Reader's Ink discussion

The ending of Where'd You Go, Bernadette left a lot of the story lines quasi-unresolved. Did you like that decision, or do you wish Ms. Semple had opted for a more conclusive ending?

I'm a fan of a more solid ending. I like stories to come together, make sense, and leave me a reader as if I had not wasted my time reading, better yet, trying to read the book.

Same. I don't dislike open endings (I just finished another book that had an open ending, and it was the perfect choice for the book: as a reader, I had a closure but an awareness that the ending was really more of a beginning that could go in a thousand different ways).

My feeling is, when a writer opts for a more open ending, it requires the book be that much tighter in comparison: plots need to not have holes or inconsistencies because then the open ending is less clever and more seems like another plot hole in the story.

To me, Bernadette leaned a little too close to "plot hole" ending - it wasn't, but there were enough inconsistencies and open questions to leave the ending as less clever and more premature, if that makes sense.

I think it does make sense. Paragraph II stated well. Your comment about open endings causes reflection on my part. The inconsistencies were a little difficult for me, I get the feeling you did better and understood a lot clearer than I did.

The open ending wasn't my favorite. For starters, I was reading it on my kindle and had NO IDEA I was at the end. I hit the next "page," and BAM, there was the acknowledgments page. So, well, that tells me that my innate inner reader need something more concluding and tied up.

Ashley, I can so relate. I read this book on my Kindle too, and it just just doesn't read the same. I tried to find an audio version, but they didn't have one here. Another thing I noticed is that they didn't have the audio available on the kindle. I enjoy listening to them, but this book didn't have that feature. Oh well.