising when he admits he makes the story up as he goes along.

It doesn't help that the books typically considered his best works are also known for having weak endings.

Also, King is also just weird as fuck in some respects, probably caused by the substance abuse. So a lot of bad endings you almost couldn't consider to be bad because the whole book was so goddamn weird that the ending just blends in. Like the ending of Thinner is lordly stupid, but the whole book is also kind of dumb.
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0xDEFECADE posted...

OctilIery posted...

0xDEFECADE posted...

people are complaining about bad endings in the horror genre? what the fuck?

Are you suggesting the genre usually has bad endings? Because...no.

I was talking about unfortunate endings, not poorly written endings. I assume now you meant the latter. Sorry

Ah fair enough. Yeah, he actually does a decent amount of happy endings too. Good mix of them and horribly bleak.

pegusus123456 posted...

It doesn't help that the books typically considered his best works are also known for having weak endings.

People say that about IT but I disagree so hard. The weird, cosmic side of IT is one of my favorite aspects of the book.

OctilIery posted...

and Duma Key are bad

How is the ending for this bad? i mean i hated that the daughter died in such a fucked up way just for revenge but the ending was fine, not everything has to have a happy ending.

pegusus123456 posted...

Also, King is also just weird as fuck in some respects, probably caused by the substance abuse.

Probably no, confirmed, he had some serious addiction issues years ago.

If anything, the only really awful book i feel he has made IMO was Cell, that shit was mediocre from start to ending.

Doctor Sleep wasn't bad either but it doesn't hold a candle to the shinning
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Didnt Doctor Sleep end with the bad guy slipping and rolling down a hill?
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Cookie Bag posted...

How is the ending for this bad?

The problem I had wasn't so much how it ended as it was just a general anticlimactic feel for the last 30-50 pages, coming off one of my favorite King books.

Cookie Bag posted...

If anything, the only really awful book i feel he has made IMO was Cell, that shit was mediocre from start to ending.

I honestly loved the beginning of Cell but thought it fell off hard after the first act. Felt the same way about Tommyknockers. Thought Dreamcatcher was just straight garbage.

Chicken posted...

Didnt Doctor Sleep end with the bad guy slipping and rolling down a hill?

It did, but to be honest, the villain was never the most competent feeling in that one.

OctilIery posted...

Thought Dreamcatcher was just straight garbage.

I don't know how the book is, but if the movie is any indication then yeah...
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Cookie Bag posted...

OctilIery posted...

Thought Dreamcatcher was just straight garbage.

I don't know how the book is, but if the movie is any indication then yeah...

I mean, it's a book he wrote while recovering from the accident, it can only be so good lol

Oh that explains why it feels like a fever dream put on a book, its actually a fever dream.
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Add Revival to the list of King books with bad/underwhelming/disappointing endings. I did like most of the book though.

Cookie Bag posted...

OctilIery posted...

and Duma Key are bad

How is the ending for this bad? i mean i hated that the daughter died in such a fucked up way just for revenge but the ending was fine, not everything has to have a happy ending.

It was all caused by the scary pirate ghosts... OOOOOooooooOOOO
SPOOOOoooooooOOOOKy

His planned ending for 11/22/63 sounded worse than the actual ending, which was great.
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Torrific posted...

Add Revival to the list of King books with bad/underwhelming/disappointing endings. I did like most of the book though.

Disagree completely. That's one of my favorite endings of his.

Surprised no one has mentioned The Dark Tower. One of his worst endings, and its to what was supposed to be his Magnum Opus.

^This. The Dark Tower was like being slapped in the face repeatedly while King laughs and jerks it.

Kami_no_Kami posted...

Surprised no one has mentioned The Dark Tower. One of his worst endings, and its to what was supposed to be his Magnum Opus.

I hated it at first. Then after thinking about it for a bit I came to the realization that it really couldn't have ended any other way.
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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

His planned ending for 11/22/63 sounded worse than the actual ending, which was great.

