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I has a puppy and a suicidal bunny! Thank you

elfinessy

I also has significantly less chocolates than I started the weekend with, but I won't tell if you won't.

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I was talking on Wednesday with a friend about reading - and he said that he always read the ending of books before he started reading them, as he couldn't cope emotionally if there was an unhappy ending. He did this always, and, if reading a series of books and one he reads has an unhapy event he skips the next book(s) in the series - as an example: a character's partner died in one series, he missed out the next two published books until he thought it would be safe to read another.

This boggled me - I can understand people liking spoilers, and I know when my Mum read Mills and Boon she would read the last chapter to see how sappy it was (which we as a family welcomed as it limited the amount of times a book went flying across the front room when she became exasperated!), I just find it hard to imagine being so vulnerable that you can't cope with a less than blissful happy ending.

For me, part of reading a book for the first time is that whole 'not knowing what's going to happen' the tense anxiety or anticipation, the 'I can't put the book down till I know ' experience. And while I will reread a book over and over, I want that first time experience unsullied!

What do other people think? Do? Like I said, I can understand the 'tease' of spoilers and anticipating how they will appear/play out, but to know the ending fully? I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts.

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If I want to know the ending, I will read a book I've already read. It really depends on the mood I'm in.

If the book is about inflicting pain on a child or something equally as horrific, I don't need to check the ending...I just don't read it. It's not my cup of tea and I know I won't be able to finish it in the first place.

A friend of mine was trying to get me to read a book about a child who was victimized by his alcoholic mother. Even though it had a happy ending, I couldn't do it because I don't want to read that sort of trauma.

My current favorite book right now is "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". It's a biography and very compelling, too.

Edited 2011-01-31 01:15 (UTC)

There are so many of those 'Mum abused me, made me eat rocks, neglected me etc etc' type of books out there and I don't really understand the appeal of them. I know horrific things happen, I don't want to read about them in graphic detail. Each to their own though, I guess!

I'd never heard of Henrietta Lacks, but I've just googled her - very interesting, I imagine the book is compelling.

I'm strange in that in fanfic, I want a happy ending. I will read the end of a story if it's not an author I know and trust. In a mainstream book, I don't need to know the end. Even if one of the main characters is killed off, I have no vested interest in them so while it might be sad, it's not emotionally hurtful. I love my boys so I want them alive and well (and happy) at the end of a story.

In fanfic I heed the warnings and only read deathfic if I'm in a certain (and robust!) mood - I still won't peek at the end though!

If you look up some of the ebook romance or erotica publishers, you'll see that many of them require a happily ever after ending or at least a happily for now ending from their authors (you can see this by looking at their submissions requirements). So you can imagine readers of current romance, at least, apparently pretty strongly want happy endings.
Personally, I don't like knowing how a book ends, but I HAVE found over the last few years I'm having a tougher time dealing with endings that unexpectedly leave me feeling sort of, well, grieving. There's an SPN fan fiction, one that's over 100,000 words, and the authors didn't warn at all for the ending (not that I expect it or anything, but I do know in SPN fandom a lot of authors give fairly specific warnings for stuff), which was WAY less than happy, and in fact near the end you think everything is going to end fine just before it all goes completely and utterly to shit. It took me days to stop thinking about it and really, just being very upset by it. I don't think the author owed me anything different, but I do felt the shock of the ending was an intentional thing on the authors' part.
Lately I read Suzanne Collins YA series and was very anxious about the ending as I got closer to it. It was all I could do not to check the end of the final book, just to be sure I wouldn't be crying in my beer:)
Still don't normally check, though - I do prefer the anticipation and normally really dislike having the ending disclosed to me beforehand. I just seem to be getting more sensitive.

There are certain expectations from certain types of books I suppose, I would always expect a romance book to have a happily ever after ending, and I expect crime novels to have an ending - not necessarily a good one, I expect characters to be vulnerable and know they might be killed off, I can even tolerate the killer getting away with it, but I expect an ending of sorts - I've been very annoyed lately with a couple of books that just stopped, clearly with some expectation of a sequel, but no ending or resolution. Grr.

I think I may know the SPN fiction, I think it's one I sat up all night reading!

I can understand the urge to peek, just to find out, similar to Christmas presents really, I can look at the box and imagine peeling back a little bit of paper and so on, but never ever ever do, 'cos I want the experience of opening it - and it's just the same with my books!

My sister always reads the end of books first. She says it's like a compulsion; if she doesn't do it, she'll just keep thinking about it and be distracted from reading until she gives in. I can't understand it because I hate spoilers of any kind!

