How to Stop Time
question
Ending is illogical?
Zak
Jul 26, 2017 09:21AM
There are a lot of rave reviews for this book, some have even said it is perfect or the best novel they have ever read. On the other hand, I found the ending pretty illogical. Did I miss something?
Please, if you like the book and totally dig the ending, explain to me the following:
1. If the Society is so powerful, pervasive and dangerous, why did Hendrich himself have to go to Australia to "take care" of Omai? Especially when he is considered old even in alba years and therefore probably not in the best physical condition? After all, when does the top boss of a powerful organisation have to do the dirty work himself? Why couldn't he just send one of his deadly operatives?
2. There seems to be no plausible reason for Hendrich to hide Marion from Tom and to make her hate him. Especially if you consider that he is worried about Tom's wavering state of mind, which in all likelihood is primarily caused by his despair at being unable to find his daughter after so many centuries. Wouldn't it make more sense to make Tom happy by reuniting them and earn his gratitude at the same time?
3. Why would Hendrich bring Marion to Australia with him if Tom was going to be there? Was she supposed to kill her own father? Wouldn't the risk of her reconciling with him outweigh everything else? Again, why not just send some other agent to eliminate Tom and avoid all the hassle?
4. Why did Hendrich have to burn himself at the end? Ok, he was outnumbered, he had failed to kill Omai...whatever, he could have just said "Right.. I give up... if you guys don't wanna follow my plan, so be it" and walked away. And they would not have killed him. First, he is so paranoid about ensuring his own survival that he is willing to kill and go to great lengths to play his mind games and manipulate others... then suddenly he decides to set himself on fire and die. This makes no sense at all.
Can someone please enlighten me? This is really bugging me no end. Thanks.
Please, if you like the book and totally dig the ending, explain to me the following:
1. If the Society is so powerful, pervasive and dangerous, why did Hendrich himself have to go to Australia to "take care" of Omai? Especially when he is considered old even in alba years and therefore probably not in the best physical condition? After all, when does the top boss of a powerful organisation have to do the dirty work himself? Why couldn't he just send one of his deadly operatives?
2. There seems to be no plausible reason for Hendrich to hide Marion from Tom and to make her hate him. Especially if you consider that he is worried about Tom's wavering state of mind, which in all likelihood is primarily caused by his despair at being unable to find his daughter after so many centuries. Wouldn't it make more sense to make Tom happy by reuniting them and earn his gratitude at the same time?
3. Why would Hendrich bring Marion to Australia with him if Tom was going to be there? Was she supposed to kill her own father? Wouldn't the risk of her reconciling with him outweigh everything else? Again, why not just send some other agent to eliminate Tom and avoid all the hassle?
4. Why did Hendrich have to burn himself at the end? Ok, he was outnumbered, he had failed to kill Omai...whatever, he could have just said "Right.. I give up... if you guys don't wanna follow my plan, so be it" and walked away. And they would not have killed him. First, he is so paranoid about ensuring his own survival that he is willing to kill and go to great lengths to play his mind games and manipulate others... then suddenly he decides to set himself on fire and die. This makes no sense at all.
Can someone please enlighten me? This is really bugging me no end. Thanks.
reply
flag
I too agree. Ending is illogical. Appearance of Marion was also ordinary. It could have been more special. Even Tom came to know about Mary Peters so easily.
Sorry Noura, thanks for your explanation but I still think it’s illogical. I agree the rest of the book was good, which is why I still gave it 3*... glad you enjoyed it anyway.
I think endings are difficult, especially for a book like this whereby there is no way to resolve the dilemma. I think the point was he needed to find a way to live in the present, just like everyone else.
1- because Hendrich himself knew that Tom wasnt up for the task so he wanted to handle things himself because he's fucking paranoid ALL THE TIME.
