IF YOU ARE POSTING A FORGOTTEN MOVIE REVIEW TOMORROW , LET ME KNOW (IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY)A family that reads together....
I belong to a book group with about ten other women. Two or three of them always read the last few pages of a book first. This is incomprehensible to me. Even if it's not crime fiction (which it almost never is, alas) why would you want to read the ending first?
These women claim that they need to be prepared for the worst. That the suspense ruins a book for them. That knowing the ending allows them to focus on the story.
Does anyone out there share this need and if so, why? Would you ever watch the end of a movie before watching what came before it? My husband does this all the time. Drives me crazy too. If I miss the first ten minutes, I don't want to watch it.
27 comments:
My wife's only flaw is that she reads the endings of books before she starts them. Like you, Patti, I don't understand it. I want the suspense. It's in our marriage contract that she is NEVER to reveal any book endings to me.
I cannot imagine reading (or seeing) the ending first, but that may be a personal quirk (especially with respect to crime-mystery-detective fiction). However, since I teach literature to undergraduates, the more that I think about it, I can understand it in some cases; for example, I might someday tell students to read the final scene of HAMLET before starting again at the beginning, or I might tell them to jump first to the end of MOBY DICK, or the end of HEART OF DARKNESS, or the end of WISE BLOOD--no, now that I think more about it, it makes little sense to do it that way, so I'll stick to the conventional approach of the beginning, the middle, and then the ending. Anything else is too bassakwards for me.
Guilty. I do when they're mysteries and I think I've figured out who the bad guy is. I like to know if I guessed right :-). Then I go back and see how and why, especially if I guessed wrong. Of course there are exceptions. One book of Sue Grafton's that I read gave away the bad guy in the second chapter with the how and the why - no point to keep reading then.
I don't read mysteries for the puzzle, though I do, of course, wonder how it's going to come out. I still never skip to the end. The closest I get is to peek to see how many pages are left. Sometimes I'm left wondering how the author is going to wrap this up in so few pages. Sometimes I despair over how many pages remain. Could be the same number of pages, depending on the book. Some books have had both apply.
BTW, thanks for making me aware of Mysterical-e here a few months ago. I read some of their stuff, made a submission, and learned yesterday they'll publish a flash piece of mine in the Winter edition.
I can't imagine reading the end of a book first. I want to be surprised at what comes, I hope to be surprised at what comes(I've read more than a few books that I knew what was coming way ahead of time without looking), I demand to be surprised at what comes.
As for movies, same thing. I remember one movie(Wild Things) that had so many plot twists in it that peaking at the end would have completely screwed up the suspense.
The only event in which I would read the end of the book without completely going through the story is when I know I am not going to spend the time finishing the book and somehow cared how it ended before moving on to something else. This is rare because if I didn't finish the book, I didn't like it, so who cares?
Never. Period.
For non-fiction, however, yeah, I might, if I'm trying to get through a book fast. I'll read the intro, the conclusion, and then skim the rest.
I'm with you, if I even miss the opening credits of a movie I haven't seen, I'll wait until I can see it all.
I have been known to peek at the end of a book when I've come to a point where I know I'm not going to finish it. That's rare though, because usually if I don't finish the book it's because I just don't care how it will end. I don't know anyone who reads the ending FIRST.
I never read the ending first. I might look to see how many pages a book has, or even how many chapters, but I'm careful not to read any of the text.
No. Remarkably foolish. These people aren't readers...if by readers we mean people who appreciate the art of writing.
It will surprise you to learn I will consider commenting on film tomorrow on my blog.
WV: fiesselo --if not an Italian word, it should be
I peek at the last sentence or paragraph often.
I'll contribute a Forgotten Movie tomorrow, for sure!
Been tempted but never have
I agree it's criminal to do so but my wife is among the felons. She always reads the last chapter first.
She won't read my work because I refuse to tell her how it ends and even when i totally finished I will only let her have a chapter at a time to keep from cheating. She can't do it so has never read any of my novels.
To me reading is the journey not the destination. I don't recall ever looking at the last couple of pages of a book. I figure that if I am going to read the book I should read the book.
No!!
Never, ever, ever!
It ruins the entire experience of the novel
Sometimes, if I know I'm tempted to put a book down, I'll check just to confirm- yup- I knew they were taking me down the road to SUX. If I'm still engaged, I like taking the ride.
We're posting a FM tomorrow at WomenOfMystery, and looking forward to seeing other people's!
Well, PK reminded me of something I do. If I am not going to finish a book (usually because the writing is poor or it seems too familiar) but there is something about it that requires an answer, I may look at the end. It would usually be to see if my guess is right. And I have to admit, I did this with SHUTTER ISLAND and then really regretted it.
But this only happens in about 1% of the books I read.
What??? I N E V E R read the end of a book first. Ever.
I'm with you, Patti but more so. If I'm not there for the credits I won't go in to watch the movie. As for reading the ending before I read the book...I'd never do that, either, but if the book starts to wane I do start to assess the length of it and decide if I should bail or not.
What Sandra said. If I think I know the ending, I bail. Or if the book really sucks.
Remember when we they used to show movies in a continuous loop. I remember seeing various movies out of order. What were they thinking? Probably I am the only one who remembers this though.
This is where I came in.
No, you are not the only one who remembers the way movies theaters were nonstop excursions into celluloid escapism; I even remember triple features (with newsreel and cartoons and coming attractions previews)--those were wonderful days (though I most often ran out of money for the snack bar half way through the long afternoon, and sometimes I would go ahead and spend my bus fare on candy and popcorn, which meant I had to walk the four miles back home).
But why did we find it acceptable to watch movies from middle to middle? Was it only kids who did this?
Kids, in my experience, have shorter attention spans and are easily entertained by loosely connected snippets of action-driven, episodic movies rather than longer plot-driven narratives. Of course, the television industry tapped into that attention-span factor quite wisely, which even big kids (TV loving adults) are conditioned to respond as child-like viewers.
Never - thats cheating.
Forgotten movie is up.
I don't know why but the nuns of The Immaculate Heart of Mary taught us to do this too. Something about forming interest in finding out how the end came about.
I rebelled against this teaching of theirs too. I get to the end when the final page is turned, if the book holds me then I will get there if not no amount of end knowing will help.
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