Spoiler Alert - How did you feel about the ending of the book?

Use this forum to discuss the February 2018 Book of the Month, "The Reel Sisters" by Michelle Cummings.
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Kieran_Obrien
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Re: Spoiler Alert - How did you feel about the ending of the book?

Post by Kieran_Obrien »

CommMayo wrote: 21 Feb 2018, 12:42
Kieran_Obrien wrote: 18 Feb 2018, 13:01 I started to sense that something disastrous was going to happen during the storm.. and it was as contrived as I feared. Her death was wasted on the rest of the characters too; none of them learned anything from her death really (Rose opened up about her daughter but that's not much) and nothing interesting came after it either. Shock ending with no real purpose.
Interesting. So you don't think there was any really plot purpose to her death other than to shock the reader?
Yeah I do! I didn't enjoy the book all that much leading up to the storm but even after it was all downhill like honestly nothing happened afterwards and it didn't really have any repercussions for the characters because none of them really had any kind of arc.

The author probably had grander intentions that just a shock ending but that's how it felt to me.
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Post by Sahani Nimandra »

It was clearly unexpected! I certainly did not see a funeral coming!
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Post by bookowlie »

Yolimari wrote: 21 Feb 2018, 12:52 Honestly, the end of the book took me by surprise and I did not like it. It was the only thing about the book that I did not like. Yes, one could argue that she acted out of her character because she was resilient during his deployment and afterwards. She was just mad because he was thinking about leaving again to the war. I thought it was weird that she would go out like that in the middle of a big storm. I would have preferred another end. The rest of the book is beautiful.
I also didn't like the ending. It didn't ring true that Amanda would go out driving in the middle of a storm. You're absolutely right that she kept things together while Mike was on deployment so it was odd that you would run off just because of an argument. I would have rather seen a different resolution that tied in with the general friendship premise - her friends supporting her during a stressful time. The whole plotline of an old schoolmate resurfacing and showing up at her house just seemed to come out of left field, and was a silly plot device to make Mike's PTSD bubble over and cause marital problems.
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Post by mingyums »

To be honest, no, it took me by surprise but not in a good way. I do get that her acting out of character was perhaps a deliberate choice to emphasise just how upset she was but to me it just came out of nowhere. I think it's possible to set your story up for a plot twist/surprise in such a way that retains the shock factor yet has the reader thinking - 'oh yeah, now that I look back, this does make sense because of xyz and also it makes other earlier things mentioned make more sense too'.
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Post by Clinical1 »

I found the end of the book to be extremely realistic. With the unexpected passing of one of their friends, the group became stronger. Their shared sense of grief brings them closer, and they expectedly continue to do what they do.
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Post by bookowlie »

Clinical1 wrote: 25 Feb 2018, 21:23 I found the end of the book to be extremely realistic. With the unexpected passing of one of their friends, the group became stronger. Their shared sense of grief brings them closer, and they expectedly continue to do what they do.
I can see your point. Also, with Amanda's passing, it was a way for the author to come full circle with the fly fishing theme, by comparing how each woman to parts of the fly fishing tools.
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Post by CommMayo »

Personally, I just really hate it when you lose a character that you've become invested in during a book. I listen to a lot of audiobooks during my commute and have found myself crying while driving 70MPH because of a character dying.
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Post by bookowlie »

CommMayo wrote: 26 Feb 2018, 10:41 Personally, I just really hate it when you lose a character that you've become invested in during a book. I listen to a lot of audiobooks during my commute and have found myself crying while driving 70MPH because of a character dying.
I am the same way. In this book, I thought there might be an unexpected death or serious illness. Actually, I thought Thatcher would be the one to die during the storm. I felt the author made it seem like Veronica's plane might crash; I thought the plot twist would be her husband getting killed in a car crash on the way to pick her up at the airport.
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Post by Kayleigh Brookes »

I agree with what a few of you have already mentioned - when you're that upset about something, it's hard to know how any of us would act. I think that yes, it may have been out of her character, but I don't know if I would have acted any differently given the situation.
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Post by ericahs »

I think there's a big difference between having a surprising or shocking ending and just totally changing a character to make them fit some plot point you want to include. Wonder if this is what happened here
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Post by jamertin2963 »

Clinical1 wrote: 25 Feb 2018, 21:23 I found the end of the book to be extremely realistic. With the unexpected passing of one of their friends, the group became stronger. Their shared sense of grief brings them closer, and they expectedly continue to do what they do.
I agree. I just finished this book, and I thought that while sad, it was realistic and well done. It's incredibly difficult to readjust when a military spouse comes home, especially unexpectedly, with an injury, and having experienced the trauma of his friends being killed. While Amanda's impulsive action the night of the storm wasn't in character for the Amanda we knew through most of the book, it wasn't surprising to me given the circumstances. The author maybe could have given more depth to the experience of Amanda's husband coming home and the readjustment, that might have helped.
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Post by kwame1977 »

The rule of thumb is to end a book without any spoilers. It really pains when a review is rejected because of spoiler. I have my personal experience and wouldn't encourage any reviewer to attempt using spoilers.
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Post by Nena_Morena »

I really see myself in Amanda's character. I'm a soldier's wife and when he is gone for long periods of time it's hard to deal with the stress and the loneliness. People sometimes don't fully understand what you are going through and that's what I was thinking when I was reading her friends comments about her situation.
She tried to be strong for her kids, husband, and friends but she was just a volcano ready to explode.
I was very disappointed by her character's death. I would have preferred if someone else had died; maybe I'm too biased, but thinking about her family's situation I think they already went through a lot of pain.
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Post by Omohobhio »

I really do not like the way Amanda's story ended. It just doesn#'t justify to me.
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Post by kwame1977 »

I have a bitter experience with a spoiler and I hope that will never happen again. The marks I had drastically pulled me down though I was then new to the review team. I have not read the book above but wish to share my experience on spoilers.
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