I’m Thinking of Ending Things

So bad. Undergrad level philosophizing mixed with a boring, draggy plot that feels torn from generic horror movies. Super obvious the author had no idea where he was going after a certain point. Found myself wondering if this was fanfic or a self-published first draft or something – but apparently, no, it was a bestseller in Canada. A marketing trick if there ever was one. A great premise extremely lazily executed. Who are Iain Reid\’s parents? Are they famous? Why was this published by anyone at all?

This is my first bad review Ive ever done of a book. Very long and drawn out. I totally did not get the ending. And Im no dummy. Seemed to me that the author was on drugs or an alternate universe. However, I am a 71 year old retired teacher, so maybe Im just not with it!

I cannot believe this was so highly reviewed. It is not really a noir novel it\’s really a (trite) essay on various dualities — alone vs not alone, good vs bad, who\’s knowable or not. Dialogue explorations and internal musings on these topics are predictable and not provocative. The story itself — not a surprise and anyway I didn\’t care about a single character.

Im Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid is a true psychological thriller but according to reviews I have read, I believe it is remarkable only in the correct format. I listened to the audible.com presentation. Not to take anything away from the author, the narration by Candace Thaxton makes the story. There is also a very good secondary narrator, male, who briefly appears but it is an appearance which adds necessary final touches. Although I was completely impressed by the audible presentation, I wanted to read it. On sale at USD 1.99 on Amazon, it has over 400 reviews and they are all over the place. There is almost an even distribution between one-star and five-star reviews. Mathematicians, please dont criticize, I know the distribution is not quite even; check it out to see what I mean. Download the free reading sample and listen to the free audible sample available on the Amazon website. I give this five Amazon stars but I listened to it, then read it. My rating is based on the listening experience. The unique experience for me is that I agree with all the reviewers of the Kindle version who awarded from one to five stars. This is a story for listening. I wrote a review on the audible.com site: It is impossible to review the content of this book because anything said would be a spoiler. There is an excellent piece of advice given in the story that is a key to understanding everything. It is only one sentence. To reveal that would be a spoiler. So, what CAN be said? This is truly a suspenseful psychological thriller with an almost unpredictable ending. For the few who might anticipate the ending, the motive, the \”why,\” remains unpredictable. Ultimately, reader or listener agreement with the ending will determine if the ending was satisfactory. Many reviewers were critical of the ending. It is a great story by Iain Reid. Candace Thaxton brought this to life with excellent narration and voice quality. There is another narrator, male, last name not clear, who contributed vital information. His voice was also perfect for this story. There were several great technical parts to the audio but, much as with content, to list them would be spoilers. A great five-star performance on the part of all. I will look for more by these artists. I never look at other reviewer comments before I write my own and rarely look afterward. I read a lot about this story after I wrote my review because I was looking for the name of the second narrator. I couldnt find the name clearly stated but I think credit should also be given to Jeremy (last name unclear). His contribution was valuable and well done. I have mixed opinions about audiobooks. They take up too much of my time. They mess up my daily routine. I am not a multi-tasker and my failure at this is more apparent when the story is good, like this one. It is an approximately five-hour listening experience and that was enough to mess up my schedule. Ill have to think again before tackling a listening experience from very popular authors that last more than forty hours. A note about the narrator, Candace Thaxton. I found the narration great, appropriate for this story, and a narration that defines the story. There were negative reviews about the narrator and, again, I can agree. This is a narrator that has a style not for everyone. The delivery of this story was in a well-pronounced, clipped, sometimes terse style. I thought it added to the story. Candace Thaxton gave a superior performance.

Terrifyingly genius!!! There is no point in trying to explain a book like this. Books like this continue to exist after that last page is turned… Because books like this need to be experienced. Felt. Endured. Books like this haunt you. And the best thing about this book: Its designed to be re-read and re-experienced once its finished. That ending redefines the book, the plot, the characters… it shifts your experience. And it makes yo go back and re-look at everything from a new perspective. UPDATE: The book takes on a whole new tone in its second reading. Genius in its execution all the clues are on every page.

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