American Book Review list of the 100 Best Last Lines from Novels

[sleipnir214]

He loved Big Brother" from 1984 is number 7.

Sorry, it looks like the list is only available as a PDF



Want to ask the best questions? Read Eric S. Raymond's essay "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way". TANSTAAFL!

 

[2ffat]

What??!! "The End" isn't on the list? I know several books where that was the best line of the whole book!


James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[ChrisHunt]

No "Reader, I married him" either, but then that isn't actually the last line of Jane Eyre so that's fair enough!

It's an odd list, with far too many unreadable literary novels where the last "line" occupies a whole paragraph for my money. My #1 would be their other Orwell entry (#49 on their list):

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

Note to self - must read Animal Farm again...

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[traingamer]

I know it's not a novel, but Harlan Ellison's novella, A Boy and His Dog has one of my favorite endings (to the best of my recollection):

I know what love is. A boy loves his dog.

It was made into a really mediocre movie starring Don Johnson, but the story leaves an impression.

Greg
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

 

[philhege]

From Angela's Ashes:

'Tis.

Phil H.
-----------
A virtual machine ate my accounting data. I transferred it to a physical box, then I beat it to smithereens with a sledgehammer. I feel better.

 

[gbaughma]

Hmmm... isn't 12 two lines?


Well, actually, several of them are multiple-line. And many of them are bob-aweful run-on sentences.




Just my 2¢
-Cole's Law: Shredded cabbage

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[gbaughma]

ARRRGH!

I just read them all... and then realized... now I know how all of the books end!

That RUINED me reading any of those books now!





Just my 2¢
-Cole's Law: Shredded cabbage

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[sleipnir214]

gbaughma:
Just think about all the library late-fees you'll never have to pay....



Want to ask the best questions? Read Eric S. Raymond's essay "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way". TANSTAAFL!

 

[Opieo]

Still think 2ffat has the best comment so far.
The quadicle (like cubes except we are in groups of four, little more space, just what I call them) mate had to ask me what was so funny.

~
Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding.

 

[SantaMufasa]

My vote:

Rosebud.

<grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Michael52x]

To serve man"
It's a cookbook!
"And then there were none"
Hey, does'nt Moby Dick start and end with the same line:
"Call me Ishmael" ???

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

 

[philhege]

Finnegans Wake (no. 42 on the list) doesn't really end. It wraps to the beginning of the novel:

A way a lone a last a loved a long the...riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay....

Phil H.
-----------
A virtual machine ate my accounting data. I transferred it to a physical box, then I beat it to smithereens with a sledgehammer. I feel better.

 

[GwydionM]

I agree with ChrisHunt, an odd list with much rubbish

------------------------------
An old man who lives in the UK