But I can understand being very sensitive and vulnerable. I find emotional books extremely tiring (I was talking about this in the survey I posted earlier actually), sometimes to the point where it outweighs the enjoyment I'm getting from the book. It's very frustrating! I was reading a really good book last year (Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner) and just as I was approaching the end I had to put it down because it was getting a bit tense and I didn't feel like I could take it given that other, real life, things were getting me down at the time. Now I really want to finish it but it won't feel right going in so close to the end, I'll have to start over again and make sure I finish it while I'm feeling strong! And the reason why I stopped watching 24 was because I was worrying too much about my favourite character. I feel like I could only start watching again if I read spoilers first, to prepare myself, except I really don't like spoilers so instead I just won't watch it anymore.

I'd never resort to spoilers to save heartache. You're right, the anticipation and "not knowing" is all part of the reading experience. When I reread, even though I know what's going to happen, I remember that thrill of reading it for the first time and so it's like I'm feeling it again. If I get really gripped by a book, I start reading faster and I have to force myself to slow down and cover up the rest of the page with my hand, to stop myself getting even a line in advance!

What a long comment -- I could talk about reading all day!

I asked this question elsewhere and quite a few people related to the emotional vulnerability aspect, but it's an argument I understand but don't feel, if that makes sense. I can undersatnd and empathise with them, but even when I was ill withdepression and my breakdown I never read teh back of a book - I chose the books I was reading carefully, and often reverted to books I'd read before though, so it makes a sort of sense.

I've given up on books before, I had one last year when the main character was just unlikeable and the whole premise was just too unsettling for me, every time I read a chapter my stomach would roil and in the end I gave in, realising I wasn't enjoying the experience at all. Sometimes I go back to a book, I can't see me going back to that one though.

I'm like you though, And wouldn't read the end, or hunt down spoilers to avoid heartache, that's part of (life) reading and beside if you lose teh suprise heartache you also lose the suprise glee and shock or good moments!

(it was your long reading post that inspired me to post about this btw!)

I love happy endings and hate unhappy ones. As a result, if I'm at all concerned about how a story is going to turn out, I will jump ahead and read the ending.

A couple of other people I've spoken to have said something similar; it's an explanation I can understand in principle - I just can't apply it to myself. Lol!

Hmm. Being spoilerized doesn't bother me at all. And it's not because I want to avoid an unhappy ending. If it's a very long story (something that would take me numerous sittings to finish), sometimes I peek at the ending so I can take my time and savor without feeling like I have to rush to find out what happens. It's more about the journey than the destination. :)

It's strange - I would say exactly the same thing "It's more about the journey than the destination. :)" - yet mean it from the exact opposite place!

For me the journey is the anticpitation and excitement/nervousness/fear/thrill etc etc etc of going on the journey at the same time as the characters - linking all that in with my reactions and how I'm experiencing all of that that makes it!

I can then plug into all of that when I reread the book, getting a slightly different experience that time around.

It's fascinating to me that something ostensibly as 'basic' as reading can be so different for different people!

There are two or three beloved mystery series where, if I've heard any sort of rumour about a major character dying, I'll read the end to make sure she/he doesn't...other than that, I'm with you and I'd rather enjoy the book without knowing what's going to happen. :)

Even when there's such a rumour I can't allow myself to peek - the Harry Potter books, book 5 it was stated in all the pre publicity stuff that 'an important character' died and although I was desperate to find out and read teh book at a hundred miles an hour, I still wouldn't peek!

I likened it above to Christmas or birthday presents - no matter how tempted I am to peel away a bit of paper, I never ever do!

I am with you on this. I am so about the story unfolding that I actually get a bit irritated when I see people spoiling themsleves. I KNOW that's stupid of me, but can't they see they're ruining it?

Heh, A few people have talked about the emotional stresses involved and not being able to deal with a 'bad' ending and although I can understand that academically and try and be empathic - the heart of me is just standing there saying "yes, but...."

I love the whole experience, the anxieties that arise when something is looking bad, the relief when it doesn't,or the emotional reaction if it does - an integral, all important part of the process for me.

I never read the ends of books before starting them. I've flicked through Star Trek and Buffy novels to catch snippets, to see if they sound good, but with original fiction, I just pick up a book and read it. I'll read the blurb, that's all the spoiler I'll get.
If there's a sad ending, then so be it. I cried my eyes out at The Book Thief though it did have a bit of a happy ending, it was still depressing, but it's one of the best books I've read.

I haven't read The Book Thief, maybe I'll check it out!

I never read more than the blurb on the back, if I'm browsing in a shop and want to see if I think it's good, I just start reading at the beginning.

Thank you for my lovely puppy!

As for spoilers... Depends. I think I have different expectation for when it comes to fanfic where you're expected to be warned for stuff (non-con, character death) that books wouldn't (though arguably you can deduce what you're getting from the genre/author/blurb).

with fanfic I read the warnings (unless they're blanked out! I won't take action to read a warning, I figure if it's bklanked out it's a spoiler and I avoid it!)

On a book I will read the blurb on the back, and then take my chances!

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