Top Ten Books Whose Endings I'd Rewrite If I Could

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Endings are the trickiest thing in books. Great books have been ruined by sub-par endings, while average books can suddenly level up into AWESOME purely because of what happens in the final fifty pages. I've definitely come across some endings that I'd give anything to rewrite or change or just completely do away with. Here are ten of the book endings that made me rage the hardest.

Warning: Mild to moderate spoilers.

1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

 

 Well, I might rewrite a whole lot more than the ending. I actually like the epilogue, and the very last romantic development, but... Oh, man, did this book BREAK MY HEART. I was completely depressed by the end of it. I had cried so much I was just a numb and empty shell because half of my favorite characters were dead. There are like eight deaths I would force Suzanne Collins to take back if I could. Part of my brain is still like, "NOPE, NOPE, THEY'RE ALIVE, LA-LA-LA," fingers shoved in my ears et al. In my brain, SPOILER Finnick and Boggs and Prim SPOILER are happily alive skipping through meadows and being perfectly happy.

2. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
NO NO NO A THOUSAND TIMES NO. So I'm reading this book, right? And it's about cancer and family, so you know it's going to take a pretty heavy toll, emotionally, but you're braced for it.You're prepared for it to end, and it's ending. You've done your crying. You've reconciled with it and it's even moved you. And then there's ten pages left in the book and all of a sudden WHAT THE WHAT THE WHAT and I was so mad and horrified and weeping so copiously that all I could do was fling the book across the room. I did. I flung it. I actually FLUNG it.

3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
And then Jo and Laurie run off together and have awesome adventures and are married forever THE END. 

4. The Subtle Knife The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
Saying why this book has the most traumatic ending of my childhood would be a mega spoiler, but I swear it's the reason that I DON'T BELIEVE IN HAPPINESS ANYMORE. 

5. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
NO ARE YOU KIDDING ME OH DEAR LORD NO DON'T DO IT NOOOOO 

6. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. 
WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU THOMAS HARDY.



7. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Really? Really? We don't even get a pretend battle like in the movie? I've read four Bible-length books of mooning and angsting and celibacy waiting for a damn battle! Pfft. At least they finally slept together.

9. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Everybody should read this book, because it's awesome, and while the final tragic event is only vaguely alluded to--it's implied that you could interpret it either way-- I wish it hadn't been alluded to AT ALL because it SUCKS.

10. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Bradley Cooper said it better than I ever could:

This is actually the book he's reading and reacting to in the movie.

WARNING: Big spoilers in the video clip.

Seriously, Ernie, I get nihilism and all that jazz, but GOOD GOD, you've got to believe there is at least ONE happy person in the world out there somewhere. A person who has never read this book, most likely.

Honorable mentions:

Books whose endings I LOVE but they hurt my heart and so part of me wishes they were different:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, only because SOBBITY SOB SOB; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling, DITTO; Atonement by Ian McEwan
(I wouldn't actually rewrite this beautifully sad ending for the world, but when I read it, I literally said out loud, "You. Are. Kidding. Me."); Life of Pi by Yann Martel;Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan;

What bookish endings do you wish you could rewrite? Leave me your links if you've got them, please! I can't WAIT to find out what topics people chose for this week's freebie.