Discuss the ending of "Thin Places" (SPOILERS)

[Scott]

This topic is for discussion of the ending of the February 2013 book of the month, "Thin Places" by Diane Owens Prettyman. Please wait to read this topic until you have finished the book because this topic will contain spoilers.

What do you think of the ending of Thin Places? Was it satisfying or did leave to many unanswered questions?

Most novels disappoint me with their endings, especially if I like them. There are many books that I thought would make it to my top 10 list until I read the last chapter or two. So it is tough to impress me. Perhaps endings are hard to enjoy because if you like a book and are emotionally invested in its story and characters, you hate to say goodbye.

In any case, relatively, I found the ending of Thin Places decently satisfying. I like sad endings better than happy ones. Thin Places followed a few of the "and they lived happily ever after" cues, but made up for it to me by splitting up Finn and Chloe. I was unsatisfied at that, though, because I found it hard to understand why they were splitting up, if we are expected to believe it would be permanent. I would have loved more information on this.

Considering endings are so hard to do, I think Thin Places does a good job.

What do you think?

[Jenn9841]

While I really enjoyed this book as a whole, I felt the ending was rather disappointing. To me, it seemed disconnected from the feel of the rest of the book with too much emphasis on the spiritual and too little focus on the characters. Although I am not an overly spiritual person, I was fine with the the somewhat abstract references throughout the novel to guiding presences, faith, and fate. I liked that these were presented in a rather vague way suggesting that each person might experience these powerful or mystical forces (like feeling an invisible hand calming you or a sense of peacefulness or being protected) in a unique or personal way. Then, suddenly at the end of the book, Chloe and Finn come face-to-face with a moving seemingly alive image of Chloe's father capable of bestowing smiles. For me, that encounter crossed the lines of believability and cheapened the reading experience. Having reached the end of the book's spiritual journey, the author seemed to forget about the story and characters that helped get to that point. I was left wondering about the characters: What happened to Butch who seemed to disappear from the book? Why did Chloe and Finn seperate? I would have loved to read a bit more about them.

[Sweet_Lullaby]

That really is too bad. Disappointing endings are the worst when you expect it to be otherwise.

[Alexavier-Taiga]

As someone who is horrible at writing endings to anything, I hate it when book I read have disappointing endings because I want to learn how to write good ones!

[Mikail Light]

While I really enjoyed this book as a whole, I felt the ending was rather disappointing. To me, it seemed disconnected from the feel of the rest of the book with too much emphasis on the spiritual and too little focus on the characters.