Thursday 14 April 2011

Was the ending satisfactory?

"Poo-tee-weet".  A long, complicated, brain teaser of a book ends in simply poo-tee-weet.  I, suprisingly, liked this ending.  The entire book felt like reading something written in a code, a code that maybe no one was meant to completely understand.  The twists, random facts, and unexpected fourth wall breakings thrown into the mix made the book difficult to follow at times.  I have to admit that it was nice to have a simple, easily understood ending.  Maybe it was the relief that the novel was done that made the ending alright with me, but whether that is true or not I did get the feeling of it being over.  It was almost like the rest of the ideas never ended, or even existed.  Like the war was the only part of the novel, and it ended.  Really though, it was the only part that could end, especially if you take the "dead is not really dead but a slight moment in time" point of view.  The lives of the characters don't end, and ideas don't end, but the war itself ends.  Even if it repeats itself time and time again, Billy walking out of his imprisonment is an ending to one period of time.  So, since the complex novel has a simple ending that finishes the only thing that could end, I liked Vonnegut's choice, as it makes you think about it, but only if you want to.

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