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Good ending v Bad ending

by Noelle Wall

Should "Caution: Bad Ending Ahead" warning labels come on books like content warnings come on CD's? Should we be warned ahead of time that a book is going to leave us hanging off the cliff, and sometimes falling into the never ending pit, of literary "Nowhereland"?
After reading The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon, I am thinking maybe a cautionary warning label would be a welcomed disclaimer.
For the record, I am no literary wimp, and have been known to accept and eventually even embrace the "surprise" ending, the "untidy" ending, or the "out of character" ending.
HOWEVER, I cannot handle the "no way is this the ending" ending. You know what I am talking about. The ending that you just didn't see coming. The one that sideswipes you out of nowhere, and then leaves you riffling through the book hoping to find "hidden" pages somewhere in the book.
I felt totally gypped at the end of this novel, and found myself
pulling a Paul Harvey and pondering the whereabouts of the "rest of the story..".
Has this ever happened to you??

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