Friday, April 11, 2008

Beginnings or Endings?

I've finished The Steep Approach to Garbadale and I'm a bit disappointed. Technically, the book answers all the questions it raised but I feel dissatisfied. I've put my more detailed views in a comment, so as not to spoil the book for anyone.

It did raise for me the question of which is more important: the beginning or ending of a book? Anyone who wants to get published knows the importance of a beginning to hook the reader in but as a reader I think it is the ending of books that tends to stay with me. If the ending doesn't work for me then it colours my feelings about the whole book.

1 COMMENTS:

fairyhedgehog said...

Spoiler Alert:




I guessed fairly early on that Alban and Sophie were too closely related for marriage to be a good idea. This wasn't exactly hidden from us. By the time we found out just how they were related, I was investing more emotion in Alban's new girlfriend.

I was disappointed that after all the revelations about his parentage had been dealt with we never saw Alban and his new girlfriend reunited, we were only told about it. That would have made a more satisfactory ending for me. Please: show us don't tell us!

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