2- dont u get it??????? Hendrich doesnt give 2 shits about Tom he never did and never will, so when he found Marion he turned her against her father without Tom even knowing cause Hendrich knew Tom was too good of a guy to actualy do the "tasks". so he wanted to get rid of Tom so no more trouble will be on his mind, cause again i say he's PARANOID all the time.
3- i guess he thought that he completely turned Marion on her father and being the creepy twisted fuck he is, he wanted Marion to kill Tom, he's cruel like that. and just Hendrich is ExTrA in everything he does.
4- well he knew the end was coming for him. cause he knew he couldn't just 'surrender' and they would leave him alone which is obvious cause what he did wasn't easy, and as a person he is sHiT. so it makes sense that he burned himself, he's almost 1000 years old so i think that had something to do with him burning himself, like he internally knew it and there was nothing he could do about it.
2- dont u get it??????? Hendrich doesnt give 2 shits about Tom he never did and never will, so when he found Marion he turned her against her father without Tom even knowing cause Hendrich knew Tom was too good of a guy to actualy do the "tasks". so he wanted to get rid of Tom so no more trouble will be on his mind, cause again i say he's PARANOID all the time.
3- i guess he thought that he completely turned Marion on her father and being the creepy twisted fuck he is, he wanted Marion to kill Tom, he's cruel like that. and just Hendrich is ExTrA in everything he does.
4- well he knew the end was coming for him. cause he knew he couldn't just 'surrender' and they would leave him alone which is obvious cause what he did wasn't easy, and as a person he is sHiT. so it makes sense that he burned himself, he's almost 1000 years old so i think that had something to do with him burning himself, like he internally knew it and there was nothing he could do about it.
Thanks for commenting, Samir.. at least someone else agrees with me.
Apologies for my confusion over something that may be very obvious but are Manning and Hendrichs the same person?
deleted member
Feb 17, 2018 01:46AM
0 votes
I would say that Noura makes good points.
I think maybe albatross was less of an HUGE SCARY ORGANISATION then we were meant to belive if not the ending would be harder to do. I mean the epilouge makes it seems like everything is hunky dory, if Albatross really was that big it wouldent be the case. There was no second in comand who tracked Tom down and killed him or anything.
I think also cause the book seems to more focus on humans and historical periods, I dont think the authors goal was to make THE BIGGEST BADDEST organisation in fictional worlds.
I had more of an issue with Tom "outing" himself to the Berlin people and the epilouge had no mention of the out come.
What happened there? Did the berlin institute just think him insane wack? Did he help them do test on him, and they found reasons for his condition in his blood or something?
I suppose we can hope the questions will be answered in the movie adaption.
I think maybe albatross was less of an HUGE SCARY ORGANISATION then we were meant to belive if not the ending would be harder to do. I mean the epilouge makes it seems like everything is hunky dory, if Albatross really was that big it wouldent be the case. There was no second in comand who tracked Tom down and killed him or anything.
I think also cause the book seems to more focus on humans and historical periods, I dont think the authors goal was to make THE BIGGEST BADDEST organisation in fictional worlds.
I had more of an issue with Tom "outing" himself to the Berlin people and the epilouge had no mention of the out come.
What happened there? Did the berlin institute just think him insane wack? Did he help them do test on him, and they found reasons for his condition in his blood or something?
I suppose we can hope the questions will be answered in the movie adaption.
I agree with what Oda said 100% cause IF albatross was as big and scary why wasnt there someone who did Hendrich’s work for him?
Did he say that Heinrichs was the person who spat on Rose? So why would she trust him?
For books like these, I tend to look past the plot itself and focus on the themes and emotional content instead. Otherwise, you're going to be disappointed because as you've pointed out, there are a lot of glaring errors in the plot. All the points you raise are valid. The plot is weak as hell.
You still think the ending is illogical even after what i said? And you know what, even IF the ending was the slightest bit illogical, a book that has content as great and wonderful as this book its could overshadow the fact that the ending is illogical ( which i dont agree that its illogical).
all discussions on this book
|
post a new topic
