The Final Book
The Wall Street Journal had a great article about what happens when a series comes to an end. The dek: “Such fictional endings can bring up real emotions for readers.”
I think that is true for fictional endings as well as non-fictional endings, such as the closure of a blog. You’ve been invested in the story. You want to know what happens next or visit your favourite characters. I perhaps feel it more when it’s a blog because I know the person is real, but I also feel it with characters.
I have a terrible feeling the arc of the Thursday Murder Club may be complete, especially now that Richard Osman has a new series coming out this fall. And yes, I can (and do) go back and visit with the characters, but it’s hard to spend so much time with characters, book after book, and then have the door figuratively close on you while you’re still invested in knowing what happens next.
4 comments
My understanding is that Osman plans to return to The Thursday Murder Club, but he was itching to write this new book and get it out of his system first. Plus, once the movie comes out, I’m sure there will be new fans demanding more on top of those of us who already love them!
What I find hard is when a favourite author dies and you know for sure there will be no more books. 🙁 I loved the author Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters, and she had an unfinished Amelia Peabody book when she died. Another mystery author she knew & was friends with (Joan Hess) finished it off. I haven’t read it yet, but my sister has — she’s a fan of both of authors, and says it just wasn’t as good as the others in the series. Alan Bradley is coming out with a new Flavia de Luce mystery this fall, after several years away from the series, and he’s contracted to write one more after that. But the guy is in his late 80s. I’ve decided I’ll just have to enjoy whatever books he does, for as long as they last…!
I always feel as if I’ve lost friends when a series – whether a book or a TV show – ends. I’ve been a part of their world, and then suddenly they’re gone. And I have no control over it.
And yes, like Loribeth, I mourn the writers too. Terry Pratchett, even though it had been a while since I’d read anything new he wrote, was a loss.
I especially dislike it when they aren’t finished. Like the L’Engle books. We get follow up on the future lives of some of the characters- like Suzy Austin- but not all of them. It feels unfair.
This has happened to me several times. Most prominently the Kinsey Milhone A is for Alibi series – the author died before she could write the Z book.
There have been several other series I’ve read where the author has died and some where the author just stopped writing that particular series. And recently, I was looking to see if there was a new Richard Jury book since the last one a few years ago (there isn’t) – – and I learned Martha Grimes is in her 90s. I’m always surprised at how old authors, musicians, etc. I have been a fan of for a while are. I guess it’s part of me getting older – what seems like just yesterday is like three or four decades ago.
Leave a Comment