His son actually helped him with the ending there, and it's fantastic for it. If no one's read any of his son's stuff, I recommend it. N0S4A2 is great.
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ScazarMeltex posted...

Kami_no_Kami posted...

Surprised no one has mentioned The Dark Tower. One of his worst endings, and its to what was supposed to be his Magnum Opus.

I hated it at first. Then after thinking about it for a bit I came to the realization that it really couldn't have ended any other way.

I read the book and i liked it but the love of it i can't remember what was the other ending...
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codey posted...

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

His planned ending for 11/22/63 sounded worse than the actual ending, which was great.

His son actually helped him with the ending there, and it's fantastic for it. If no one's read any of his son's stuff, I recommend it. N0S4A2 is great.

It all is. Heart Shaped Box is one of the scariest things and King has written, imo.

ScazarMeltex posted...

Kami_no_Kami posted...

Surprised no one has mentioned The Dark Tower. One of his worst endings, and its to what was supposed to be his Magnum Opus.

I hated it at first. Then after thinking about it for a bit I came to the realization that it really couldn't have ended any other way.

Ka is a wheel.
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OctilIery posted...

Torrific posted...

Add Revival to the list of King books with bad/underwhelming/disappointing endings. I did like most of the book though.

Disagree completely. That's one of my favorite endings of his.

Same. That ending fucks me up to this day. I'm surprised to see someone say it's underwhelming.

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

His planned ending for 11/22/63 sounded worse than the actual ending, which was great.

What was the planned ending?
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I liked the ending to Needful Things :(

Also the ending to Revival is so goddamn bleak, I loved it. One of his strongest endings.
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codey posted...

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

His planned ending for 11/22/63 sounded worse than the actual ending, which was great.

His son actually helped him with the ending there, and it's fantastic for it. If no one's read any of his son's stuff, I recommend it. N0S4A2 is great.

NOS4A2 is excellent.

And also I think it was his wife that requested a happier ending as well.

pegusus123456 posted...

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

His planned ending for 11/22/63 sounded worse than the actual ending, which was great.

What was the planned ending?

I believe it was just that Jake goes back to his normal routine and finds out from newspapers that Sadie lived and had a family and fulfilling life. But the actual ending was a sweet one for a protagonist that deserved a good ending, in my opinion.
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ScazarMeltex posted...

Kami_no_Kami posted...

Surprised no one has mentioned The Dark Tower. One of his worst endings, and its to what was supposed to be his Magnum Opus.

I hated it at first. Then after thinking about it for a bit I came to the realization that it really couldn't have ended any other way.

I understood it immediately, but this is a cop-out. Fitting one theme of a story doesnt make up for an unsatisfying anti-climax to a 35-year series. There are infinite ways it couldve ended in a better way. It just wouldve taken someone with a talent for crafting satisfying endings (and someone who isnt oh-so-in-love with the first line of The Gunslinger). King isnt that.

I can forgive underwhelming endings if its fits the main narrative, but the thing with King is that his books ask a lot of the reader. They are SO long-winded and all over the place in their storytelling that in a weird way the reader on some level feels like they should be "rewarded" for sticking through it. If ends up fizzling out in the end then it feels like a wasted investment.
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PsychicHippo posted...

I can forgive underwhelming endings if its fits the main narrative, but the thing with King is that his books ask a lot of the reader. They are SO long-winded and all over the place in their storytelling that in a weird way the reader on some level feels like they should be "rewarded" for sticking through it. If ends up fizzling out in the end then it feels like a wasted investment.

But it rarely fizzles out, and even when it does the journey is well worth it.

The stand ending with a literal finger of god was stupid as all hell
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I strongly disliked the ending for Christine.
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OctilIery posted...

Torrific posted...

Add Revival to the list of King books with bad/underwhelming/disappointing endings. I did like most of the book though.

Disagree completely. That's one of my favorite endings of his.

Kami_no_Kami posted...

Surprised no one has mentioned The Dark Tower. One of his worst endings, and its to what was supposed to be his Magnum Opus.

Also disagree with this one.

He's written a lot of bad endings though. A number of bad books too.
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I feel like most of his endings are fairly dubious. Ones that comes to mind...

The Stand: The entire second half of this book is shaky when it abandons the whole apocalypse survival scenario and turns into some goofy religious trip, but the ending itself being "God wanted the good guys to go to Vegas so when He killed the bad guys, He'd also kill some good guys" takes the cake

It: Most of the ending is fine but the dude decided that the only way to escape a sewer was a child orgy and that's pretty damn bad

Desperation:
Kid: "God took advantage of me being an upset 10 year old to set me up to see my whole family killed in front of me solely to prove to me that God likes to make people suffer"
Same kid: "Also I love God! He's great!"
That and the villain turns into an utter joke as the story goes on, which is also a recurring Stephen King theme, see Flagg, Randall.

Dreamcatcher: The alien possession was in your imagination, but you weren't really imagining it, you just kind of assumed you were imagining it and went with it and...look I was on painkillers after almost dying when I wrote this, okay?"

The only Stephen King book with an ending that really stands out as good is Pet Semetary (and even that one has a pretty shitty part towards the end). And The Dark Tower, whose ending I actually like. The Shining is fine, as are a few others, but generally speaking his endings are bad more than average, and average more than good.
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I think it stands out more with King than others because his books are almost always really intriguing so it unwraveling at the end makes it infinitely more frustrating
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The Long Walk's final moment was a waste. The Running Man has a crappy ending, but most things about the Running Man kinda sucked... which is why the largely-unrelated film was something of an improvement.
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OctilIery posted...

Torrific posted...

Add Revival to the list of King books with bad/underwhelming/disappointing endings. I did like most of the book though.

Disagree completely. That's one of my favorite endings of his.

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book. The ending really came across as King trying too hard to horrify his readers, akin to some of his earlier novels like Carrie. That kind of horror really doesn't work for me anymore. I understand I'm in the minority with this opinion though.

Panthera posted...

Desperation:
Kid: "God took advantage of me being an upset 10 year old to set me up to see my whole family killed in front of me solely to prove to me that God likes to make people suffer"
Same kid: "Also I love God! He's great!"
That and the villain turns into an utter joke as the story goes on, which is also a recurring Stephen King theme, see Flagg, Randall.

Yeah....

Of all things, the bad guy had to have a yeast infection?

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?
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Also tbh the stand should have ended when they all came together and reached the promised land
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pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?

I know you liked the ending, but did you really need to ask this? Let's just say I wish the ending stayed more human, more grounded and more ambiguous.

Torrific posted...

pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?

I know you liked the ending, but did you really need to ask this? Let's just say I wish the ending stayed more human, more grounded and more ambiguous.

The ending was straight lovecraft, just like the story.

OctilIery posted...

Torrific posted...

pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?

I know you liked the ending, but did you really need to ask this? Let's just say I wish the ending stayed more human, more grounded and more ambiguous.

The ending was straight lovecraft, just like the story.

I quote a review:

The first half of the book is delicious, and so wonderfully written, one of the best examples of first-person narration ever. It's like a bit of Different Seasons (The Body) plus a little bit of Boy's Life (best book ever, btw), all mixed together in an amazing coming of age story. Then, the second half of the novel takes a steep H.P. Lovecraft and (view spoiler) turn and, aye, is equally ace.

Of course for me, I didn't like the ending and I felt the tone-shift was too abrupt and came too late. But I was still fine with that until the "horrifying" ending. I'm not familiar with Lovecraft, so some of the more subtle Lovecraftian themes would not have been noticed by me.

Torrific posted...

pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?

I know you liked the ending, but did you really need to ask this? Let's just say I wish the ending stayed more human, more grounded and more ambiguous.

I just remember the book hinting at the ending throughout the story, so it wasn't really outta left field.
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Torrific posted...

I'm not familiar with Lovecraft,

That's probably the issue right there.
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pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?

I know you liked the ending, but did you really need to ask this? Let's just say I wish the ending stayed more human, more grounded and more ambiguous.

I just remember the book hinting at the ending throughout the story, so it wasn't really outta left field.

I know there's some foreshadowing. But if a character in say, Halloween has a dream about killer clowns, you don't expect the ending (if it makes sense) to actually involve killer clowns.

Torrific posted...

OctilIery posted...

Torrific posted...

pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?

I know you liked the ending, but did you really need to ask this? Let's just say I wish the ending stayed more human, more grounded and more ambiguous.

The ending was straight lovecraft, just like the story.

I quote a review:

The first half of the book is delicious, and so wonderfully written, one of the best examples of first-person narration ever. It's like a bit of Different Seasons (The Body) plus a little bit of Boy's Life (best book ever, btw), all mixed together in an amazing coming of age story. Then, the second half of the novel takes a steep H.P. Lovecraft and (view spoiler) turn and, aye, is equally ace.

Of course for me, I didn't like the ending and I felt the tone-shift was too abrupt and came too late. But I was still fine with that until the "horrifying" ending. I'm not familiar with Lovecraft, so some of the more subtle Lovecraftian themes would not have been noticed by me.

The Lovecraftian part was that the doctor was, throughout the story, playing with some very dangerous science, with hints that it was getting more and more dangerous throughout. So the ending wasn't out of left field, it was very consistent.

OctilIery posted...

Torrific posted...

OctilIery posted...

Torrific posted...

pegusus123456 posted...

Torrific posted...

I wish I could say I liked the ending of Revival. The book was awesome until then. It's not terrifying at all, just goofy and incongruous with the rest of the book.

How is it incongruous?

I know you liked the ending, but did you really need to ask this? Let's just say I wish the ending stayed more human, more grounded and more ambiguous.

The ending was straight lovecraft, just like the story.

I quote a review:

The first half of the book is delicious, and so wonderfully written, one of the best examples of first-person narration ever. It's like a bit of Different Seasons (The Body) plus a little bit of Boy's Life (best book ever, btw), all mixed together in an amazing coming of age story. Then, the second half of the novel takes a steep H.P. Lovecraft and (view spoiler) turn and, aye, is equally ace.

Of course for me, I didn't like the ending and I felt the tone-shift was too abrupt and came too late. But I was still fine with that until the "horrifying" ending. I'm not familiar with Lovecraft, so some of the more subtle Lovecraftian themes would not have been noticed by me.

The Lovecraftian part was that the doctor was, throughout the story, playing with some very dangerous science, with hints that it was getting more and more dangerous throughout. So the ending wasn't out of left field, it was very consistent.

So you'd be happy if the ending involved dancing hippos with tentacles as long as it fits a consistent Lovecraftian theme? Sure, the doctor was dealing with more and more dangerous science, but the ultimate consequence and revelation of his experiment wasn't revealed until right at the very end. As such, the ending really did come out of nowhere, or else people wouldn't be so shocked or horrified at it. You can't have it both ways. You can't call the ending 'a horrifying twist that scarred me for life' and 'consistent with the rest of the story in a way that wasn't out of left field' at the same time. I fully expected something horrifying at the end. What actually happened (and what was revealed) had me facepalming. It was simply too goofy. That's ultimately what I meant by incongruous. All along, the increasingly dangerous science had a grounded feel and then we had that (imo, ridiculous) ending.

But again, it wasn't out of left field. That's lovecraft to a T - a mystery with something mysterious and dangerous behind it, and meddling with it leads to nothing but further horror. If you don't like that kind of horror that's fine, but it doesn't make it bad - there are entire genres around that kind of thing.

OctilIery posted...

But again, it wasn't out of left field. That's lovecraft to a T - a mystery with something mysterious and dangerous behind it, and meddling with it leads to nothing but further horror. If you don't like that kind of horror that's fine, but it doesn't make it bad - there are entire genres around that kind of thing.

Sigh, I probably should have just specified that it's only my opinion from the beginning.